Page 21 of Queen Takes Blood
“Come forth, Leviathan, King of the Depths.”
Rage curled through me, a smoldering river of molten hate. “No one commands me.”
She laughed softly. “Are you sure about that?”
I smelled her blood, and then the entire cave lit up as bright as day, searing my eyes that hadn’t seen the sun in a thousand years. “I’ll pluck out my own fucking eyeballs and throw them at you before I obey the likes of you.”
“I can make it even brighter if I must, though I’d rather not cause you that kind of pain. Light bright enough to melt your scales and char your flesh.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Not even hellfire would melt my scales, though you’re welcome to try.”
Her light brightened, glinting like the noonday sun on a polished silver shield. And yeah, my fucking eyes bled but I could still fucking see well enough to drop my impressive bulk on the bitch.
Gripping her throat in my claws, I tipped my head to the side. “What was that about melting my scales?”
She fumbled for a necklace tangled in my claws. Light poured out of a clear crystal in the center of a golden disc on an equally tacky gold chain around her neck. With a twitch of my talon, I broke the chain and tossed the necklace aside, softening the brutal light.
Eyes wide, she stared up at me, her chin trembling. “Darkness flees the light of day.”
“Thisdarkness flees from nothing. Whoever sold you that bauble sent you to be my very tasty snack.”
“But— but—,” she stammered. “Impossible. She wouldn’t.”
I licked my own blood from my cheeks, letting her get a real good look at my teeth. “Theywould sell their own daughters to get another step closer to the Triune.”
Her jaw flexed. Her throat worked. She averted her face, biting her lip. Flashing a little fang at me. Disgust curled in my stomach. That might work on one of her so-called Blood but never me.
Surging up against my claws, she fought and thrashed. Her magic rose, making my scales itch. She pummeled at me frantically, whipping with air and arcs of lightning.
I let her blast at me with everything she had before I started to laugh, thought my chuckle echoed with a sharp edge of despair.Not fucking strong enough. Not even close.
This torment will never end.
“That’s all you’ve got?” I snarled in her face. “Great fucking Mother, how far Your blessed daughters have fallen if this is all the power this one can call.”
She’d torn her throat open on my claws trying to break free. My own hunger hurt more than anything she could manage to do, but I resisted the urge to feed.
If she couldn’t free me… Then first, I needed information. Though I couldn’t help but lap the spilled blood pooling beneath her head.
Panting, she finally went limp, gripping a talon in each of her hands. As if she thought she could pry my foot off her neck with her puny little fingers.
“Ready to talk yet?”
She shuddered. “We can help each other.”
I snorted out a plume of smoke that made her cough. Blood spurted from the punctures. “You’d best heal yourself if you don’t want to bleed out. I feast either way.”
“If you’re only going to kill me anyway, pray tell why would I heal myself?”
“I’ve been told that the torment of thirst as you bleed out is worse than anything I can possibly do to you.” I shrugged, lifting one wing casually. “It takes Aima queens a very long time to die. Your choice.”
“Are you always such an insufferable asshole?”
Again, I couldn’t help but laugh. I knew her game all too well. “Indeed, I am, especially to young fools like you.”
“I’m not—” Her sharp retort fell off when she realized the truth of my words.
Even if she’d lived hundreds of years, to me, she was but a blink of an eye. “So, let’s get the preliminaries out of the way. What’s your name and house?”
