Page 34 of Queen Takes Sunfires 2
I stared at him, sorting through my own reactions. He’d managed to get me out of Heliopolis. He’d been willing to become my Blood along with the other soldiers with him, but none of us even knew exactly what that meant. He’d been the first to give me blood.
My eyes fluttered shut and I could still taste him. I could feel his blood heating my body, pushing at the numbness that I had known so long. But his blood had only stirred my hunger.
I wanted more. So much more. Now that I knew what he tasted like…
I turned my attention to the soldier who’d been kneeling beside him. The skeleton named Marcus Antonius had been replaced by a man with short, curly dark hair and brown eyes. For a man who’d just watched me drain one of his fellow soldiers to the point of unconsciousness, his eyes smoldered with intent. Clearly, he wanted to be next.
As soon as I looked at him, he leaned forward and pressed his forehead to my knee. “Your Majesty, we can’t begin to thank you.”
“For what?”
Slowly, he lifted his head, his eyes searching mine. “Your offering of blood freed us from Ra’s curse to walk as living dead. We’re yours, heart, soul, and now body too. Take every drop of blood that I possess if that’s your wish.”
I didn’t strike right away, even though my fangs throbbed, long and sharp inside my mouth, threatening to cut up my own lips if I wasn’t careful. Tipping my head slightly, I listened to my body. Energy flowed through me, but it wasn’t just my Aima heritage that seemed to be feasting.
The sunfire essence loved the blood too.
I couldn’t help but remember all the times I’d been forced to watch as dead or damaged queens were tossed to the sunfires like scraps of refuse.
Sunfire essence pulsed, surging through my veins like a molten tsunami of lava. I didn’t connect with Quasar’s consciousness again, but I could feel their agitation. Helayna said they weren’t inherently evil, but she hadn’t seen them tear bodies apart. Or felt the agony of their acid-like essence dripping on her skin.
The sundogs whined softly, a mournful sound that tugged on my heart, though I wasn’t sure that I could trust them. At all. I still had the nagging fear that the sunfires were changing me, influencing me to be more like Ra or Sepdet. I hadn’t survived all that torture and finally escaped, only to end up becoming a monster even worse than them.
One of the other former soldiers stepped closer, though he squatted rather than knelt before me. “You fear what you do not understand.”
I kept my face smooth, reserved and blank as always, though I felt the sting of his words. Iwasafraid. I trusted no one. They may have gotten me out of Heliopolis, but that didn’t mean I could trust them not to hurt me. Or lead me into feeding the sunfire essence with blood until it completely overwhelmed the last bit of myself that remained.
His hair was long and black like Sunzi’s, but his skin was darker, his eyes a deep earthy brown. I was sure he’d worn armor before, like the other soldiers, but he’d removed the shining chest plate and helmet. He didn’t carry a sword or shield, only a long golden bow and a quiver of burning arrows that dripped sunfire essence down his back.
“Which one are you?” I asked him.
“I was known as Geronimo by my enemies. I was late to these soldiers’ ranks, but I saw many evil things in my time in Heliopolis. I was initially angered that this burning god of light had seen fit to drag my spirit from its destined path. I had not lived my life in such a way to deserve eternal damnation, but that was what I endured.
“Heliopolis changed me, yes. It changed us all. Great pain and sorrow do. I feared that my core would be destroyed over the centuries, but one day, I realized that nothing could change the heart of me. I am still Goyaalé though all else was burned away.”
I closed my eyes, letting his words resonate. I too had lost so much. I was so empty. If I filled up with blood and sunfire essence, would my core endure? Or would I lose all sense of who Karmen Sunna had been destined to become before Ra dragged me from my aunt’s nest?
He took my hand in both of his, drawing my gaze up to his face. “One day, I knew why my path had changed. I was no longer angered that my spirit had been pulled to Heliopolis. Because you were there.”
Goddess. I couldn’t even comprehend what he was saying. That anyone had thought their torturous existence in Heliopolis had been worth it simply to be near me? It was ludicrous.
Though Sunzi’s scroll implied the same thing. So many blank spaces… dotted with only inconsequential memories of me.
“Blood is a solemn offering, my queen,” he continued. “You made that sacrifice for us. Now I would welcome the chance to make that sacrifice for you.”
“And I,” Marcus said, reminding me that he still knelt before me.
“And I,” the others repeated, stepping closer.
I stared at them one by one, tears burning my eyes. And yes, my fangs throbbed with anticipation. A deep hole of hunger resonated inside me, a need that only grew the longer I waited.
I had been empty and numb for so long. Did I dare…
Geronimo…No.I caught myself, changing his name to Goyaalé in my head. I refused to use the name his enemies had given to him. He tipped his head with a gentle shake to toss his hair back over his shoulder. The long, lean column of his throat beckoned. The longer I stared, his pulse thudded louder, reverberating through my skull.
Closing my eyes, I leaned closer, breathing in his scent. Tasting the warmth of his skin. I sank my fangs into his throat, shuddering at the incredible sensation. Pressure on my fangs. The hot river that immediately poured up through those fangs and into my mouth.
His hair slid across my cheek, thick and soft like velvet. I couldn’t resist touching it. Wrapping my fingers in his hair gave me something to hold onto, though he still held my other hand between both of his. He didn’t touch me in any other way, though he certainly could have.
