Page 66 of Queen Takes Blood
Desperate to feel that connection again. To be Blood. To serve a queen and feel that sense of hope and belonging again—only to fail and suffer the wretched guilt and remorse of killing yet another queen in Ra’s fucking name.
Muttering a curse, I lifted my head and froze. Everything had changed. The streets of the City That Never Sleeps had gone still, hushed and quiet. Nothing moved. No sounds reached my ears, no honking horns or sirens in the distance. No wind. The sky was a black, empty canvas overhead, softened only by city lights.
A woman stood in the street, capturing my attention. Drawing me toward her like a moth to a flame. A shining pearly nimbus of power gleamed around her like a halo of moonlight. Long black hair hung about her shoulders. Her eyes gleamed like a deep, silent lake, her face a perfect dusky-marble sculpture. Starbursts shone in her eyes, promising—
I blinked and she was gone. My throat ached and I looked wildly up and down the street for her. Striding into the street where she’d been standing, I tipped my face up to the sky, opened my arms wide, and closed my eyes.Where are you, my queen?
The insistent jerk deep in the pit of my stomach pulled me toward an unassuming three-story house set off the street. It wasn’t the biggest mansion on Park Avenue but there wasn’t a single car on the street in front of the gleaming white building. I couldn’t imagine a queen living here in the shadow of Skye Tower, but the pull dragged me closer. Down a side alley to an out-of-the-way covered entrance.
I rapped on the door, calling myself a fool but unable to leave. Smoak fizzed and popped inside me, bursting with nervous energy. He’d never reacted like this to a queen before. Neither had I, truth be told. I didn’t think I could leave now, even if I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt this queen would die if she tasted me.
I needed to know. I needed to know why she called me here. Why she lived so close to House Skye.
An elderly human male answered the door. “May I help you?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but something pulled me here.” I resisted the urge to shove him aside and race inside. Up the stairs. I could feel her higher, overhead somewhere. So close. “I need to see…” I wanted to say,“your queen,”but that would sound crazy if I was at the wrong house. “Uh.. the lady of the house. Please. It’s urgent.”
A normal human would have told me to fuck off and called the cops. Especially in New York City. This man gave me a quick once over and opened the door despite my leathers and sword hilts crossed on my back. “Let me inquire if Her Majesty is available.”
Relieved that he knew what I was talking about, I spared a quick glance around the luxurious interior fit for a queen. Even the human carried himself like an old-world courtier, from his perfectly styled white hair, despite the lateness of the hour, to his elegant black-silk robe and matching pajamas. He picked up a phone and pressed a single button, waiting for several long moments.
Setting the phone back in its cradle, he gave me a wry quirk of his lips. “I’m afraid Her Majesty is indisposed. It’s been a very lively trip so far. If you could wait a few hours, one of her Blood will be up and about to speak to you.”
I held myself very still, though my eyes blinked rapidly as I tried to make sense of his words. Granted, I hadn’t been in many courts over the years. I wasn’t welcomed at all after word spread about Queen Ninan’s demise, the last queen who’d succumbed to the temptation of my blood.
A surge of guilt strangled me, my palms clammy at the thought of burning up another queen. The woman in the street had been so beautiful, her eyes promising everything I’d ever dreamed of. Not just a place of belonging, but maybe… more. Her arms around me. Her soft body beneath me. Her eyes burning not with the unholy flames of Heliopolis but with desire.
Goddess help me. If she dies—
I gave myself a forceful shake to clear my head. “Her Blood aren’t up and about?”
“As I said, it’s been a very trying trip.”
My eyes narrowed, my temperature rising. A queen, made vulnerable in the fucking shadow of Skye Tower. Because all her Blood were fucking asleep? A disgusted grunt escaped my lips. “Then no fucking wonder the goddess sent me. Please, take me to her. She needs protection. Immediately.”
Sure enough, he guided me through the giant house and we encountered no one. Not a single sentry. Not even a blood circle. This queen might as well be sleeping outside in the elements for all her Blood were doing to keep her safe. Smoak shimmered white-hot, our rage building the closer we got to her.
The man knocked on a closed door. “Your Majesty? You have a visitor. She’s adamant that she needs to see you.”
A woman’s voice called back softly, as if she didn’t want to wake her lover. “Thank you, Winston. Vivian, come in.”
Fucking hell, she knew my name. How? Though once I stepped inside, I recognized her from the street. She sat up in bed with a huge Blood beside her. Her alpha, I presumed. He was at least awake. “Some alpha you are.” My voice rang with accusation, making me wince. Too late, I tried to curb my tongue. “She doesn’t even have a nest.”
“As you see, all her Blood are here.” The big Blood’s voice rumbled like gigantic boulders crashing together. “We’ll die to the man to keep her safe, so there’s no need for a guard at the door.”
Indeed, ten or so men were sleeping on the floor around the giant bed. The air reeked of power and sex. Fur and scale and claws, mixed with feral scents I couldn’t even identify. Blood, so much blood. Surely that wasn’t why they were all asleep. I’d never heard of a queen able to knock out every single one of her Blood just by feeding.
“I’ll die to the woman too,” I finally replied.
“Then you’re welcome, Blood. Our queen needs you desperately.”
No shit. I could barely cross the floor toward her without stepping on someone. Hope curled inside me, a fragile thing with scorched white feathers that didn’t dare take wing. Even if the queen was willing to try and take me, I needed to be clear with my boundaries up front. “I don’t do men. Not even alphas.”
The big guy snorted derisively. “Good. I don’t do women, other than my queen.”
Up close, the queen was even more beautiful. Glowing with raw power, her eyes dragging me close with the inescapable force of a black hole. “I’d rather not do any women but our queen, either, but if you order me to fuck one of your queen sibs, I will.”
She moved her leg and the other Blood sleeping across the foot of the bed grumbled a little and rolled over. Cat, from the constant purr. “In House Isador, no one is ordered to fuck anyone. Not even me.”
