Page 64 of Queen Takes Triune
“Or next time…” She leered at me, smiling widely. “I’ll be forced to find your real mother’s corpse to bear my message.”
:Never,:Llewellyn retorted in our bond.:She would have made sure to destroy her body, so nothing like this could ever happen.:
Mom’s body crumpled to the ground. Gina started forward, but I grabbed her arm, holding her back until it was safe. She was just as human as Frank. If I lost her…
Neither body moved. A soft sob escaped Gina’s lips. I hadn’t realized that she was so close to Mom. She’d made it sound like they’d rarely had contact at Mom’s request. I focused on her bond, and her fear and worry tightened my throat. She wasn’t upset about Mom, who’d been dead for over five years.
She was crying for Frank. I hadn’t realized how much she’d come to care for him. They’d made the trip from Kansas City together, giving me time with my Blood on the road. Had she fallen in love with him then? Or earlier? How could I have been so self-absorbed to not notice my closest friend falling in love?
I stepped forward, Rik moving with me, a solid rock at my back. Daire’s warcat and Xin’s wolf approached the two bodies on the ground.
:He’s still alive.:Xin grabbed a mouthful of Frank’s shirt and dragged him toward me. Daire crouched by Mom’s body, ready to leap on her if she moved again.
I sank down to my knees as Xin dragged Frank closer. I could smell his blood now, and something else that was foul.
Dead and rotten.
I swallowed hard, willing my stomach to toughen up. I had a feeling that smell came from Mom. I couldn’t look at her. Not yet. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about her.
Frank’s shirt was torn open, wet with dark fluids. Gina gagged at the smell but smoothed his hair off his brow. “It’s alright now. Our queen’s here.”
“Sorry.” His eye fluttered open and he gasped softly with pain. “Tried to stop her.”
“Shhh.” Gina cupped his cheek, leaning down over him. “There was nothing you could have done to stop her.”
I focused on the small amount of my blood he’d taken back in Kansas City. He still carried my power inside him, enough for me to scan his body. His pulse was weak, his heart beating unevenly and much too rapidly. His skin was damp with clammy sweat, and I could feel the heat flaring off his chest. The sickly-sweet smell of infection and decaying flesh rose from the jagged wound.
Dribbling blood all over his chest, I focused my power on him. I could feel something inside him. Worming deeper through his body, spreading foulness like a cancer.
I sent my power pulsing through him, my blood going on the defensive. I touched the black rot spreading through him, driving it back toward the wound. Pushing the contamination out of him.
It had spread quickly, destroying tissue. I couldn’t imagine how much pain he’d endured, waiting on me to show up.
Guillaume laid a hand on my shoulder. “Too much of your blood is just as dangerous for him, my queen.”
My fury had made my blood seep faster from the wounds on my wrist. I’d bled so much that blood dripped from Frank’s chest and down onto the ground. I swiped my fingers in the blood pooled on his skin, pleased to see the deep slash had already closed.
I scanned through his body again, a quick swipe to ensure nothing tainted remained inside him. His fever was down, his pain gone, and he reached up to lightly touch Gina’s cheek.
Mom croaked, her voice rattling like sticks covered in sandpaper. Calling me, trying to say my name.
Dread roiled in my stomach, but I stood and walked toward her. Though I reached back silently and Rik’s big hand engulfed mine.
She lay on her back, arms and legs bent at unnatural angles as if a child had been playing with a doll and tossed her on the ground. The smell of decay was thick in the air, making Daire wrinkle his warcat’s nose. Now that I was close, I could see that some of the streaks I’d thought were dirt were actually rotted places in her skin. She was starting to look like a television mummy.
Tears thickened my throat, but I made myself smile. “Hi, Mom.”
She tried to lift her hand, but her arm flopped helplessly at her side. I reached down with my free hand and wrapped my fingers around hers. Brittle and thin, her fingers didn’t feel real, and she couldn’t squeeze them around mine.
Her eyes were dried and shriveled but still conveyed a deep, abject horror. Her mouth opened, her throat working desperately, but she couldn’t get the words out. Her throat wouldn’t work.
I squeezed her hand and pressed a kiss to her dry knuckles. “I know, Mom. It’s my turn to take care of you, okay?”
Gently pulling my hand free from Rik’s, I held my bleeding arm over her body, letting my blood splash on the faded lapis blue she’d loved so much.
:Her spirit is trapped inside the body,:Guillaume warned.:What’s been done to her is an abomination.:
I swallowed my tears, determined not to worry or frighten her more than she already was.:I know. Her eyes look back at me now, not the Dauphine’s.:
