Page 6 of Queen Takes Triune
Carys plopped down beside her on the sofa with a heavy sigh. “You’ve filled the reserves you possess so far. That doesn’t mean you can’t havemorereserves. A Triune queen—”
“Not again,” I butted in with a scowl.
She humphed beneath her breath. “Stubborn fool.”
Gina lifted her teacup to her mouth quickly, but I still saw the amusement on her lips. I scowled at her. “Not you too.”
“A Triune queen will have upwards of one hundred Blood. Or more.”
I set the cup on the side table a little too firmly, sloshing some of the hot tea on my hand. “Ow!”
Rik snapped to my side and lifted my hand to his mouth. I hadn’t even heard him come inside. Lightly, he kissed the reddened skin and gave me a sultry look. “If you feed, I’m sure that small burn will heal quickly.”
I swallowed the pool of drool that quickly accumulated in my mouth at the thought. Yeah, I’d love to feed. But upstairs. In bed.
Not here with Gina and Carys looking on.
I pulled my fingers away from his and unzipped my leather jacket. The rat popped upright, eyes bright and whiskers twitching at all the new smells. “We don’t have any cats, do we?”
“None to my knowledge, Your Majesty,” Gina replied. “Other than your Blood, at least.”
I stroked my finger over the rat’s head gently. “Go and explore, if you’d like.”
Head cocked, she started to squeak out a complicated-sounding answer in rat-speak that I had no idea how to interpret. I wished she could communicate through our bond, but I’d only given her my blood, not taken hers in exchange. I’d come a long way from the scared human on the run who had no idea vampires existed, but I wasn’t quite ready to chow down on rat blood. Not yet, at least.
“I don’t recommend rat, my queen,” Mehen muttered. “They taste like shit.”
She clicked her teeth together and gave him a decidedly dirty look that I could decipher without a bond. Laughing softy, I stroked my hand down her back. She nuzzled my palm and then scampered off. Probably to get a bite to eat, if I had to guess.
“I had no idea rats were so affectionate and smart.”
Rik swung his big thigh around behind me so he could sit with me between his legs. My favorite spot. “They are, but your blood certainly has much to do with her intelligence. Even a drop for a creature as small as she was quite a power rush.”
Daire dropped down to curl around my legs. The rest of my Blood stood around the room. Even now, in a place of safety, they’d positioned themselves in defensive positions. Guillaume and Ezra stood at the door. Nevarre and Llewellyn stood at the windows. The rest of my Blood stood around us, relaxed, but on alert, their senses reaching out into the night.
Usually Rik sent them off on various duties, but tonight, he allowed them to stay close and position themselves as they wanted. I didn’t need to ask why.
Dread tightened my throat. I didn’t want anything to change. I didn’t want to lose our closeness and the easy, loving bonds we all had. But they’d all heard or picked up on the discussion I’d had with Guillaume and Rik about the Triune. They knew what it meant even better than me.
I honestly had no idea how a queen should run a large nest. I’d never seen one bigger than Keisha Skye’s, and I certainly didn’t desire modeling anything I did after her.
But she’d had an eye on the Triune seat, and she’d surrounded herself with many Blood and siblings like Gwen and Carys to form her power base.
Now they were mine. House Zaniyah was mine, along with the surviving Skye siblings. I didn’t have as many Blood as Keisha.
Yet.
So if more Blood were necessary from a power-base standpoint… Rik was going to allow my closest Blood every opportunity to enjoy this quiet time before the storm.
Before everything changed.
Llewellyn stepped closer and dropped to his knees before me to take my left hand in both of his. “Change is inevitable, but you’re queen enough to control the change and adapt as you must.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I don’t want to lose this.”
“Then don’t. Make that choice now to determine your priorities. There are ways to build a power base that don’t require a huge nest and dozens of Blood. It may take longer, but if that’s your priority, do it your way.”
I nodded, though I wasn’t comfortable with the idea yet. “What would my mother have done?”
