Page 62 of Queen Takes Triune
I didn’t wait for the dress to settle around my body. Whirling back to the tree, I dove through the dark hole that I knew would be waiting.
I’m coming!
19
Shara
Ifelt Rik’s fury in the bond, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t wait for him to send a few Blood ahead of me, not when Frank and Winston were in danger. They were my family.
Goddess, please keep them safe!
They were human. They wouldn’t stand a chance against anything strong enough to actually attack my nest. It was supposed to be fucking impenetrable.
After a few steps inside the tree’s portal, I saw the opening ahead that would let me out at the grotto. I tore both wrists open, dripping blood as I ran. I readied every attack and defense that I could think of in my head. A shield. Fiery ropes to bind. My jaguar’s teeth and claws. No. My cobra’s poison. But what if the creature attacking had wings?
The wyvern? Though it wouldn’t be agile on the ground.
Still in my human form until I could decide the best attack shape to take, I raced out of the heart tree and scrambled up the slick boulders that formed the edges of the grotto. I probably should have ducked down and scanned for the attackers first, but all I could think about was getting to Frank and healing him before it was too late.
Could I resurrect a human? My jaws ached, holding back a scream of rage. I couldn’t fucking believe that someone would sneak into my nest. My human friends were defenseless without me here, and that hurt most of all.
I hesitated a moment, frantically scanning the surroundings. Everything looked different. The large oak tree that had been the closest to the heart tree was gone. No stump, no chopped-up limbs or remains. Just gone. I whirled, trying to find the rest of the grove, but other than the heart tree…
My grove was gone.
Biting back another cry, I reached inside myself for my grove. I could still feel the ancient trees’ fury and the shrill alarm screeching through my connection with them. The intruder hadn’t been able to destroy them, but I had no idea what had happened.
Panting, I ran around toward the front of the house. Most likely, Frank had been at the guard station near the gate.
“Shara!” Winston yelled to draw my attention to him on the porch. I could only stare. He held some kind of huge gun that looked completely out of place against his double-breasted suit coat. “There! In the trees!”
A new clump of trees stood just inside my blood circle. My fucking grove hadmoved? I shouldn’t be surprised. These trees had been destroyed in Nevarre’s nest and I’d regrown them with my blood in a matter of hours. And they talked to me. Of course they could also move to attack any threats.
The flap and rustle of wings rushed overhead as Leviathan led the charge from the air. My dragon swooped low over the trees and sent me what he saw. Frank, on the ground. Not moving. A woman stood over him. She glared up at the great beast’s belly as he flew overhead, and my heart stopped.
Mom.
It was her face. I recognized the blue dress she wore, though it was tattered now. She’d called it lapis blue. Before I’d known our heritage through Isis, I’d thought it was a weird way to say turquoise. We’d playfully argued about it for years.
Of course, she would have been buried in her favorite dress.
Leviathan circled back and swept lower.:This was your mother? But how?:
I ran toward the grove, my mind reeling.:Not my mother, but the woman who raised me. My aunt, though I always called her Mom. Selena. She died in Kansas City.:
The trees’ limbs had woven together, making a thick barrier to pin the intruder, though they allowed me to pass without a single poke. Once through, I stumbled to a halt as she turned to face me.
“Shara Delaney Dalton.”
It was Mom’s voice. The one she used when I was in trouble. Only she would have ever called me Dalton, after Dad, the human she’d loved. My middle name had been his choice, supposedly his mother’s name. Was Delaney my real middle name? Or had that been a farce that she’d made up when she’d claimed to be my mother?
“Just look at you,” she continued in that same tone that made my shoulders automatically hunch with shame.
It was like all the years had been stripped away and I was an awkward teenager again. My dress was barely on, one strap completely torn. I was covered in blood. My hair a mess. Barefoot.
“You reek of sex and blood. I guess you are your mother’s daughter after all.”
That jerked my head up. I squared my shoulders and tipped my chin higher, shaking my hair back from my face. “Something you neglected to tell me about, right,Mom?”
