Page 78 of Queen Takes Triune
She laughed tearfully. “I know. Me too.”
“Promise me something,” I said as I loosened my fierce grip on her. I pulled back enough to look her in the eye. “When we come home, all of us, alive and well, you and Frank will invite me to the wedding or handfasting or whatever future you decide to have together.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks pinkened, her eyes glowing with a soft light that made my heart hurt. In a good way. “I wasn’t sure… I mean, we’re both in service to you. I didn’t want to complicate that.”
It was my turn to give her a firm shake. “Don’t be ridiculous. Complicate the fuck out of it. Marry him if you’d like. Have some kids with him. I know you love him, and I couldn’t be happier for the two of you.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “I’m too old for kids, but I’ll consider something more permanent. If I have your blessing.”
“Wholeheartedly. You both deserve all the happiness in the world. Besides, if I’m to ever to have daughters myself, they’ll need a Talbott to help manage their legacy.”
Her eyebrows arched. “Daughters, as in plural?”
I took Rik’s hand in one of mine and Nevarre’s in the other. “I think I’ll be like Tiamat in that regard. I’d better have a whole clutch of eggs when the time comes, because I’ve certainly got a lot of mates more than eager to help me.”
Gina’s lips quirked as she looked from one Blood to the other. “Usually only the alpha sires a queen’s heirs.”
Rik picked me up, tossing me over his shoulder playfully. “Our queen does what she wants, and if she wants more than one baby daddy, then by goddess, that’s what she’ll get.”
From upstairs, I heard a lot of voices yelling at the same time, but I made out Mehen’s voice above the others. “Dragon baby daddy says fucking amen!”
23
Shara
Iwasn’t surprised that Alice had outdone herself.
My Triune court gown started with a deceptively simple sheath of gossamer white silk so thin and light that you could see the outlines of my thighs and the dark circles of my aureoles. The back was mostly open with only thin straps to hold it up. The bottom was hemmed with delicate white lace and pearls.
The next layer made tears fill my eyes. I hadn’t thought to tell her about Mom’s favorite dress, but this material was a gorgeous lapis blue silk. Probably an easy guess with my heritage, but I loved it just the same. It went on top like a super long vest with a tight-fitting bodice that hugged my curves down to my waist. The skirt flared out and split like tulip petals, framing the white sheath underneath and giving tantalizing glimpses of my legs as I moved.
A puffy blood-red skirt attached around my waist with a heavy golden belt in a deep vee that pointed to my womb. The airy material billowed around me like a princess skirt and trailed behind in an eight-foot-long train edged with millions of tiny seed pearls and golden beads.
The whole ensemble was topped with a heavy crimson cape that latched around my throat in a golden filigree necklace. As Gina placed Isis’s grand horned crown on my head, I stared at myself in the mirror, comparing what I saw now to the scared young girl I’d been just a few months ago.
Alone. On the run. Afraid to sleep. Not enough to eat. Nowhere to call home. No one to even talk to, let alone love.
Now, I was surrounded by loved ones. I had my Blood, Gina, my sibling queens, Winston, Frank, and Kevin, plus Angela and Marissa and countless other people silently working in the background to keep the Isador legacy grinding along smoothly.
I owned properties all over the world, but my home was here, where I’d started this journey toward a golden crown and a gorgeous dress. With an appointment to meet one of the most powerful queens in the world in the most dangerous chess game of my life.
I couldn’t help but laugh softly to myself.
“What?” Gina asked, standing behind me and adjusting my upswept hair around the crown.
“I don’t even know how to play chess.”
She grinned and stepped back, making a twirling motion with her finger. “You could have fooled me.”
I turned carefully on ridiculously delicate gold, strappy heels so high that I’d break my neck for sure if I tripped. “Do I look as scared as I feel?”
Eyes shining with pride, Gina ducked her head and lowered herself before me in a deep, formal curtsey. “Your Majesty, you look absolutely breathtaking.”
I heaved a sigh and patted my hips. “No pockets. How am I supposed to carry my knife?”
Rik stepped closer, holding my pitifully small pocketknife. He knew better than to say I didn’t need a weapon, or that he was my weapon. I loved him without question, and I had plenty of magic and power to devastate the world with fire and goddess only knew what else.
But I felt better with something physical to protect myself. Just in case.
