Page 49 of Queen Takes Triune
:She’s descended from Hel, the queen of the underworld.:
“How can I help you, Eivind?”
He blinked, the only outward display of his surprise. “House Isador offers assistance?”
“Yes, of course,” Shara replied. “Your pack indicated that you’re looking for your sister. What happened to her?”
“She’s been taken. I don’t know who would dare such a thing, but she’s gone. Not even I can find a hint of her scent anywhere.”
Shara stepped closer to the blood circle, keeping her hand on me. The other wolf tensed, the hair rising along his ruff and down his spine. Like the fucking queen she was, she completely ignored him and sat down before him, completely unafraid.
I sat on my haunches beside her, casually at ease—but ready to leap on the other wolf and rip his throat out at the first sign of danger.
“What’s her name?”
“Helayna Ironheart.”
“Did she have Blood of her own yet?”
“No. She was only sixteen years old when she was taken.”
Shara’s eyes narrowed, her bond radiating with fury. “Did Ra take her? I know he was taking young queens to Heliopolis. We searched thoroughly, though, and we never found any hostages.”
“A thing of darkness took her.”
I felt the twinge of pain in her bond, even a bit of doubt. Our queen ruled all things dark, what most would consider monstrous. She’d embraced her darker aspect for the most part, but she didn’t like the idea that a creature of darkness could have taken this young queen.
She reached out into the night, searching for the dark power she’d inherited from her father, Typhon, god of monsters. With the full moon so bright in the sky, the dark tendrils of violet power had withdrawn deep into the earth.
Blowing out a sigh, she focused on the wolf king. “I’ll try again when I can tap the darkness. If she’s held somewhere where the sun doesn’t shine, I will find her. I promise. What does she look like?”
His head tipped, a flash of white fang warning of his mistrust. “Why would you help me, Isador?”
Moonlight hung about her head like a glowing nimbus, but shadows thickened across her back and shoulders. Her jaguar’s wings fluttered softly, even as a dark shadow rose up over her head and arched protectively over her, shielding her from the moon.
A red diamond glittered on the shadow cobra’s hood.
“Because I can, wolf king. I won’t stand by in silence while another woman is abused or threatened in any way.”
He snarled, his words garbled. “So you can take her for yourself.”
Shara looked back at him steadily, though her shadowed cobra hissed and swayed above her head. “As the Great One is my witness, I will never take what isn’t mine to love. So you remain free, wolf king, as will your sister.”
“House Isador never lies.” Rik’s deep rumble rolled though the ground. He didn’t make any threats either, but I could feel the heavy promise of crushing rock in our bond. “What this queen takes, she loves, and she keeps for all time. I pity you for not feeling one moment of the love she gives us.”
Ignoring the other wolf’s ire, I lay down and curled around my queen, dropping my head in her lap. She stroked my head and scratched my ears, completely at ease.
When we made no other show of force, Eivind calmed his snarls and sat back on his haunches. I sensed the silent communication passing among the pack, but I didn’t try to eavesdrop. Not with my queen’s fingers in my fur.
Finally, the wolf king spoke once more. “She looks like me.”
Shara’s head cocked, a smile twitching on her lips. “A ferocious black wolf?”
The wolf king straightened, shadows unfurling about him as the wolf disintegrated. A tall man with long reddish hair and beard stared back at her with the same glowing amber eyes as his wolf. He stood like a king, the proud lines of his face proclaiming his lineage from Loki “Though her eyes are ice blue.”
“Trapped in darkness,” Shara whispered, staring out into the night. “Did she wear a locket? Something silver?”
The wolf king charged closer, slamming up against the blood circle. It cast fiery sparks around him, but held, denying him entrance. “You’ve seen her? Where?”
