Page 55 of Queen Takes Blood
My stomach tightened as I unsheathed the obsidian knife I had taken from my sire in Teotihuacan. I still carried it—as a reminder of what I could be if my control ever slipped for a second. If we had to kill the Isador alpha, then I’d need the monster ready at the forefront. It was worth the risk to offer sacrifice to our goddess in our time of need. “Teteoh Innan, guide us with Your will.”
The knife slid eagerly through my flesh as if it hungered for blood, even my own. I added my blood to Tlacel’s and started to drop to my knees. We’d need to be low to avoid being seen from the road. But something struck me across the shoulders and back of the head so hard it almost knocked me out. My controlled kneel turned into a graceless slump and tumble flat on my stomach, my chin rebounding on the stone with a loud crack.
“Itztli? What’s wrong?”
He sounded a million miles away. My body lay limp and disconnected from my mind but my senses shot into overdrive. I heard the distant rumble of a Hummer’s engine. The clamor of deep voices inside making their plans, assuring their queen. I felt her anxiety like an ice-cold blade twisting in the base of my skull. She was so fucking young and desperately worried about making a mistake. Of offending Mayte.
Which even I knew was ridiculous.Weneeded Isador’s help to break the geas set by House Skye. Butshedidn’t know this. She didn’t know us at all.
Still incapacitated and unable to move, I could see her. The elegant gown she wore, royal purple fading to soft lavender-gray and silver. Shining black hair wrapped around her head with a heavy golden crown of horns holding a red sun disc. The curve of her lips when she smiled. The sparkle of her eyes—very much goddess eyes both dark and light, a midnight sky filled with glorious stars. I smelled the sultry perfume of night blooming jasmine in her scent mixed with desert sands and crystal water.
Coatlicue’s voice whispered in my head, deep and ancient like the earth itself. :This queen is powerful enough to use—and sheathe—the obsidian blade of Zaniyah.:
A graceful foot appeared just inches from my face, clad in a purple slipper. A matching ribbon wrapped around her ankle. A fairytale shoe fit for a princess. That stomped down viciously on a platter-sized tarantula, grinding it beneath her delicate heel.
Quivering, I opened my eyes. Tlacel cradled my head in his lap, his bleeding hand hovering nearby, ready to press to my mouth. He knew my reluctance to feed all too well—though he feared he might need to heal me despite the monster his blood might release.
I rolled away, snapping to my feet. Grabbing his arm, I dragged him along beside me stumbling down the pyramid steps. I panted out, “Our destined queen.”
Now he was the one hauling me back down the trail to the house. In his bond, a single thought hammered with every beat of our hearts.:We’re here, my queen!:
* * *
Shara takes Itztli and Tlacel as her Blood in Queen Takes Queen.
There’s also a bonus short story, “Queen Takes Twins,” available in Queen Takes More.
QUEEN TAKES… LLEWELLYN ISADOR
Songs: Dangerous and I’m Back
by Royal Deluxe
Special thanks to Galadriel Johnson for naming Thierry
30
LLEWELLYN
Silent and grim, I stood against the wall and watched my queen say her final goodbyes to her Blood.
To an outsider, it might have appeared to be an innocent enough scene. At first glance, a woman sat on a low chaise while her close acquaintances brushed her hair. A simple, domestic task that still managed to be intimate.
But nothing involving Esetta Isador was ever simple.
Dressed in a white silk negligee, she reclined over the arm of the chaise, her dark hair spread out like a thick mantle. So much hair that eight Blood had their hands in those tresses, stroking brushes, combs, their fingers, and even their faces through every magnificent lock.
Such hair didn’t exist on a mortal woman. Shining like liquid silk, as thick and soft as fur, each strand glistened with power, floating around her body with a mind of its own. Some of her hair was braided into cords as thick as my wrist, dotted with shining jewels and gold. Other sections of her hair rippled to the floor, flowing like a treacherous river. Even when she was standing, her hair dragged behind her like a royal train unless she wore it up, and its weight would drag a normal woman to her knees.
Though Esetta never even inclined her head.
She carried more power in her hair than most queens ever wielded in the entirety of their very long lives. As her Blood, we guarded every precious strand as keenly as her blood.
The knowledge of what she intended to do made me so physically ill that I had to drop my gaze to the floor until I could compose myself. The other Blood dampened her hair with their tears, but her alpha didn’t have that luxury.
One by one, she kissed them, whispering something to each Blood that even I couldn’t hear. No one kept secrets better than her. Even from me, her closest Blood and the one who held a large portion of her heart, though she loved many.
I couldn’t keep bitterness from leaking through our bond. The fury that made me tremble and pant for breath. The dread that made my stomach churn and iced her blood in my veins. Not for myself. I couldn’t care less about what happened to me.
