Page 45 of Queen Takes King
Gina caught that bit and said, “Her Majesty will need the jet ready to fly to Venezuela in three or four days’ time. Also look up Mayte Zaniyah and text me her consiliarius’s phone number,please.”
“This is really going to happen,” Shara whispered, looking at each ofus.
Rik’s eyes flared with surprise. “Of course. You need to find him. We’ll get youthere.”
“I guess…” She blew out a sigh. “I thought you’d try to prevent me from going, or try to talk me out ofit.”
“I’d love nothing better than to keep you from all harm, but a queen goes where the queengoes.”
“We just keep you safe as you go,” Guillaumesaid.
“And what abouthim?” She bit her lip and I’d give my left nut if every man at the table didn’t go rock hard. “I don’t know how that’s all going to work out. Only that I must freehim.”
“Then we free him,” Rik said firmly, giving her hand another squeeze. “But he will not harm you, Shara. I’ll have Xin or Guillaume kill him before I let this king harm one hair on yourhead.”
Xin sat on my left, and I swear the temperature dropped a good ten degrees on our side of the table. “Leviathan was chained for a reason. Best we all rememberthat.”
“I wish we knew why. Why he was chained—and why I in particular have to free him before he dies. Or even why he’s dying now rather than the hundreds of years before. Who’s been feeding him this wholetime?”
“No one,” Guillaume said with a grim slant to his lips. “Which makes this doublyrisky.”
“Then how is he still alive, if no one’s fed him since before Xin wasborn?”
“There’s a theory the old ones believe,” Xin said, drawing her attention tohim.
“Old ones even older thanyou?”
His eyes flashed a moment as if lightning crackled across a midnight sky. “I’m young for Aima, thank you very much. Our alpha is a mere babe and you… barely a twinkle in your mother’s eye. The first and second generation Aima carried so much of the goddesses’ blood that they were the same as immortal. The theory is that they fed on each other, and further fueled their longevity. They were slow to mix with humans, too. So their blood was puremagic.”
“The first time Rik fed, Idied.”
Just remembering made both him and I shudder. I’d tried to revive her, but she was definitely dead. Her skin chilled. No heart beat. I could only imagine how horrible it’d been for Rik because he’d been making love toher.
“I went to Isis’s pyramid and she gave me her blood. I lost track of time, but it seemed like She gave me a lot.Alot.”
“Good,” Xin replied. “Then you’ll live a very long time, perhaps as long as the old queens. According to legend, the original queens never really died. They just went to sleep and never woke up again. They were weary of the world, or heartbroken from losing their loves, or all the humans they’d known were dead and gone and it took too much effort to continually set up a new life somewhere else. It’s very possible that Leviathan is old enough that he’s basically immortal. That he’s been sleeping for thousands of years. And now, something has wokenhim.”
“And he’spissed.”
I caught Rik’s gaze and we didn’t have to use the bond to know we were thinking the same thing. We knew exactly what had awokenhim.
Our queen. Shara. Her very presence in the world would be enough to awaken a long-deadmonster.
I’d fucking wake up after half a million years of sleep to have her touch me. Feed me. Loveme.
Not sleeping with her tonight was going to feel like a half a millionyears.
Which was exactly why Rik had chosen to punish me this way. I’d rather he take me outside and beat me within an inch of my life than refuse me access to our queen and him, because I hadn’t been apart from him in thirty or forty years. He would certainly not leave herside.
The help cleared off the table and Gina spread out blue prints and pictures with notes and sketches. Shara’s eyes were as big as a kid enjoying her first Christmas. A state-of-the-art kitchen that still managed to embrace the old world charm of a hundred-year-old stone fireplace that dominated one wall. A series of brand new decks from the master bedroom tower down to the other levels, ending at the pool. It was in good shape according to the contractor, other than needing a new pump. The hot tub was big enough for at least ten people and only needed a new heater. Then she could use it all year around. They’d sketched out some additions to the backyard, including a large fire pit and outdoor kitchen in the poolarea.
The biggest project, though, was the master suite that dominated the large tower overlooking the river. The bottom level was a massive library and office with a private elevator to the next floor. The next two levels were open to each other with exposed century-old rafters and stone walls. It was plenty big enough for two king-sized beds placed together in the center of the circular room, with a massive skylight shining down from above. The bathroom was going to be redone in marble tile, with a massive circular tub that made the one we’d shared upstairs look like a kiddie wadingpool.
Shara blushed at the double king sized beds pushed together, but that was exactly what she wanted. Gina and her staff didn’t bat an eye, and evidently the contractor was more than happy to do whatever she wanted because I’m sure his bill was astronomical. If he did a good job, the Isador legacy would give him a blank check as long as the queen washappy.
“Anything else you’d like to modify?” Gina asked. “Of course we can do projects at any time, but if there’s something pressing, we ought to do it now while we have the crew in place to get it done as quickly aspossible.”
“No, I don’t think so. This is… incredible. Tell Marissa and Winston thank you, please. I can’t believe they’ve accomplished so much. And you too, Gina. I don’t know how I ever survived without you.” She looked at each of us, a tremulous smile on her lips. “Without any ofyou.”
