Page 12 of Queen Takes Sunfires 1
Sweat broke out on my forehead. An image blazed in my mind. A golden hand. Fingers of molten fire. Stroking me. Burning me.
I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood, but the small pain made the horror recede.
"Don't you dare," the wolfman snapped, all teeth and fury again.
I sucked on the small puncture in my lip, making sure none of my blood escaped. I didn't know much—but that was important. It'd been drilled into my head at an early age. "Dare what?" I retorted, refusing to look at him. I wrapped my arms around my midsection, holding myself together. I felt like I might fall apart. Unravel. Explode into a thousand pieces. Tension strained inside me, vibrating with urgency. If I didn't find a way to ease that strain... I wouldn't make it another night in this strange new world.
"You know damned well what I'm talking about." He at least started the vehicle again and pulled back out onto the road.
"Do I? Really? Why don't you explain it to me?"
He drove in silence a few moments. He must have decided that he agreed with me, because he let out another grunt beneath his breath. "You don't know anything about queens or houses? The Triune? Your goddess? Anything?"
"I already told you that I remember my name and very little else." Sadness welled inside me. Grief for someone I'd loved, a very long time ago. I closed my eyes, searching for the memory, but it dissolved into nothingness. "I've been... somewhere else. Not here. None of this looks familiar."
Grudgingly, he nodded. "My sister was held somewhere not too long ago. Goddess only knows what she suffered in the years she was gone."
I carried an ocean of tears inside me. Without even knowing this woman's name or anything else of her history, my body knew instinctively that she had suffered, too. Maybe not exactly the same, but there was a kinship there. A constant, nagging fear and rage that made me both vulnerable and ferocious.
Never again, I resolved silently.I will never be held captive again.
"Do you know how long you were held?"
"Not really." I was pleased that my voice sounded normal and even despite the sandpaper roughening my throat. "An eternity. I suspect that I was a child when I was taken. I remember climbing a tree to pick olives."
He glanced at me, his eyes narrowed with consideration and curiosity. "Aima queens are hard to set an age to unless you know your lineage. But there aren't too many places that olive trees will grow. Does the name Marne Ceresa mean anything to you?"
I shook my head as I repeated the name slowly. "No."
"Describe the place you were held. At least what you remember."
I loosened the fierce hug around my midsection because I was starting to find it difficult to breathe. I settled for threading my fingers together and gripping my hands together tightly. "It was very bright all the time. The sun never stopped shining. It was merciless. Punishingly bright. Sear your eyeballs, fry your skin, scramble your brain bright."
"And that's why you want to know when the sun comes up? Because I can assure you that the sun isn't like that here."
"No. There was something else there. We called them sunfires."
"We who?"
My bottom lip trembled before I could control it. "There were others. Like me."
"Other queens?" He sounded skeptical, as if he hadn't just told me his sister had been trapped and held against her will, too.
"Yes. Not many, but over the years, or however long I was there, other women came. I didn't know they were queens, or Aima, as you call them. But there were other women. Well, mostly girls."
"Sorry, babe, but I don't believe you. There haven’t been Aima queens young enough to be calledgirlsin centuries."
Evidently this was going to be a pattern with him. I didn't have time for anyone who doubted my word or argued with my own memories, no matter how scarce they were. I might not remember much, but the things I did remember, I'd rather forget. They were engraved in my brain. Forever.
"Whatever." I turned my head enough to stare out the window, trying to memorize the passing landmarks. The buildings went by in a blur, a bewildering sprawl of city. Very much like where I'd been, I realized. There had been buildings, walls, houses, palaces, and... pyramids. I was sure of it. But there was something very strange about them. I couldn't put my finger on the difference exactly. "Believe me or not. I won't go back. Where are you taking me?"
"I'm going to drive out of the city while I try to think of the best place to take you. Do you know what a nest is?"
I shook my head, not willing to give my voice to a man who didn't believe.
"Given your background, I think you might want to talk to my sister. She might be able to help you heal from the trauma you endured."
There was no healing from something like this. I would carry the scars on my soul. Like a delicate crystal glass, the cracks and splinters and chips that would never be healed inside me. All I could do was hope nothing else broke me completely.
