Page 45 of Queen Takes Triune
I frowned. Another coincidence that this new book had been sent out shortly after my birth? Fucking hell.
“Let’s scan to be safe. It wouldn’t surprise me to find that she has a couple of different aliases set up. She’d want a new identity to assume if anything happened to Leonie.”
We spent a few minutes flipping through the book, while I held my finger over the pages, searching for anything unexpected or strange. We didn’t find any other sigils.
“That doesn’t mean that all of these names are real,” Gina said. “I recognize many of them and have spoken or interacted with most of them over the years, but there are still plenty of names that I don’t know. They could be her previous aliases, just waiting for her to need them again. All we know for sure is that her current alias is Leonie Delafosse.”
“So what now?” I paced back and forth before the fireplace, letting ideas bounce around my head. “We know who she is.”
“More than that,” Guillaume replied, shaking his head. “You are theonlyqueen to know who she is. After she’s hidden herself for hundreds of years, you know her secret name, and you know how she wards herself.”
“The question, then, is what do we want to do with this information?” My blood hummed and sparked with excitement. “Do you really think that Marne Ceresa doesn’t know that Leonie is really the Dauphine?”
“Guaranteed,” Gina replied grimly. “While they’re both on the Triune, they’re not exactly friendly. There’s been bad blood brewing between them for centuries, and Desideria capitalized on their animosity to bring more and more courts under her control.”
“What happened to make the Dauphine disappear like that?”
Guillaume grunted. “No one knows but her. I can tell you that the Dauphine came to Desideria, either for help or with some kind of a proposition, and Desideria laughed in her face. Literally. I don’t know the details, and whatever happened after that died with Desideria.”
“So Marne might not even know why the Dauphine went into hiding.”
Gina winced slightly. “I don’t know that ‘into hiding’ is the best way to describe what she did. She’s not hiding. She’s using her power to mask herself from the world. Hiding in plain sight, but not out of fear. She didn’t withdraw or run from something. She’s still a very powerful Triune queen with countless threads and allies throughout the Aima courts. We may not know or see her but trust me. We all know she’s out there. If a call came for an audience with her, we’d go. Immediately. Just like we would if Marne requested your presence. Any Aima queens would heed such a call.”
“Your mother did,” Guillaume said.
I whirled to face him. “She did?”
“She was the cobra queen who envenomed me and ultimately killed Desideria. She came as called to House Modron. I wasn’t privy to why Desideria requested her presence, but I do remember Esetta Isador coming to court.”
A jolt rocked through me every time I heard my mother’s name spoken aloud. I glanced at Gina, her brow furrowed, a questioning look in her eyes. She couldn’t remember or say my mother’s name. Yet. Goddess let her not know for many, many years if it meant her death.
I’d forgotten that he’d once died the same way as Rik. He’d known what was happening to Rik, because he’d already lived it.
Guilt and regret surged inside of me. I hated remembering what I’d done to him.
He dropped a hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly. “Carrying your venom has come in handy. I have no regrets.”
I leaned back against him. My rock, solid and unshakeable. “If Marne and the Dauphine are in some feud that no one but them knows the details of, then maybe I can use that. I’m sure Marne would be willing to pay a pretty penny to gain this kind of information. Not only do we know the Dauphine’s alias, but also how she hides. Not that I’d care to pass that little tidbit on to Marne. Her mirror magic’s already freaky enough.”
Daire snickered. “I’d love to use that mirror magic to see the look on the Dauphine’s face when she realizes you know who she is.”
Ezra cuffed him in the back of the head. “Yeah, sure, throw some gasoline on the hornet’s nest. It’ll be great fun fucking running away from an angry horde.”
“Maybe there’s a way to let her know I know her secret identity, but also hopefully indicate my intentions.”
“What are your intentions?” Gina asked, her brown eyes sparking with interest.
“I want allies, especially allies that could help us against Marne if need be. Who better to reach out to with a peace offering than her bitter rival?”
Guillaume nodded slowly. “It might work, though there’ll be hell to pay when Marne finds out.”
“I can’t trust either of them. They’re both the kind of queens who’ll smile at you and admire your dress, but then dump a bucket of foul pig blood all over you when you least expect it.”
“Well, you’re not fucking Carrie,” Ezra grumbled. “You’ll blast these bitches to kingdom come first.”
“I can’t blast them if I’m supposed to work with them.” I rolled my eyes. “Though blasting would certainly be the easiest solution.”
“No blasting.” Laughing, Gina shook her head. “If you want to let her know that you’ve bypassed her ward, but you also are following the Aima protocols, then I recommend we reach out to her consiliarius, just as you intended to do from the beginning. Then I can work with her to convey your desire to meet.”
