Page 60 of Queen Takes Blood
Someone jerked my face up off the floor by a handful of my hair. Straining my neck tight, a hard claw digging into my skin. “Should I kill him?”
“He’s an alpha, right? I might have use for him.”
Savagely, I jerked my head, tearing my throat open on the claw before Vega could react. Blood pooled on the cold marble floor, and I suddenly regretted losing a single drop. My queen’s blood was blended with mine. I’d never taste her again.
What did you taste like, my queen? Can’t I keep even that small memory?
Vega dropped my head, and I licked my blood up, desperate to regain every precious drop of Isador blood. Though I still couldn’t taste my queen, I knew she was there. I carried her inside me. I had a purpose.
Even if I couldn’t remember what it was.
“He’s too fucking dangerous.” Vega grunted with disgust, though at least she took her knee off my back. I still felt weight on my legs and my right arm, but I didn’t bother trying to shake them off. “Let me finish him off, my queen. I’ll never trust a former Isador Blood in our ranks.”
“I agree,” Keisha said. “Take him to one of the basement holding cells. I’ll take care of him personally.”
Finality rang in her words. Resignation tasted bitter and foul on my tongue despite the blood filling my mouth. I couldn’t die. My queen needed me.Goddess, help me remember. I need something to hold inside me. Some hope.
Sand pooled in the corners of my mind, trickling through the holes and broken pieces. Falling into darkness. I let myself slide deeper. Falling beneath the sprinkling crystals. Dunes crafted by the blowing winds sparkled beneath a full moon, though the sky was completely dark. I crouched like a broken, forgotten statue as sand buried me. A sphinx in the desert, guarding…
“Triune,” a different voice said loudly. I assumed the weaker queen I’d seen when I first walked in. Her owl squawked and whirred and clicked. Instinctively, I translated the meaning.Watch. Wait. For her.
For who?
“Not now, Carys,” Keisha retorted.
“One hundred percent,” the woman said, ignoring the stronger queen. “Whoever has him at her side will take her seat at the Triune.”
“Ohhhh,” Keisha whispered, a sly smile sharpening that soft sound. “That’s a different story entirely. For now, the Furies can have some fun with our new friend, but he can’t be killed or maimed.”
Vega grumbled agreement though I felt her disgust radiating from her, as if I’d personally spat in her face. She and another Blood hauled me to my feet, but I looked for the owl. I remembered seeing it before the bomb detonated in my head and rattled the world off its foundations into a new reality that didn’t make sense.
The owl—she—still sat on the woman’s shoulder. Large orange eyes stared back at me. Blink. Blink blink. Blink. Another deep whir that I felt in my gut.
Sorrow. Remember. Time.
She sorrowed with me. I would remember more over time.
A long, slow blink that made chills race down my spine. Alongtime.
So be it.
32
LLEWELLYN
TWENTY-THREE YEARS LATER
Hooded and chained, I crouched in the shadows against the back wall of the formal presentation hall. I’d gotten very good at being so still and silent that people forgot I was present. I might not be able to see or move freely but my other senses were alpha sharp. The two Furies in charge of monitoring me today reeked of fear, and no wonder.
A fucking lightning bolt had blasted so close that my exposed skin felt tender. I’d almost been able to see the strike—even though they’d taken my eyes long ago.
Something major was going down in Skye Tower. Even Keisha Skye smelled… scorched. Since my face was covered, I allowed a wide, mean smile to twist my mouth.Oh yes. Be very afraid, Skye. Vengeance is coming. My queen promised.
Watch. Wait. For her.
Could it be time? Had Isador come for me at last?
I hadn’t heard any formal announcements and the crowd was too large—and unruly—for me to hear names before the presentation. In the shocked silence since the blast, I heard only crazed laughter. Keisha’s power was storms—and someone had been powerful enough to twist her strike into a return-to-sender blast. My heartbeat thundered so loudly I couldn’t hear anything but pounding drums. I shook my head a little, wincing at the clank of chains. Drawing attention to myself. Hopefully my keepers were still too engrossed in the presentation to pay any attention to me.
