Page 6 of Queen Takes Sunfires 2
“We live rather simply here. I hope this isn’t too rustic for you?”
“Not at all. It’s wonderful.”
She smiled a little easier. “Do you need healing?”
The tallest man, Dörr, I thought, didn’t move or speak, but I read a tenseness around his eyes that warned me that healing might be a delicate or complicated topic. “I’m not sure what that involves.”
“Oh.” Her eyes widened and she nodded. “Of course, let me explain. If you’re weakened or injured, I can use my power to hopefully speed up your healing process. I’m not as good at healing as my mother was, but I think I could ease any pain you’re in. It does involve blood, though. We can’t access our power without blood.”
My head cocked slightly as I tuned in to my body. Was I in pain? I’d experienced pain and torture for so long that I didn’t know anything else. The solar energy still rippled inside me, easing tissue and muscle that had been strained and torn so much that I couldn’t begin to remember what it felt like not to hurt. “No more than usual.”
She hadn’t emphasized blood the same way. If everything involved blood, and the men were special to her, then I guessed she must feed them, or they fed her. Likely the latter, I decided. Like Eivind could have fed me. I closed my eyes a moment, struggling to contain the wave of hunger that flooded my senses. If I pressed my face to his throat, would I have smelled his wolf fur? Or man?
Helayna lightly touched my arms, and my eyes flew open. “Eivind said you’d been held against your will. I’m so sorry. I know how awful that is. Even after your body heals, your mind will need time to adjust.”
My jaws tightened slightly, my nerve endings screaming at the small touch. She didn’t mean any harm. In fact, she meant to comfort me. But I hadn’t been touched without pain in so long that my body didn’t remember what pleasant sensations were. “Eivind said you’d been held too.”
“Yes. I’ll tell you about it later. If you’d like.”
I nodded, surprised at how much I did want to talk about her experience. “I would.”
“Do you need anything else? You must need to feed.”
The roof of my mouth throbbed so hard I almost cried out. I held my breath a moment, waiting for the excruciating sensation to ease enough to speak. “As I said earlier, I don’t remember our ways. Do children of our kind feed? Otherwise, I don’t think I’ve ever done so.”
She touched my arm again, and this time, the sensation wasn’t so startling. “You were taken as a child? Oh, Karmen. I’m so sorry.”
“I have few memories of life before I was taken, but I’m guessing I was eight or ten years old.”
“How old are you now? How long were you captive?”
I sighed, shaking my head. “I have no idea. Time passed strangely there. We didn’t mark days or years. A long time.” A very, very long time.
“I was trapped in darkness,” she whispered, her voice shaking ever so slightly. Dörr stepped closer on her other side, drawing her against him. Thankfully, she released me as he embraced her. I didn’t think he meant me any harm unless I was actively trying to hurt his queen, but I didn’t want to be touched by a stranger, especially a male. “I don’t know how long it was, either, but Eivind thinks it was nearly a hundred years. It seems so long, and yet so short for what I endured.”
That made perfect sense. “Yes. It was the only life I ever knew except for those few short years after my birth.”
The big man wrapped his arms around her, his face low so he could whisper to her. Though I didn’t hear any words, I could feel a sense of communication. The comfort of warm safety, silent assurance, and deep affection that meant more than love or loyalty. When she lifted her head, tears streaked her cheeks, and I envied her. Not because of the man who’d held her when she needed it.
But because she could show her emotions. She trusted him, and even me, enough to allow her vulnerability to show. I couldn’t comprehend such trust. Not after Heliopolis.
“Let me show you to the guest room. I found some clothing that might work for you, and I thought you might like to bathe or simply rest before we talk.” One of the other men went first up the stairs, then she followed with Dörr at her side. I followed them, though I kept a nervous eye over my shoulder to see if the other man followed. Thankfully, he remained downstairs, a guard at the door.
“I’d offer to feed you myself,” Helayna said. “But it’s complicated between queens. If you were near death, I’d give you what you needed, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable giving you blood without your full understanding of what it meant. Blood forms a bond with our kind. A lasting bond that cannot be broken. For two queens, it makes them siblings.”
My stomach knotted, both with hunger and dread. I didn’t need or want any lasting bond to anyone, though I wasn’t sure what that meant either. “Like you and Eivind?”
At the top of the stairs, she paused, shaking her head. “Not quite. We were siblings at birth. Queens can take siblings by blood at any time throughout their lives. It forms a lifelong tie, though, and since you don’t remember our ways, I wouldn’t want you to feel that I’d trapped you into an alliance.”
I let out a long, slow breath. Thank the goddess Eivind had brought me to someone with scruples. What if I’d gone to some power-hungry queen like Ra who’d bonded me into this sibling alliance before I even understood what it meant? “Thank you. I sincerely appreciate your consideration. What exactly is this bond you speak of?”
She reached up to cup her Blood’s cheek. “He’s inside me, and I’m inside him. I hear his thoughts, and he knows mine before I’m even aware of what I’m thinking. There can be no secrets between us.”
As much as the throb in my mouth was driving me to insanity, I could only count myself extremely lucky that I hadn’t tasted Eivind’s blood, or anyone else’s for that matter. I had too many secrets to shield right now, until I decided how to proceed.
A few steps down the hall, she opened a door on the right. “Make yourself at home and let me know if you need anything. Hopefully some of the clothes work at least until we can make better arrangements. None of my Blood drive, but we can place an order to be delivered. If you feel like talking, come downstairs when you’re ready.”
I stepped into the room and she shut the door behind me. I heard them quietly descending the stairs. Leaving me alone.
