Page 88 of Queen Takes Triune
Marne laughed, a sound of pure delight. She even clapped her hands with mirth. “Oh, Shara, dear. You are so very, very young. I love it. I do. Such sweet devotion to your handsome Blood, but so incredibly naive of you.”
My queen’s gaze dropped to the ground. Pink darkened her cheeks. She suddenly looked like a shy, awkward young human. “I was a virgin when Rik found me. I thought…”
Marne nodded sympathetically. “Taking a Blood can be a marvelous experience, but that doesn’t mean it’s love. Any Blood worth his salt knows how to make you feel just as good as any of these that you’ve already taken. I’ve taken hundreds of Blood over the years, and let me tell you, with complete sincerity, that eventually, the wonderful feeling you have with a new Blood fades.”
I wanted to wring her fucking neck with my bare hands. Just to start. Then I’d let Nevarre peck out her eyes while Itztli showed us how the Flayed One could strip the skin off a body and make it dance.
“It costs you very little to accept one of mine in exchange for all of your lives.”
“And then you’ll have a spy in my nest and in my bed,” Shara said bitterly.
“True.” Marne sat back in her chair, calmly stroking her cat. “But surely you can understand my position. You weren’t raised in a nest. You have no surviving house to guide your way. You’re a wild cannon that might misfire at the most inopportune time. This way, I can help you.”
Shara snorted. “I don’t fucking need your help.”
“You must have decided you needed something from me. Why did you uncover my mirror if you didn’t need my assistance in some way?”
She stared out at the water intently. So intently, I don’t think she heard the other queen, until Marne called her name. Again.
Turning slowly, Shara faced me. Her shoulders drooped, and I knew the decision she’d made. What choice did she have?
I’d dreamed that we could go on as before. That we could still love her with the same depth and joy that we’d known. But she was a queen.
A fucking powerful queen.
Who needed to rise to the next level, no matter the cost. We would lose everything if she refused to make this compromise.
“I’ll accept one Blood from inside your house.” She swallowed hard and nodded. “I guess you’re right. In the end, one Blood is very much like the others.”
Goddess. Hearing those words come out of her mouth hurt more than the fucking spear in my shoulder. I’d rather let the cobra queen pump me with venom and liquify my body again than hear her say such a thing.
“Perfect. I’m so glad we could come to a reasonable arrangement. You may have your choice of any of my Blood, child, except my alpha, of course. He’s relatively new and it takes so very long to break them in the way I like.”
Staring at me, Shara ground her teeth together, her bond still singing with that strange, tight sensation. Like she was on the verge of breaking. “As I said, I’ll take one from your house. Who else witnessed my birth?”
“Oh, well, I suppose it doesn’t hurt anything to tell you now that we’ve come to an agreement. Undina Ketea signed as a witness. Your mother had you sworn to both courts.”
:Skolos Triune queen,:Daire said in our bonds.:Descended from the sea goddess, Keto.:
:My mother really was a fucking genius. Hang on, Rik. I’ll be back in a minute.:
I had no idea what she meant.
But suddenly, a tentacle as thick as my thigh wrapped around her ankle and yanked her into the pool.
27
Shara
Water closed over my head. Thanks to Isis’s heavy crown, I would have sunk like a stone even without the tentacle around my ankle.
The pond had no true bottom. Marne had disguised the pool as a simple koi pond, but I passed through foot after foot of water and vegetation. It had to be large to house a sea creature sporting such a massive tentacle.
Hopefully, I wouldn’t pass out before he dragged me to him. Yes, he. I was sure he was an Aima king, though I didn’t know why Marne had him locked up. I wasn’t even sure that a lack of oxygen would even affect me. So far, I felt fine. I didn’t need to breathe. Yet.
The shrill, high-pitched noise softened as I neared his prison. It was more like music rather than an annoying, painful sound, though it wasn’t like any music I’d ever heard before. Sunlight barely flickered through the mossy fronds of plants dancing in the water. Just enough to illuminate the creature trapped inside a cave. The entrance was gated with iron bars as thick as my body, too close together for him to squeeze out more than his tentacles.
Giant tentacles curled around him and stretched out into the water. Too many for a normal octopus. It was hard to make out his shape inside the dark hole, but he had two glowing eyes that cut through the murk, and his tentacles gleamed with bright blue-green bioluminescence. From what I could see, he had a giant mouth lined with swords. Certainly large enough to swallow me whole.
