Page 21 of Queen Takes King
“No,” both Blood said immediately, along with Daire’s emphatic,:No.:
I knew them all well enough now, even G, to realize that they weren’t refusing me, or trying to order me. I was queen. I’d do what I wanted. It was their plea that I not denythem.
And after I’d drained them all to the point of barely being able to walk, they would need my blood to refuel them.Allmyblood.
We made the bed and G went downstairs to get drinks and help Daire haul up all the pizzas they’d ordered. I sat on the bed, my back propped up with pillows, and Rik dozed lightly beside me. His hand on my stomach, his nose on my arm. As if even in exhaustion, he needed to touch and smell me torest.
We ended up having a pizza party in my bed and I’d never had more fun in mylife.
Sitting cross-legged on the mattress, drinking beer, gobbling cheap but cheesy hot pizza, laughing at Daire’s antics. Even G laughed, his tired, worn face lightening as literally years of torture dropped fromhim.
This. This made everything worth it. The blood, the danger, the years of running from thralls. While the blood and sex were fantastic, they brought a whole new set of dangers. Desperate hunger, a thousand-year-old adversary, goddesses, political plots I couldn’t begin to unravel, mysteries around myparentage.
But this laughter and camaraderie made up for itall.
Thislove.
And I knew, watching them, my heart straining to hold all the emotion inside me, that I would do anything to keep thislove.
Anything atall.
10
Guillaume
Icould not believeI had slept. Truly slept, resting, rather than the light doze I had adopted from necessity. Even crowded in a bed with three relative strangers. The big alpha took up the most room, but at least Daire was draped over him with Shara between us. The room was pitch dark and I had no sense of time, other than it was yet night outside. A soft rustle drew my attention to the foot of the bed, but I didn’t smell an intruder. Onlyher.
“My queen?” I whispered, rising up on one elbow. “Are youwell?”
“Shhh,” she whispered back.:Don’t wake Rik or he’ll lecture, ‘my queen doesn’t clean.’ But I can’t sleep with all this trash lyingaround.:
My eyes adjusted enough to see that she’d stacked the pizza boxes by the door. Now she made a quick circuit around the room, gathering beer cans in her arms. I started to sit up to help but she waved me off.:Don’t get up. I’m almostdone.:
She crept back to the bed, patting along the mattress. I reached out for her, thinking she couldn’t see me, but then I heard the soft clink of another can. She set it with the others and then crawled up into myarms.
I closed my eyes, breathing in her scent. It had been so long since I’d held a woman like this. Let alone myqueen.
I hadn’t understood other Blood’s willingness to die for their queen, because I’d begged for Desideria’s death for centuries before the goddess heard my prayer. She’d used my honor to enslave me and I’d hated her every single day of my miserable existence. I’d certainly never made love to her, and she’d had plenty of others that fed her needs in that regard. No, her use for me only extended to my blades and how quickly I could behead her enemies. Or provide her with gruesome entertainment as she tortured the queens who’d dared feed on her executioner, when she herself had sent me to those nests for that solepurpose.
:Can I ask yousomething?:
I opened my eyes and she slid closer, her face just inches away. Her eyes were dark pools of liquid ink in the night, full of secrets and magic.:Always.:
:Did you know my mother,Esetta?:
I felt as though I ought to know the name, but when I searched my memories, I found only blank spots. Isador. I had to have known her. But I couldn’t call up a face or anyreference.
Shara sighed, feeling those blank spots in the bond.:I figured as much. No one living can say her name or remember anything abouther.:
:You remember hername.:
:The night I came into my power, I died in Rik’s arms. Daire said he did CPR but they couldn’t bring me back. I had to come back on myown.:
Involuntarily, I shuddered. I could only imagine his acute agony, holding his first and beloved queen as she died, unable to saveher.
:What aboutLeviathan?:
:I’ve heard references to a Leviathan that might serve the Skolos Triune, though no specific name orqueen.:
