Page 43 of Queen Takes Sunfires 2
The tree sparked with energy, and Helayna raised her hands, swaying to call her power once more to put any fire out. But rather than exploding into flames, the large trunk darkened, revealing a hollowed-out hole. I’d never noticed a single rotten crack or weakness in that trunk, but now a gaping hole opened ever wider.
A man in a kilt strode out of the shadowed interior, though he didn’t make his way deeper into the nest. “I’m Nevarre Isador. With your permission, Her Majesty Shara Isador of Triskeles will enter your nest.”
Shaking, Helayna dropped her arms and leaned wearily against her Blood. “Yes, please. Thank you for coming to our aid.”
The man flashed a smile and stepped to the side of the trunk. “You will want to move aside, Your Majesty.”
Not sure why, I moved with Helayna and her three Blood to stand by the man. The tree rattled, raining down dried needles on our heads. The ground shook as if a mighty earthquake would heave the giant tree into a pile of kindling. A dark shape flew out of the tree, making the wood groan and shriek as its bulk passed through the hole, disturbingly like giving birth. Once free of the branches, wings swept out, catching the air as the beast rose up high above the nest.
“What manner of creature is this?” One of her Blood asked softly.
“A dragon,” the other man replied cheerfully. “Leviathan’s bite is as bad as his smell, so I’d stay clear of him if I were you.”
A fireball darted out of the tree next, and I thought for sure that whatever was burning in the lake had finally gotten past the blood circle. Helayna even gasped, hand over her heart.
“Smoak, the phoenix,” the stranger said. “Followed by Llewellyn, the gryphon; Tlacel, the feathered serpent; the hairiest bear on the planet, Ezra; another fur ball, Daire; a giant black dog, Itztli; he of many tentacles, Okeanos, in his human form for obvious reasons; the last Templar knight, Guillaume; Isador consiliarius, Kevin, to whom I believe you’ve already spoken; and lastly, Her Majesty Shara Isador, last daughter of Isis, She Who Is and Was and Always Will Be, with her mountainous alpha, Alrik.”
My wolf’s nose twitched. Ignoring the other Blood, I stared at the speaker, a deep rumbling growl tearing from my chest. I couldn’t see the other wolf, but I damned well knew one was here. “Who the fuck is the wolf, then?”
“Wu Tien Xin Isador,” a voice whispered right beside me, though I turned to look, and no one was there.
The Isador queen walked into my sister’s nest with a hulking rock giant at her side. A queen, not my family, and I was an unattached Aima male. A king, no less. Practically frothing at the mouth, I braced for her deadly pull to latch on to me and haul me to my knees before her.
Still leaning heavily on her Blood, my sister curtseyed. “Your Majesty, welcome to House Ironheart. Thank you for coming to our aid.”
Shara Isador came closer, ignoring the low snarl bristling through me. “Helayna, I’m so glad to see you alive and well outside that horrible place of darkness.”
Helayna reached out to take her hands. “Thank you. I don’t know that I would have ever thought to call my Blood without you. Let me introduce you, Your Majesty. This is Dörr of the Black Mountain, Svar of the Endless Slough, and Mryk of the Bottomless Pit.”
Shara inclined her head gracefully to each of the dark alfar and didn’t question what they were or where they’d come from. Then she turned to me. Her eyes narrowed. “There is no need to growl at me, wolf king. I have no intention of taking another Blood this day. Let alone you.”
“My brother, Eivind Ironheart, Your Majesty.” I could tell from Helayna’s tone that she was silently laughing at me.
“My consiliarius found something that may interest you, wolf king.” At the queen’s words, the young human came closer and offered a thick folded parchment. Already moving away, the queens conversed quietly about what Helayna had done so far, leaving me with the human.
“What is it?” I asked him suspiciously, eying the broken wax seal. I didn’t recognize the insignia.
“A formal contract filed with the Triune several centuries ago.”
I shoved it in my back pocket and caught up to my sister. Despite the other queen’s words, my wolf still paced inside me like a caged beast.
“Ah,” Shara Isador said as her flying creatures came back toward us. The burning phoenix dropped first, blazing so brightly that I had to shield my eyes. The fire winked out, leaving a woman with long red hair in fine braids standing before the queen. “Helayna, this is Vivian, formerly of House Helios. What is the creature in the lake?”
Helios. As in Heliopolis? I stepped forward, intending to question the woman, but the man with the kilt refused to step aside. The giant wall of rock at the queen’s back gave a long look at me. As if I would make a very attractive fur rug before his queen’s fireplace.
“It’s Sepdet,” Vivian replied, shaking her head. “Plus a whole bunch of sunfires. He’s sucking them in somehow and almost pulled Leviathan in too. Luckily, he spun aside and was able to warn us to keep our distance. The sunfires are trapped and he’s basically feeding on them. We’ll have to free them first.”
“No, that’s not right.” Every single one of them turned and stared at me as grimly as the giant boulder. “Sunfires took Karmen. We can’t free them.”
Shara didn’t speak aloud, but the kilted man stepped aside, allowing me to come near. “Describe the things that took her.”
“I didn’t see the ones who took her. Only the skeletons that tried earlier.”
“Soldiers of Light,” Vivian said grimly. “If the legion is here, we’re headed for outright war.”
“They won’t be causing problems any time soon. Karmen killed them all.” I had to suppress a smug smile at the looks they all shot me.
“How many did you see?” Vivian asked.
