Page 52 of Queen Takes Sunfires 2
Shara’s arms quivered, blood dripping down her chin as she glanced over at the new queen. “Can you handle them?”
“Yes.”
It was a massive sign of implicit trust when Shara allowed her arms to drop down to her side. The shield collapsed and the swirling, chaotic energy surged toward Karmen. I couldn’t help but take an involuntary step toward her. I didn’t know why. I couldn’t help her. Not with this. But still, the blazing mass of energy that a Triune queen couldn’t hold now streaked toward Karmen like a massive flaming comet.
The energy slammed into her. Swarmed around her. Exploding and swirling and shooting upward like an erupting volcano. And she didn’t budge, flinch, or even stagger beneath the onslaught.
One of the skeletons roared, “All hail Her Imperial Majesty, God’s Wife, Karmen Sunna, Queen of Heliopolis!”
The howling, swirling black mass suddenly stilled. The winds died. Objects crashed to the ground—Harris’ car, the bridge remnants, boats, bits of metal twisted beyond recognition. In the suddenly deafening silence, Karmen stepped closer to the blood circle marking the edge of Ironheart’s nest. If she crossed it…
I took another step toward her, and something slammed into my shoulder so hard I staggered backwards. Harris actually caught me, keeping me on my feet. Stunned, I looked down at the shaft of a golden arrow buried in my shoulder. The tip blazed inside me, spreading a molten heat that threatened to combust me into a flaming torch.
Gripping the shaft, I yanked the arrow out, but I could still feel the poison burning inside me.
“What the fuck, man?” Harris eyed the arrow. “Are they shooting their allies now?”
I grunted in response. I wasn’t an ally to them, and I knew exactly why.
She’d found a way to take Soldiers of Light, or their sunfires, or both, as Blood.
22
Karmen
Staring out at where the lake had been, I was actually fairly calm despite the devastation and my dread at seeing Sepdet again. Sunna had been burned to the ground, so I’d seen much worse destruction of a nest. But this was Helayna’s home. She’d welcomed me in, given me a place to rest at least temporarily, and now I’d returned that favor by bringing hell to her door.
All the water was gone. Trees were blackened stumps. Ash, soot, and twisted, melted metal covered the ground.
Thick blackness swirled in the center of the lake’s crater. Shadows cloaked what stood in the heart of the lake, but I could feel it coming nearer. He knew I had arrived, just as I knew he was there despite the darkness concealing him.
Sunfires blazed all around me, inside me, filling me up with frantic energy. They were afraid of the thing in the lake. They knew what was happening to the sunfires sucked too close to that black hole. Like Quasar, they were trapped in those shadows. Unable to escape the overwhelming gravity pull that Sepdet used like a net to catch and draw them into his trap.
Time seemed to slow, as if we were in the dimension where House Sunna still existed. I heard voices but couldn’t understand their words. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but drawing Sepdet out.
I had to get as close to him as possible, while minimizing how much he would hurt me. Hopefully he’d be too concerned with reclaiming God’s Wife and taking me to Heliopolis in victory rather than trying to punish me right away.
The black mass slithered closer to the shore, moving very much like a giant nest of snakes. I knew the dark strands were drained sunfires, not tentacles or even extensions of Sepdet’s power. But I still didn’t relish the thought of them touching me in any way.
My Blood flanked me like they’d probably done a thousand times as I passed through the golden streets, unseeing, unfeeling as I headed to Ra’s chamber. Now, though, I saw and felt everything. I was painfully aware of every danger and threat as the darkness pressed closer. My golden bee dress hugged me tighter, and I swore they felt harder, as if they were plates of armor.
:You are not alone,:Sunzi whispered in my mind. He didn’t touch me, hoping to keep up the illusion that they were merely Soldiers of Light escorting me as before, but his touch in my mind was a comforting balm. Marcus stood on my opposite side, a sundog on either side of him. Despite the bees, War pressed against my leg, his head hitting me mid-thigh.
:He comes,:Chak Ek’ said.:The vizier is not present.:
:He’s probably hiding in Heliopolis like the snake he is,:Kuros growled in my head.:We must eliminate him as soon as possible.:
I agreed, but I could only take on one problem at a time, and right now, Sepdet was my main concern.
The shadows roiled and swirled as he came closer. A deep, red glow sparked inside those shadows, helping me pinpoint his location. Long black horns swept above his head. Minotaur-like shoulders parted the darkness. Liquid fire dripped from his arms, the captive sunfires ready to curl out like whips.
I remembered those lashes eating into my flesh. Tearing my skin. Burning me so badly the marks never healed. Not until I had crossed through to this world and woke in a dingy Chicago hotel.
“So, High Lord Amun was right.” Sepdet’s voice rumbled the ground, a deep bass like a distant thunderstorm. “Some of you did find her.”
Sun Tzu saluted with his sword. “We were charged with protecting God’s Wife, my lord. We have done so against all odds.”
Sepdet threw his head back, letting out a roar that made my bees buzz with alarm. “You will address me as Your Imperial Majesty now.”
