Page 13 of Queen Takes Blood
The red glow dimmed, though I could still feel her. A startlingly young queen. I’d wager not even thirty years old. A queen born… Here. In a land not known for queens at all. In a world where fewer queens were born each year.
Calling the Executioner.
I’d never been called by a queen before. Desideria had found me trapped and desperate in the Domme prison. She’d taken my oath to serve before she offered her blood. I’d been forced to choose between endless torture at the hands of the king’s dogs, and endless killing at the command of my queen.
Not much of a choice. Though in hindsight…
I still would have chosen to serve the queen. Even knowing what she would force me to do.
I was the Executioner for a reason. It was my nature. My strength. My born instincts had led me to join the most elite killing squad of my time for dozens of tours all around the globe before ever tasting a queen’s power.
I could choose to ignore this new queen’s call. Already, it was fading, though my scars still felt tight and tender at the memory of her call burning through me. I could go inside, lie down on the thin, worn mattress, and drift undisturbed for weeks. Only to hope that I roused again. That I still had strength to drive and change my location before a queen with fewer scruples might choose to come investigate.
Or I could serve this young queen, where no queen should exist. My interest was definitely piqued. What manner of queen would she be? What court? How strong would she be?
Strong enough to call the Executioner, when even the queen of Rome had not been able to compel me.
The hell horse snorted inside me, eager to run. Ready to charge to war and carry a new queen’s standard. Battle, killing, and blood.
“You sure about that, old man?”
The human’s threat echoed through my head as the call faded to a gentle whisper. She was a very young queen, and I was so very, very old. Did I even have it in me to give my oath to her?
Something poked me hard enough in the chest that I grunted. A very strong queen—with a very strong alpha. Also young and raw by the feel of him, though it was hard to tell without the queen’s blood strengthening my gift.
Fucking hell. The Executioner refused to play nursemaid to a wet-behind-the-ears Blood and a child queen.
An image of her flashed through me, searing my mind to ash. She was no child but a woman grown. A queen more than happy to have two Blood wrapped around her in bed. Her laughter rippled through me, lush and sensual like velvet, trailing over my skin and then withdrawing into the distance. Only hours away.
My hell horse let out a strident neigh that cracked my spine, and then softer, a warm, low nicker. Stallion to mare.
I’d fucked plenty of queens and queens’ Blood in my day. But I had never fuckedmyqueen. Desideria had never wanted me like that, thank the goddess.
Before my heart beat again I was inside the cheap room. Shoving my blades into their hiding places all over my body. Snagging up the newly-purchased case and the rest of my gear. The Templar blade would have to wait to be cleaned another day.
After I claimed my place at my queen’s side.
8
GUILLAUME
Thirst blazed, my fangs throbbing in agony.
I hadn’t tasted a queen’s blood in a hundred years. Ironically, I hadn’t even thought about it. My only concern had been escaping the queen of Rome and then concealing my location while I hunted for my lost sword. At the prospect of joining this new, young queen, my hunger roared to life and raged like it would never be quenched again.
I drove so hard up the interstate that the Mustang shimmied beneath me. Weaving in and out of traffic, the engine at an all-out roar like my thirst, my foot pressing the pedal to the floor. Luckily, I’d filled up the tank before getting the hotel room. It was going to be close, but I was pretty sure that I could reach her without having to stop for gas.
Hours crept by, giving me time to reflect, both upon my past service and what this new queen might ask of me. The complications that I brought with me. She and her Blood were too young to have even been alive when I was still the Executioner of the Triune, though I could only imagine the tales they’d heard. None of them would be pleasant.
If she could bring me back to some semblance of my former strength, her alpha was probably shitting his pants if he knew anything about me at all. Desideria had delighted in sending me to her rivals, letting me get close and personal with anyone and everyone in the court.
Until the killing began.
Inevitably, the alpha had to be killed first. The rest of the Blood were then easy to pick off one by one. Then Desideria would make her grand entrance and overtake the queen’s entire court, forcing the weaker queen to bend knee and offer throat to her.
Over and over and over.
I’d have to be careful entering this queen’s court without antagonizing her alpha. I was too weak to fight any Blood, let alone him.
