Page 56 of Queen Takes Triune
“He did have great power,” Gwen replied. “Which was exactly why Arthur had him trapped.”
“We don’t know for sure that Arthur did it,” Lance added. “It’s likely, but it could have also beenher.”
“Elaine Shalott.” Gwen practically spat the other queen’s name. “Some of the legends say that it was the Lady of the Lake who lured Merlin into a cave or tower and locked him up, so that Arthur could be defeated. Though I despise her, I don’t think it would have been Merlin she chose to lock up if she had that ability. She definitely would have tried to trap Lance—and herself, of course—in Avalon far from me.”
“Is she the Lady of the Lake?” When one of us said Elaine, Lance visibly blanched, so I made a note to avoid saying her name again if possible.
“Not directly.” Gwen sighed and sipped her wine, her brow furrowed. “The legends are mixed up and vague. Sometimes she’s called Nimue or Vivienne, with several different variations and spellings, so no one’s really sure. The Lady of the Lake is credited with giving Arthur the sword and even raising the original Lancelot.Shedid neither of those things. The original writers of the Arthurian stories were men, and humans at that. Who knows what all they got wrong or just ignored?”
The Blood with the wicked skulls inked on the backs of his hands drawled, “She’d fucking love to be associated with the Lady of the Lake. Much better than the truth.”
“What is the truth?” I asked.
“She’s much more likely to trap and rape me than ever give a damn about Excalibur or Merlin,” Lance said in a flat, dead voice that still managed to quiver ever so slightly.
Gwen reached up and placed her right hand over his left that was still on her shoulder. At her touch, the tension straining in him eased. “Even in the legends, she bespelled Lancelot so that he thought she was Guinevere. Some even have her bearing his child. If she could get him away from me, she’d do it in any way possible, whether that meant murder or betrayal. She has no sense of honor or even a modicum of understanding of what’s right and what’s terribly wrong. She’s always been obsessed with him and will do anything to have him.”
He squeezed Gwen’s shoulder, and I could feel the silent promise passing between them. He would rather die than serve Elaine again in any way, while Gwen swore to never let him go. In fact, the hard coldness in her eyes as she met my gaze told me she’d do anything to protect him. Anything at all.
I set my glass down and pushed away from the table to stand. “I think it’s time we work some New York City magic.”
Gwen leapt to her feet, ever the polite hostess—but relieved that I wasn’t going to make her wait any longer. “What do you need, my queen?”
I tipped my head, letting ideas bubble up in my mind one by one. I needed something to hold the blood I pulled out of Gwen, at least temporarily. I certainly didn’t want to ingest Elaine’s blood—I just wanted to separate it from Gwen’s. Finally, I smiled and picked up my glass. I saluted her and then drained the bit of wine still remaining. “Nothing but a blade and this cup. Let’s go somewhere quiet and comfortable to give this a whirl.”
In a few minutes, Gwen had us both seated in chairs before an elegant fireplace with a flickering gas-blue flame. My chair was big enough for Rik to sit behind me as we preferred. She sat alone, but Lance stood at her back, with her other Blood at each hand. It was only a wing-back chair, but looking at her, I could see the medieval Queen Guinevere staring back at me.
She wasn’t beautiful exactly, though she was very pretty. Her brown hair was swept back in a classic chignon. She also preferred classic clothing, if the fifties swing dress was any indication. White with large red cherries almost like polka dots. It was unusual but suited her perfectly.
It was her face that arrested attention. Her nose and chin were a touch too sharp, but her generous lips and the crinkles around her mouth and eyes promised smiles and good humor, despite the long curse that had haunted her family’s house. Her eyes gleamed with the kind of innate pride and power that comes from knowing you’re descended from an ancient royal house like Camelot. She might have been forced to live without her Blood at Elaine’s whim, but she’d always known what she was.
A queen. Not just a vampire queen, but the kind of queen that even humans still remembered and told stories about.
I reached out, palm up, and she leaned forward to slip her hand into mine. It was a bit of strain, but before I could ask, her Blood lifted her chair to scoot her closer.
“Rik, if you could hold the glass for me…”
“Of course, my queen.” He positioned the glass beneath our clasped hands.
I turned her wrist slightly, balancing her hand on the edge of the cup with one of my silver nails pressed lightly to her skin. “Do you recall how much of her blood you drank?”
Gwen grimaced. “Very little. Only a few swallows—just enough to formalize the sibling agreement. But it was enough to give her control over me.”
I released her hand a moment so I could puncture my own wrist with the tip of my nail, though my blood did not flow. At her soft gasp, I smiled. “I’ve been using a trick to hold and capture my blood when I’m on my period, so I don’t leave my blood everywhere. It’s just not safe.”
Closing my eyes, I settled back against Rik and breathed deeply. “First, I’m going to scan through my blood and see if I’ve picked up any of her blood from you. Since you’re my sibling, and you’re hers, it’s possible I may already have a drop or two of Shalott blood inside me.”
I didn’t open my eyes, but I felt Guillaume’s disagreement in our bond. “G, what are you thinking?”
“Forgive me, my queen, but I doubt that you’ll find any other queen’s blood in yours. You’re the superior queen. You take what you need and assimilate it for your power stores. Your blood is yours. Our blood is yours. Your siblings’ blood. Because you’re our queen.”
I nodded slowly. “That makes sense. But I’m going to look to be sure.”
It was almost like healing myself, though I didn’t have any injuries. I allowed my consciousness to slide through my body, searching for anything out of sorts. Anything that didn’t belong. That wasn’t me. Then I focused more specifically on my blood. Magic shimmered through me, eager and ready to be used.
I’d fed heavily from my Blood last night, but I couldn’t begin to sort out Rik’s blood from G’s. Daire’s from Mehen’s. As my knight had said, it was all mine. There wasn’t anything that I could separate from myself because I commanded it all.
Blowing out a sigh, I opened my eyes and gave Guillaume a wry smile. “You’re right. I couldn’t find anything that wasn’t me. I guess my blood truly has absorbed all of you to the point that I can’t separate it out.”
