Page 29 of Queen Takes King
:He’s trying very hard to be contrite. But I wouldn’t suggest using your cobra persona to bite him anytimesoon.:
I shuddered. Yeah. I wouldn’t want to be the cobra very often either. Even though I thought it’d been a dream, I still remembered how… detached I’d felt. Emotionless. I’d known I was hurting Rik, but at the same time, I didn’t really care. I didn’t want to feel like thatagain.
They all remained standing until I sat down. At least they’d chosen to stay in the breakfast nook rather than the formal dining room, though the small table was rather crowded. G and Xin had made scrambled eggs, sausage patties, and toast. It looked and smelled good, but my stomach still ached from cramps. Granted, I was physically hungry, but I didn’t have much of a desire to actually eat. I sipped coffee and nibbled on toast, watching the rest of my men adjust to having a new Blood amongus.
If he was Blood. I wasn’t sure about him. I didn’t feel anything from him. I certainly didn’t feel like I needed to feed from him, or give him myblood.
“Tell us about yourself, Xin,” Rik said in between bites. “Where are youfrom?”
“California. I served Wu Tien’s court until she dissolved the nest fifty three yearsago.”
I forgot how long they—we—lived. He hadn’t even served a queen for nearly twice as long as I’d been alive. I had no idea when he’d been born, even though he looked like a twenty-something year old man. Incredibly lean and tight, like an explosion of speed and power waiting to happen. “I was known as Eddie Xin in California, but I much preferXin.”
“Wu Tien,” Guillaume said. “Descended from EmpressWu?”
Xin nodded. “Wu Tien was her great-granddaughter, but none of Wu’s daughters ever carried her level of power. She guarded her power too closely and never allowed her heirs to develop. When she died, that power died with her, rather than blooming in her few surviving daughters. Wu Tien’s court was under constant attack and pressure, even before New York allied with Paris. She decided to dissolve the nest and return to her homeland, hoping to unite with any of her surviving sisters. Some went with her and others were drawn to New York, but many of us just… existed. Sibs remained sibs, for the most part, but our power waned without aqueen.”
He met my gaze. “If and when you’re ready to enlarge your court, I have former sibs who would leap at the chance to return to a real court. Though they would never be able to serve asBlood.”
“I guess I’m still confused about thedifference.”
“Think of a medieval castle, ruled by the lady of the manor,” Rik said. “The lady has knights who serve her and guard the castle and land from their enemies. But there are also people who live around the castle and work the land. Craftsmen who work in the castle. People who tend the animals and the sick, or work in the kitchens. Blood are knights, protecting the manor, but sibs are the everyday workers who contribute their individual skills and lives to the betterment of all. Only the knights will ever feed from the queen directly, but most sibs prefer to live in a court where they’re protected by a powerful queen, even if she never feeds them. They gain power by being close to her, and from occasionally feeding from one of her powerful knights. All power trickles down from thequeen.”
“So people likeGina?”
Rik didn’t answer right away. “Maybe. I don’t know that she’s Aima enough to even have the desire to feed. She gains power by associating with you, absolutely. Status among the courts, money from managing your accounts. But that doesn’t make her a sib. A sib will feed at least occasionally, but it variesgreatly.”
“But they won’t feed from me. Only one ofyou.”
“Yes.”
I thought about it a moment. Maybe it was my human sensibilities, or maybe I was just a jealous queen. I didn’t really like the idea of any of my Blood feeding someone else. If I was there, and we were all feeding each other, making love… Absolutely. I would love to see something like Rik taking care of one of the other guys, because that’s exactly what it would be. Tender care. Like when Guillaume had first come to us, Rik had been willing to feed him, simply because I needed strongBlood.
But someone outside of mybedroom…
“Is that something you would want?” I finallyasked.
Rik didn’t hesitate. “I’m your alpha. My blood is yours, and indirectly, your Blood’s. I’ll feed anyone in your bed, if that will please you, my queen. But I’d rather not feed anyoneelse.”
“I told you that I can only feed on queens, which is true.” Across from me at the table, Guillaume gave me grave look. “What I did not tell you before is that I was often ordered to feed others against my will, especially my previous queen. So no, I will not wish to feed anyone outside your Blood, myqueen.”
My throat tightened. I could only imagine how terrible being forced to give blood would have been. Like a kind of rape. Forced to share your own blood against yourwill.
“I don’t want to ever do anything like that,” I whispered. “I don’t want to force you to do something against your will, but I don’t want to refuse you something that you’d want and enjoy too.” I leaned forward slightly, daring to tap on my power just a little. His eyes and nostrils flared as he scented my rising power. “You must tell me. I order you all to tell me when you’re not comfortable with something, or if you’re feeling a lack that I’m unawareof.”
He tipped his head. “I will abide by your order, myqueen.”
The other Blood followed suit, giving their oaths. I wasn’t sure that was exactly what I’d had in mind. It seemed dumb to make them swear an oath not to obey meblindly.
They finished up breakfast and started to clear the table. Only Xin remained sitting with me, and I sensed through the bond that Rik had done that deliberately to give me some space to decide about this guy. Even though he was sitting right in front of me, Xin had a blankness about him that I didn’t understand. “So, Xin, what’s your specialty that you did for your queen in SanFrancisco?”
“A Blood of my skill has but one use, my queen. I was used to assassinate otherqueens.”
Xin
I did not yet know what to make of my new queen. If she would become my queen at all. Her eyes flared with shock, and horror, I thought, at my talent. Instead of immediately planning on how she could wield me to further herterritory.
Exactly what a Triune-worthy queen woulddo.
