Page 62 of Queen Takes Blood
Smoak had always been with me, so I guessed that I was born with her. Gender wasn’t something sunfires really cared about, but her energy felt more feminine to me, at least here. So far, she’d managed to keep me alive. The sunfires recognized Smoak and left me alone for the most part, but there were a handful of Soldiers of Light that delighted in tormenting everybody they were allowed to mess with, which was pretty much anybody. Even Ra’s captured queens suffered under Sepdet’s solar lash when the god decided they needed to be punished.
A blaring blast of light stabbed through my mind. A wave of molten sun that instantly chapped my lips, shriveled my lungs, and burned my thoughts to ash.:Assemble.:
Time for another fucking game. My stomach quivered, a mess of queasy anticipation. I’d been drilling regularly with one of the Soldiers of Light who hadn’t outright tried to behead me as soon as I asked for training. I had no idea of his history on earth, but the soldier known as the Impaler possessed the kind of twisted fighting instincts that would gut a man simply so he could strangle him with his own intestines.
Exactly the kind of skills I needed to win. Assuming Ra ever let me fight.
I volunteered every time he called an assembly, even though he set impossible challenges. His Soldiers of Light were immortal skeletons, for fuck’s sake. They didn’t bleed and couldn’t die again. At worst, I might be able to stomp a skull into dust, but I’d have to chop the skeleton up to even get that far, against warriors famous for the battles and strategies they’d developed hundreds and thousands of years ago.
I might be some kind of demigod but the only warfare I knew was survival in the breeding grounds where females were treated like meat. Ra fucked like a demon-god possessed, working his way through every female at his disposal like nothing would ever satisfy him, but even he had some limits. He left me alone—though I was fair game for Sepdet and Aurelian’s Sol Invictus legion. Sepdet was my fucking half-brother, though that didn’t stop the disgusting piece of offal from touching me.
Aurelian used his sunfire to torture me and Smoak both, which hurt more than anything else. The sunfires shared a collective consciousness, so one being hurt made them all hurt. It was fucking sick—and he loved every fucking minute of it.We have to get out of this place, and winning one of the games is the only way.
The denizens of Heliopolis gathered in the open-air temple surrounded by golden columns. White linens hung from the columns, the only softness in the entire space, though they didn’t provide any shade from the brutal sun. With a golden floor, the temple reflected all the sun right back up, magnifying the heat and brightness into pure misery. Naturally Ra loved making us all gather for his entertainment. Sometimes just so he could watch those of us with living bodies suffer in his never-ending sun.
The various legions of the Soldiers of Light formed into perfect lines before the Sun Throne positioned between two gold obelisks that stabbed the sky. I never really knew where to stand. I wasn’t one of the elite guard, and there wasn’t a section just for spawn. As the Impaler walked by, he lightly tapped my shoulder with the head of his spear, though he didn’t pause his step. With a shrug, I followed him, though I regretted that decision when he walked to the very front of the gathered legions. Without a word, he made room for me to stand on his left on the edge of the center aisle.
Thunder rolled in a cloudless sky and the sun boiled brighter, a punishing wave of heat and light. “All hail mighty Ra,” the High Priest called out loudly. Frankincense and myrrh incense wafted in the air as he walked down the aisle. “Lord of Sun, Radiant Majesty of the Heaven, Maker of All, King of the Gods, Exalted One, He Who Rules, Lord of Heliopolis.”
The temple trembled beneath the force of Ra’s footsteps. Molten gold dripped from the tips of his fingers and he left puddles in his wake. At least this time he’d wrapped a long white cloth around his hips, but it was quickly coated in hardening clumps of gold. He sat on his throne and gave his assembled guard a benevolent smile—that immediately made my stomach clench with dread. The god of light was never kind or merciful.
“Bring my witches.” His voice boomed, rocking the temple enough that the obelisks swayed like masts on a mighty ship.
I locked my knees and jaws tight, determined to not show any emotion, regardless of who he brought out or what happened to them. It was impossible to count days or years in a place where the sun never set, but I hadn’t been to the breeding grounds in quite some time. Not since I’d been practicing my own weapons skills and hanging around with the more tolerant soldiers.
Ra especially liked to capture young queens. The younger the better.
Please, please don’t march out a bunch of children. I can’t bear it.
Shockingly, only two women walked up the center aisle with priests before and after them. The red-headed woman, Karmen, had been a girl of ten or twelve when she was first brought with her mother to Heliopolis. The other woman, Dawn, had been here before I was born and bore the title “God’s Wife,” Ra’s current favorite. Honestly, I was shocked she was still alive, though the brittle look in her eyes and the tension singing in her slight frame told me she was near her breaking point. Who wouldn’t be?
The two women were dressed like royalty in fine white linen and beautiful jewels around their necks and wrists. Dawn wore a golden crown with long sun-ray spikes above her flowing platinum hair. As God’s Wife, she usually sat on the lower portion of the throne at Ra’s feet, but the High Priest blocked her path. Standing shoulder to shoulder, the two women clutched each other’s hands.
“We have an interesting new challenge today.” Ra lounged casually in his throne, still smiling despite the thunder booming in his voice. “Step forward, Dawn Aos, and receive your instructions.”
Dawn turned her head toward Karmen with a quick shared look of desperation that I felt in my bones. Goddess, I knew that look of panic. That sick feeling of dread. I’d felt it so many times myself. It was never a good thing for your name to be on Ra’s foul lips.
The priests herded Karmen over to stand by the High Priest facing the assembled troops. I had a feeling he’d be seating her in the God’s Wife position next, especially if Dawn didn’t fare well in the challenge.
Casually, Ra turned his head, allowing his gaze to move over his troops.To land on me in the front fucking row.“Vivian Helios, step forward.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.I clenched my hands into fists, fighting the instant surge of terror and fury. Smoak hissed inside me, a shower of sparks and flame. Sudden doubt clawed my guts. Had the Impaler set me up? Befriended me for the sole reason of having a front-row seat to watch me squirm? I wouldn’t call him a friend, exactly, but he’d taught me several dirty moves that I couldn’t wait to try in a fight.
Thought what that had to do with Dawn, I had no idea.
“Roast her,” the Impaler muttered softly.
Feeling a little better about his motivations, I stepped up to stand beside Dawn. Her head barely came to my shoulders. While she was dressed like royalty, I wore armor and leathers I’d stolen from the armory or scrounged from the piles of what once been Soldiers of Light who’d angered Ra or one of the commanders enough to be returned to dust and desiccated bones. None of which would help me against a queen, or a witch as Ra called them. She had goddess-level power in her blood, though I doubted she’d dare use it in Heliopolis. Ra despised everything to do with Aima queens—although he couldn’t slake his desire for them.
“I honored you, Dawn Aos.” Ra’s upper lip curled with disappointment and distaste. “I elevated you to sit at my right hand. Yet you’ve failed to give me the one thing I want above all.” He sharpened his voice, slashing his words like a whip. “You failed to produce my solar queen heir.”
Dawn whimpered softly and I smelled her blood. I turned my head slightly to see a deep cut on her cheek.
And I learned something very important about myself.
My stomach rumbled like a ravenous beast, and all I could think about was licking that blood from her wounded cheek.
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