Page 21 of Queen Takes Sunfires 2
And then, I felt her fangs sinking deep into my sunfire. She bit out of instinct. So angry, so furious, she didn’t even think how impossible it would be to harm one, let alone feed on it.
But it wasn’t impossible. Not for this solar queen. My sunfire firmed into something more like flesh, wrapping around her so she was encased in molten fire.
While it fed her.
The flow of essence built inside her as if the creature bled energy for her. Her pain eased, even as the fire roared higher.
I had hated many things in my lifetime, especially the god of light and everything he stood for. But in that moment, I hated my sunfire more, because it could do what I could not. It could feed her. Protect her. Wrap her up in a semblance of a body.
Not the dead bones of a long-forgotten warrior.
Sensing my tumult, my sunfire settled back over my skeleton, flowing over my shoulders and down my arms so that I too could hold our queen, though the molten light softened my bony grip. I still couldn’t believe that she had gained sustenance from the sunfire, but if it could help her, I would give her every drop of essence that I carried. Even if it meant I crumbled into a pile of dust and armor.
“We must be away!” The Impaler bellowed. “They approach our flank!”
Before I could even open my mouth to ask who attacked, the sunfire filled my mind with an image. A tall blood-red shadow with curved horns rising dark above his head, with blazing ropes of molten sunlight whipping around him.
Sepdet.
Our queen’s eyes widened with horror. She, too, saw the image shared by my sunfire. She knew Sepdet all too well. Aurelian had been horrible, but at least he had a soldier’s honor. Granted, a soldier who thought nothing of wiping out entire villages and carrying off their women, but at least he understood the hierarchy of command.
Sepdet had only inherited his father’s nastier tendencies.
:I will burn them all.:Her words sizzled in my head, in everyone’s head, carried by the shared sunfire collective.:I won’t go back.:
My sunfire didn’t speak words the same way as she did, but it showed me her light dimming. Her fire blown out to ash. The blue flames in her eyes going dead. She’d burn herself out if she took on Sepdet and his ilk now. No doubt the bastard had gathered up the rest of the Soldiers of Light that hadn’t defected with either me or Aurelian. Plus he still blazed with sunfire energy. In fact, I’d never seen him glow with so much energy before. He was stronger than ever.
That gave me pause. What one knew, they all knew. If the demons riding us, giving us some semblance of life, were also betraying us to the remainder of our enemy…
My sunfire didn’t usually convey emotions, but a blast of simmering heat slammed through me that could only be fury. It wasn’t directed at me, though it took me a moment to understand.
Sepdet might have sunfires with him—but they burned to escape his control. Somehow, he’d managed to bind them to his will. We didn’t have time to study his tactics, though. If attacking him now would dim our queen’s power, then the best alternative was retreat and devise a new plan of attack.
But where, that was the question. We needed a place of safety, but somewhere she wouldn’t fear to go. Heliopolis was in complete turmoil, and none of us knew the mortal plane after so long. Then I remembered the place she’d gone to in her mind.
As soon as I thought of it, my sunfire cast a burning ring of light ahead of us, shifted its shape back into a steed, and galloped for the portal. My comrades followed close on our heels.
But I, Sun Tzu, carried our queen in my arms. My sunfire still poured essence into her, filling her with more and more strength. Making me think that perhaps…
Beyond all hope….
We could serve as her Blood, even if only through our sunfires.
10
Karmen
The burning didn’t stop. Fire spread inside me, unchecked and untamed. But at least the pain had eased. In fact, I actually felt…
Incredible.
I didn’t know what had possessed me to try and bite a sunfire. I was shocked when I tasted something on my tongue that wasn’t blood or smoldering fire. It tasted sweet and thick, hot and slow as it steadily trickled down my throat. Warming my belly. Meeting the sundog poison inside me and melding into something that filled me with energy and light.
The borrowed clothing fell away, burned into ash. My skin and flesh seemed fine, despite the tearing and blackening. As if the fire pouring through my body had somehow cleansed me, hardened me into something new. A soft clay pot now fired into ceramic. But not fragile or brittle. Not at all.
No, I felt like I could leap mountains and battle anyone, even Sepdet. Maybe even Ra. I laughed softly, shaking my head. I sounded delusional even to my ears. Perhaps I’d finally cracked under the strain.
If someone had told me a bunch of Soldiers of Light would come to my aid and protect me from Sepdet, I’d have laughed in their face. Me, the woman who never showed any emotion to avoid drawing Ra’s fury.
