Page 63 of Queen Takes Triune
She smiled and it wasn’t her looking back at me. Mom had never looked at me with such disdain. She’d loved me. She’d given up her life for me. Literally dying, trying to buy me some time to escape from the monster who hunted us.
It was her body, though. Now I could see the awful wound stitched together on her neck. Greyson had ripped her throat out. Locked in the basement, I’d been forced to watch her die. I couldn’t save her.
The dress was definitely her favorite one, and she wore the necklace Alan had given her the last Christmas he’d been alive. Inside the heart locket, I’d see a picture of the three of us. It was the last time I could remember being truly happy as a child.
Her skin had a ghastly bluish tinge. This close, I could see streaks of dirt on her face. The tattered dress was faded and also streaked with dirt. She lifted her hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear—a normal gesture I could remember her doing a million times. But I noticed the torn, broken fingernails on her hand.
As if she’d dug her way out of the grave and then walked all the way to Arkansas on foot.
Rik slipped an arm around me and tucked me back against him. The rest of my Blood surrounded the grove. Some in the air, but all of them shifted to their beasts. Ready to protect me.
But this threat was already dead.
“Oh, goddess,” Gina whispered, her voice breaking.
“Is it really her?” I asked softly.
“It looks like her. She left instructions that if she died, she was to be buried in that dress beside her husband, Alan Dalton.”
“How did you return so quickly?” Mom smiled, but it was a mean, nasty twist of her lips that I’d never seen on her face before. “I had such grand plans, Shara. I wanted this homecoming to be extra special. But these cursed trees put up quite a fight, and I certainly didn’t expect you to return—” She kicked Frank’s crumpled body on the ground. “—before I had my fun.”
I fought the urge to look down at Frank and see if he was still alive. I didn’t want her to hurt him more, or to try and use him as a bargaining chip.
:Aima should never be buried like humans.:Guillaume’s bond cut as sharply as his Templar sword.:This atrocity is why. Someone has animated her corpse.:
:Marne?:
His hell horse blew out a rattling snort and pawed the ground.:It could be, though I’ve never heard of her having such power.:
“Do you like my special gift to you, Shara?” Mom’s corpse asked, making me shudder.
“How did you cross into my nest? You never shared blood with me. I had no idea what we even were until after your death.”
“A valuable perk to being dead.” She shrugged. “Agoulecan pass through any blood circle.”
That word echoed in my head.Goulesounded like something Mehen would have read to me.
In French.
Which meant…
:The Dauphine.:Mehen snarled in our bond.
My stomach sank. I’d been so confident. So sure of my strength and power. I’d handled Ra. I’d figured out how the Dauphine was hiding. I’d learned how to play the Triune games.
Shifting pieces on a chess board while smiling and nodding and plotting the next dozen moves ahead. I’d been playing the game perfectly, setting one queen against another.
Now Frank had paid the price for my arrogance.
“There’s something quite horrific about dead loved ones returning with a message, don’t you think?” Mom kicked Frank’s body again. “In the land of swamps and gators, I learned a little voodoo of my own. Leave House Delafosse alone, Shara. We have no interest in any dealings with Isador. Forget you ever called my consiliarius. Forget her name. And I won’t be forced to pay you such a visit again.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, holding back my reaction. Keeping my face smooth. My mouth shut. Even though my mind raced.
She was still sticking to the House Delafosse cover. Meaning… what? Did she think we’d stumbled across the fake Wrenna Jade name and number by accident?
Could she honestly be so confident in her ability to hide that she didn’t realize that I knew the truth?
Or did she think this little scare would be enough to buy my silence?
