Page 95 of Queen Takes Triune
“I’m so sorry,” I managed to gasp out. It was surely rude to turn my back on the waiting queen and her entire court to just walk away, but I couldn’t. Not. Go.
It was like a giant fist had seized my intestines and inexorably pulled me inch by inch toward… Something.
I rushed out of the presentation hall, clutching my stomach. Holding myself together. I shoved open a door and stared down a dark hallway. Doors were on the left and right, leading to goddess only knew where. I’d never been here before.
So what was I looking for? The fuck if I knew.
The pull dragged me down the hallway. I tried to turn back. Tried to find Rik. My Blood. But the pull slammed me against the wall. Coils tightened inside me, slicing through me. I couldn’t escape. I couldn’t go back.
Was this some last-minute trick on Marne’s part? A boobytrap? Make me think I’d won, let my guard down, and then wham, hit me with this… this…
I couldn’t even think of an appropriate word.
URGENT. COME.
I couldn’t stop.
I stumbled through another door and started to fall, but hands caught me. Rik. Supporting my elbow, he didn’t try to stop or question me. I was practically running now, blood roaring in my ears.
DOWN.
I fell to my knees, patting the ground. I couldn’t see. I didn’t even realize we’d wandered outside.
“What is it?” Rik asked. “What do you need?”
“Down.” I panted, swiping through the dirt. Leaves. Grass. Rocks. Big rocks. Stacked or… no. Tumbled. Like a ruin. I ran my hands over them blindly, seeking. A ring. A switch. Something.
“Here.” Marne said softly, her hand closing over mine. She guided my fingers over to the right and up.
I felt the faint impression in the rock, the perfect smooth place for my fingers. A hidden sharp spike that stabbed my thumb.
Like the legacy box. It needed my blood to open.
Rocks ground together, a low rumble of something large. I blinked frantically, trying to see. It was so dark. I hadn’t realized so much time had passed since…
I’d completely lost track of time. I had no idea where I was. Only that I needed to go down.
I could barely make out stone steps revealed as the ground folded aside, carrying the ruins and boulders away.
Rik took my arm, steadying me as we went down. The steps were so old they had started to crumble. But I could see a little better. As we went down, it got lighter. It didn’t make sense.
Waves crashed overhead, slamming against rocks. We were underneath the ocean. I could smell the salt. We hadn’t walked that long, so we must have crossed through another portal.
The stone steps ended at the mouth of a low, dark cave. The ceiling height was barely tall enough for me. Rik dropped to his hands and knees, crawling beside me, my hand on his shoulder. Thankfully it was only a few steps, and the cave widened to a soaring chamber.
Instead of rough-hewn rock, the walls glittered like the inside of a geode. The air was charged with the energy of a giant crystal generator.
In the center of the chamber, a slender pedestal held a dark, aged statue of a full-figured woman with a large, rounded stomach.
“Great Mother,” Guillaume whispered.
At his words, the rest of my Blood, still on their knees, leaned forward to press their foreheads to the ground. Mehen actually stretched out on his belly, prostrate before the goddess.
I started to drop to my knees too, but Marne pulled me up, locking arms with me. “We’re daughters of Her daughters. You already made your offering to Her.”
My blood, on the stone to reveal the stairs. Immense pressure still weighed inside me, making my ears throb. I still felt the incessant force tugging me toward the statue, but it wasn’t painful, now that I’d responded to Her call.
TheTriune’scall. The very call I’d dreaded.
