Page 16 of Princess Takes Academy
In a flash, he was gone. Taking my queen with him.
Tepeyollotl hadn’t said anything, though I wasn’t sure even a god could speak in a jaguar form. He didn’t have to say a thing. I knew.
I could read the look in his gleaming eyes easily.
Reproach. Fury.
I had left her unattended. Me. Her only Blood.
Because of me, she had broken the rules her parents had set for her protection.
We’d left the nest. We’d gone to a place of known danger. A place my own mother had died. And I’d left her. I’d turned my back on her and left her alone. I hadn’t been with her when she was attacked.
I’d failed. I’d broken my promise to him. Worse, I’d broken my promise toher. I’d sworn on her blood to always protect her.
The worst thing a Blood could ever do was allow his queen to be injured.
Sick with misery, I stared down at the man who’d hurt my queen. I didn’t even know who he was or why he’d taken her. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but that he’d hurt her, and I hadn’t been able to stop it. He’d been working with that monstrous crocodile somehow. Feeding it, maybe? Or something worse? Because the croc hadn’t eaten me.
When Mama had been taken, I’d had horrible visions anytime I closed my eyes. Mama torn apart. Eaten while she was still alive. The awful crack of bones. Her screams and wails. My mind had been all too eager to make up vivid nightmares of what had probably happened when the crocodile dragged her beneath into its dark pit.
As a child, it hadn’t occurred to me that something far worse might have happened to her.
The same fate had almost befallen my queen.
Perhaps if I eliminated the vicious crocodile—even if it was a god of some kind—then my failure would be forgiven. If nothing else, I would die trying to avenge Mama.
Grimly, I started toward the dark hole beneath the tree. I didn’t have a weapon. I didn’t even know if I could shift now with my Blood bond in tatters. But I had to do something. I had to stop this once and for all.
A jaguar dropped down in front of me. I’d say he was the biggest cat I’d ever seen in my life—if I hadn’t just seen Tepeyollotl carry his daughter to safety. Eztli was Mayte Zaniyah’s alpha, and he’d been training me to take a similar role for Xochitl.
Before I’d gone and destroyed everything.
He crouched down, turning his shoulder toward me. Offering me a ride.
I shook my head. “I’m going to go after that crocodile.”
Eztli made a low coughing sound and wrinkled his nose. I didn’t have to have a bond with him or be able to speak to jaguars to read his expression.
Yes, it was stupid. I didn’t even have a weapon. What did I think I could do against a god?
He nudged my shoulder and I winced. I’d forgotten about the crocodile’s bite. I reached up and felt the deep, jagged tears. My skin already felt hot. Aima didn’t get sick very often, but a nasty bite from a crocodile god would certainly be dangerous if left untreated.
Was I really going to charge off into a dark pit after a crocodile god with no weapon and a bum shoulder?
Yeah. I was still tempted.
Until I heard the soft whimpering cry of my queen. “Where’s Keras?”
Resigned to face her father’s wrath, I climbed onto Eztli’s back and wrapped my arms around his neck.
8
Xochitl
The next few hours blurred together. A day. Days. I wasn’t sure. Mama healed me several times. She’d never had to heal me more than once before, but I guess the vizier had really done a number on me. At least I could feel her and Papa’s bonds again, since they’d given me blood to help speed the magic pulsing through my body.
When I managed to drift off into sleep, the nightmares were horrible. I was in the dark, blind and alone. Listening to the sound of the crocodile munching on bones and tearing apart a body.
