Page 45 of Queen Takes Knights
Blood-red light rose from my skin, flickering like flames. No, the blood really did look like fire. It didn’t burn me, though. I touched one of the burning flames and it leaped into my hand, hovering in my palm like a flaming fireball.
Now that was something I could definitely use.
Grinning, I scanned the yard, looking for a monster I could help with. Most of them were still trying to get over the damaged fence, but Daire was easily crunching them into a mass of broken bones and tossing them into a heap on the other side of the fence. Alrik hung back, making sure to grab any that managed to escape the warcat’s jaws. He used his fists and simply slammed them into a bloody smear on the snowy ground. I scanned the bushes along the fence, and finally found a monster trying to slide between the narrow iron bars. I didn’t think I’d be able to throw it that far though.
Then I gave myself a mental shake. This had nothing to do with my physical prowess, but magic. I didn’t have to heave a flaming fireball over a hundred yards. I had towillit to hit my target.
I focused on the thrall and envisioned the fireball hitting it. Melting over its skeletal head like candle wax. Lighting its pasty dead skin on fire.
And it worked. The monster burst into flame and let out a glass-shattering shriek. It ran toward the remaining cluster of thralls and I focused on the fire, willing it to spread. One by one they caught fire too and scattered into the night.
Alrik turned toward me and inclined his massive head. “Well done, my queen.”
Exhilaration roared through me. I’d been so scared of the monsters all my life. I’d run from town to town, terrified every single night, locked up in four walls, shivering alone, curled up in a fetal position hoping the monsters wouldn’t find me one more night. Even when I had to take a stand and fight my way out, I’d been terrified. I’d almost died countless times. A club with a few nails was nothing compared to the ability to light them on fire with a bit of blood.
“Well done,” someone said mockingly. “My queen.” The last was said with a sneer that I could hear in the words.
Alrik and Daire both closed to me quickly, taking position before me. I don’t know how, exactly, but I recognized that voice. Maybe he’d been whispering to me in nightmares my entire life. “Greyson.”
“Very good, Shara.”
I stepped up between my men so I could search the darkness. His voice was close, but I didn’t know where he was. “Why are you trying to kill me?”
“I’ve never tried to kill you, my queen.”
A vicious growl trickled out of Alrik’s lips and Daire crouched, ready to pounce. They didn’t like anyone calling me that—but them.
“You killed my mother.”
“An unfortunate accident. You may not believe me, but I regret any pain I gave her immensely. It was never my intention to kill Selena.”
“Come out so we can talk. I want to see you.”
Alrik touched my elbow, a slight warning. I had no intention of getting too close, but I needed to put an end to this. Greyson wasn’t going to haunt me any longer.
“Oh, I think not.” He chuckled, his voice coming from everywhere. Nowhere. “Not yet. Your Blood would not like that much, I’m afraid.”
“What do you want, then? Why are you here? Why have you and your monsters hunted me all these years if you didn’t want to kill me?”
“Do you know the truth yet, dear, sweet, naive Shara?”
I took a step closer to the fence, but Daire bumped my thigh with his head.:It’s not safe. Don’t trust him.:
:I don’t. He’s a killer. But he might know who my father is.:
I felt their reluctance in the bond, their alarm and worry ringing like drawn swords in my mind. But I stepped closer to the fence, both of them pressed against me. “What truth?”
Greyson chuckled and I winced, the sharpness in his mirth like metal claws dragging down a chalkboard. “Oh, no, you won’t get the secrets from me so easily.”
I took another step, almost close enough to touch the iron bars. Daire pressed heavily against my legs, almost tripping me. He didn’t want me to get close enough for Greyson or one of the braver thralls to reach through the bars and grab me. Alrik moved behind me and gently drew me back against him so that every inch of my back was safe against his rock-hard bulk. Nothing was going to get to me from the rear. Nothing would get through Daire before me, either.
“Before my Blood came, what would your monsters have done to me if they were able to catch me?”
Greyson made a low, sinister hum that managed to make me shudder despite its soft tones. “They were to bring you to me. Unharmed. Mostly. Though with thralls, you never can tell how well they’ll obey when the Master isn’t there to force that obedience. They might have had a few tastes of sweet royal blood before I managed to fetch you.”
My skin crawled at the thought. “Like you tried to feed from Mom?”
He hissed with a clank of vicious teeth. “Her blood was always mine, and mine was always hers. She learned the truth of that lesson but then it was too late.”
