Page 54 of Queen Takes Blood
Lifting his head, he pulled back slightly. There was a mark on his cheek that hadn’t been there before. It looked like an inked tattoo, but when I touched the mark, it felt like part of his skin.:Black sun.:
:Red spiral.:He touched my cheek and let me see the red mark swirling on my cheek that had nothing to do with the burns that his blood was healing.:Mama is finally free.:
29
ITZTLI
Four hundred and sixty-five years later
House Zaniyah rarely held formal court. This time, we prepared for a complete takeover. Whether it would be hostile or peaceful was yet to be determined.
Mama had passed from this world, but before her death, she gave us an heir, though even Grandmama couldn’t—or wouldn’t—say who Mayte’s sire was. My sister now sat at the head of the table as queen of Zaniyah, though Grandmama sat at her right hand, frail but still sharp as a whip. On Mayte’s other side, her jaguar god, Tepeyollotl, sat bouncing my niece, Xochitl, on his knee. The true treasure of Zaniyah that we’d all willingly die to keep safe.
Mayte’s other four Blood stood around the room with Grandmama’s aged alpha. Other than myself and my brother, the only other person present was our consiliarius, Bianca.
“Tell us what you can about House Isador,” Mayte ordered.
“House Isador was presumed dead with no remaining queen when Selena disbanded her nest in London.” Bianca scanned her notes. “No one knew she had managed to have an heir, let alone with a human. Her consiliarius said to expect a party of nine. I’m assuming that will include Gina herself, leaving seven Blood. I don’t know much about any of them but the rumors are flying. Especially since the Christmas miracle has been running all over the news. That had to be some type of dragon that Shara Isador called as Blood.”
“Seven,” Mayte whispered, biting her lip. “Can we handle that many if things go badly?”
“You doubt us, my heart?” Tepeyollotl’s words rumbled with a thread of malice that wormed through my gut, stirring my own darkness. As the jaguar god, he was also an aspect of Tezcatlipoca, Smoking Mirror. The dark side of the coin. Like me.
Though I cut sharper and deeper than any obsidian mirror. “I recommend you keep me and Tlacel as your secret reserve, at least until the formal procession. We can observe her Blood from a distance, and if needed, we’ll take out her alpha.”
My sister feared greatly for her daughter, but when she met my gaze, I saw Coatlicue’s eyes staring back at me. The eyes of a mother who’d destroy anything and anyone who threatened her child. “You can handle her alpha?”
I clenched my jaws, biting back the sharp retort. Tact was not one of my strengths, and I didn’t care to upset my sister more than she already was with her child at risk.
Tlacel didn’t posture with a weapon or bristle but he shook his head slightly to toss his hair back off his shoulders, making sure everyone could see the spiral tattoo he’d brought home from Teotihuacan. “We eliminated the oldest Aima House on this continent without issue, including their queen, and that was well over four hundred years ago. We’re even stronger now. Between the two of us, this alpha should be wary.”
“So we keep Xochitl hidden with Tepeyollotl as her closest protection. My brothers will devise a plan of attack to eliminate the alpha if we have to fight. And our Blood will keep Grandmama and I alive as long as possible. Worst case, we abandon the nest and take Xochitl south as quickly as possible. We can disappear into the jungle and regroup.”
“That’s assuming this queen is even strong enough to break Skye’s geas on the nest.” Grandmama grunted softly, shaking her head. “How young is she? A bare twinkle of her mother’s eye and half human at that. I don’t think it’s likely at all. That’s a nasty piece of work that even the two of us haven’t been able to unravel, and I’ve put my best magic at it for decades.”
“My calculation puts Shara Isador between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-three,” Bianca added. “But she’s strong enough that every major house in Europe has been calling us since the news report ran. They know she had to go through us to get to Venezuela.”
Mayte grimaced. “Which means Keisha Skye must know I have contact with a new queen. That I might beg her assistance with the geas.” She sighed heavily and met my gaze again, her eyes troubled. “What if she claims you both as Blood before we’re able to come to a peaceful agreement?”
Despite her very justified concerns, I couldn’t help the immediate traitorous leap of my heart at the thought of finally being called as Blood. When Keisha Skye had come to the nest, I’d hoped she might be our destined queen. Though I’d felt nothing but unease as I watched her not-so veiled threats and blatant, one-sided commands, as if my sister wasn’t queen of a long and honorable tradition in her own right.
Plus my nose had sensed something not right in Keisha Skye, regardless of her claimed status as the strongest North American queen. Not as overt as the sense of death and wrongness in Teotihuacan, but I’d rather the goddess take my heart now than ever risk allowing such a queen to call me as Blood.
“I haven’t sensed any indication from Coatlicue that we should respond to this queen.”
Though perhaps I had misunderstood Coatlicue’s vision. It had been so long ago, and we’d been waiting for centuries. I certainly didn’t feel a queen’s call rolling in advance of the Isador contingent coming to our nest.
Bianca looked up from her phone, her hand trembling. “Gina texted that they’re approximately fifteen minutes away.”
I inhaled deeply, trying to understand the woman’s nerves. She hadn’t acted so anxious when Keisha Skye had visited us forty or so years ago, and Skye was the queen of New York City. Granted, we did have a lot riding on this young queen. Even Mayte’s nerves were wound tight as she kissed her daughter one last time before Tepeyollotl took her to the protected hidden room in the old wine cellars beneath the house.
Tlacel touched my shoulder. “If we hurry, we can probably get to the pyramid for a glimpse of them before they approach the blood circle.”
Not a bad idea, though that would put us at the furthest edge of the nest if Mayte ran into any trouble. Plus, we could offer a sacrifice to Coatlicue, and She might offer a vision or sign that would help us. “Let’s go.”
We trotted outside through the back entrance and Grandmama’s gardens to the trees that backed up to our home. Light and graceful, Tlacel set a quick pace up the familiar trail that had our hearts pounding and blood flowing. From a distance, the pyramid we’d built to honor Coatlicue looked more like a pile of stones on an overground hill than anything like the fine buildings in Teotihuacan or Tenochtitlan. The top wasn’t nearly as high as the Pyramid of the Sun but it would provide a perfect view of the road that wound around to the front entrance of Valle de Zaniyah.
By the time we climbed to the top, I dripped with sweat. Tlacel unsheathed his blade and cut his palm, sprinkling blood on the main altar stone. “Coatlicue, Mother of the Gods, please accept our sacrifice.”
