Page 6 of Queen Takes Knights
What am I?
Something inside me whispered back.You know. You’ve always known.
Alrik cradled me in his arms and took a step. That’s what it felt like. A single step. And we stood outside the motel. He opened the door and strode down the hall. I worried about Hosea seeing me carried off by some big man, but Alrik did the same blurring thing. One step, and we were past the desk, outside my door.
“Here?”
I nodded and he set me down while I dug in my pockets and found the key card. The door beeped and I started forward, but he wrapped his palm around my throat, his grip gentle but firm as he drew me back against him. Shielding me with his body, he carefully eased his way into the room, as if he feared an invasion while we were gone.
His strength felt nice, I had to admit. I’d been alone and struggling for so long, terrified the monsters would find me while I slept, or tracked me down in between jobs. Having a powerful man to fight the monsters off would be a relief. That I was also attracted to him, only made it all the sweeter. And he didn’t intimidate me. He wasn’t squeezing my throat, threatening me harm. It was like he just wanted to touch me. A vulnerable place for sure, and intimate, without being vulgar.
I flipped on the light and he took a slow look about the room. His body tensed against me and I started to worry maybe he was right. Maybe one of the monsters had managed to break through the salt line and my locked door. I’d asked for no windows, but maybe one had found its way through the vent. Or…
He turned to me, his mouth a hard slant and his eyes glittering with what I could only call rage.
“I find it intolerable that the vampire queen of Isador has been living in such squalor.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Alrik
Descended from Isis herself, Shara Isador stood before me, completely unaware of her heritage. Her power. Her legacy.
How was that possible?
I knew, but I hated it. I hated that I hadn’t been able to find her for all these years. That I hadn’t been serving at her side.
The last Isador queen, the royal line lost for over thirty years. The shit would definitely hit the proverbial fan when the Triune heard.
Shara. Her name resonated in me, etched in my bones. As soon as I’d felt the slight touch of her mind searching in the darkness, I’d been hers. I couldn’t get to her fast enough.
She shrugged. “This is actually one of the better places I’ve stayed. It’s clean, safe, and Hosea, my boss, even lets me eat for free.”
The thought of my queen hungry, scared, and alone made me quiver with rage.
“Vampires.” She laughed, shaking her head. “Not something I would have ever guessed. The monsters hunting me? Sure. But not me. I’d say you must be joking, but…” She averted her gaze, her cheeks flushing. “I’ve never tasted anything as good as your blood before.”
I concentrated on keeping my anger contained. It wasn’t her fault that her mother had left her legacy behind and died, alone, without any Blood to protect her. Though how Selena could have thought to stay alive for long exiled from her own kind, I had no idea. Evidently she hadn’t taught her daughter much about our way of life, either. “The monsters are thralls, once human. The watcher on the hill is their master, once one of our kind. They were his human victims when he lost his queen.”
She shivered, her eyes widening. “Then we could become monsters like that?”
“You? No. Never. Queens are only ever queens.”
“All women our kind are queens?”
I could not believe this. She knew nothing, absolutely nothing, about her legacy. It was unconscionable. “No. Not at all. A queen is a rare and precious thing.”
I felt Daire’s nearness a moment before he tapped and opened the door. He recoiled at the living conditions our queen had endured and shot me a dark look.
:What the ever loving fuck?:
:It’s worse. She knows nothing about her legacy. About us. Absolutely nothing.:
:Selena must have died before she could teach her.:
Aloud, I asked, “How old were you when your mother died?”
“Almost seventeen.”
