Page 11 of A Game of Queens
Her head jerked up and she whirled around, presenting me with her back. “Would you please help me? I want this fucking braid outnow.”
Reverently, I picked up the heavy braid hanging down her back. My fingers had never felt so huge and clumsy, moving with as much dexterity as a cold-stone gargoyle. But I worked her hair loose, carefully keeping the strands untangled until the entire mass hung free and unbraided. Even wet and sticky from being inside the snake, it was beautiful. I wanted to bury my face in her hair and breathe her in. Clutch her to my chest and swear that never again would anyone touch one precious hair on her head unless she willed it.
“Do it.” She looked back over her shoulder at me, her eyes flashing in the darkness like swords. “If you’re to be my Blood, I need to hear those words. I need to know I’m safe.”
My entire body trembled. I might be a giant compared to her, but she broke me apart with her words.
I ducked down low so I could press my face to her back, bracing my fists on the ground so I wouldn’t touch her accidentally. Her hair was heavy, wet silk and stank of snake, but I’d never felt anything so beautiful in my very long life. “As long as I live, no one shall touch another precious hair on your head, my queen. So I swear it on Yggdrasil.”
As she turned toward me, I started to rise back from her, but she touched me again, her hand on my chest. And I couldn’t find it in me to move away if she was willing to touch me.
“I have called the Blood that I need, and I intend to love you.”
I opened my mouth to insist that was impossible.
And froze when she pressed her mouth to mine.
I had never seen lightning but I imagined a massive bolt from Thunderer would carry such power. All that energy crashed into me, stunning me. Her lips tasted like sunlight and warmth. Love and hope. A shining light of all the living things in this world. Everything I had never seen or known.
She breathed heat into me. The darkness inside me swelled, eager to burst free and obliterate her. How could I possibly hold her, let alone love her, without destroying the very thing I treasured?
She made a low, soft sound and lifted her lips. “As much as I would like to indulge in you again, I should take Svar first. I don’t feel complete yet.”
I fought to keep my doubts concealed as she turned her attention to Svar. She could read my thoughts and emotions, so she must already know the waiting threat. Yet it didn’t seem to alarm her.
Waiting on his knees, Svar turned his head aside, offering his throat. She moved to him easily and sank her fangs into him without hesitation. The sight rocked me to my core. The slight, slender woman against the hulking creature of nightmare. The bliss on his face, as if he had finally seen the sun and was glad to die.
The same look had been on my face. I was sure of it. I could die happy now. I had touched and seen heaven in my queen. I couldn’t imagine a paradise any better or greater than her.
She lifted her mouth, her head falling back. Black essence dribbled down her chin. Her hair shimmered. With…
Light.
I closed my eyes, convinced I had imagined the sparkling brightness around her. These eyes had never seen light or color. So how would I even know…?
I cracked my eyes open and her hair still gleamed, rippling and flowing down her back like water. But we had not had water in Hel for so long even I barely remembered what water looked like.
She turned her head and her eyes knocked me back on my heels. I had never seen the sky, but I’d dreamed it would look like her eyes. Or maybe the clouds. Snow. I couldn’t know. But one thing was certain.
I saw color. For the first time in my very long existence.
Color. In Hel. A place of endless night.
“I need to see the tree.”
My mouth didn’t seem connected to my brain any longer. It took me several tries to get the words out as I gestured above us. “This is the tree. Yggdrasil stretches over us.”
She looked up at the network rising like arches and valleys overhead. “These are roots? That’s how deep we are?”
“This realm is at the very bottom of the world tree.”
Nodding absently, she started to walk away, her stride purposeful. We scrambled to our feet and followed, though I didn’t know what she sought. She winced and lifted her bare foot.
Fire glowed on her sole. At least that is what it looked like to me from dreams.
“Can you carry me to the heart of the tree? I need to get to its trunk.”
Scooping her up gingerly, I swallowed hard. My queen. In my arms. With sky eyes and water hair and fiery blood. If I didn’t die at the sacrilege of touching her…
