Page 29 of A Game of Queens
Her voice cracked ever so slightly on that last word, as if she was near tears. But her eyes were hollowed out with grief and pain. Staring into those dark chasms, I knew one thing for sure.
Karmen of no house and no memory had lived through enough bad shit that it was a fucking blessing that she couldn't remember what had happened to her.
5
KARMEN
Too bad this man isn't as trustworthy as the beast he carries inside him. I could have used a loyal man like him.
The thought startled me, as if someone had woken up inside me to speak in my head. I wasn't entirely sure where the thought had come from. It didn't seem like mine. I didn't know anything about wolves to decide if they were trustworthy or loyal. Let alone men.
My stomach churned as if I'd swallowed a vat of acid. If what the doctor had said was true... Then I knew one man very well indeed. Or at least well enough to carry his child.
I turned away, uncaring of his rage. He was all bluster. He might believe that he was a big, bad wolf, but I'd seen the real monster before, and this man wasn't anywhere close. Though that didn't mean I trusted him. At all. "Thank you for at least helping me leave the hospital grounds. Just take me somewhere I can shelter once dawn comes. Then I'll be gone."
My words threw him. He sucked in a hard breath but didn't immediately reply or move to start the vehicle again. I could still hear his heart thundering loudly inside my head. He smelled so different from the humans at the hospital. What had he calledus?Aima.I mulled the world around in my head. It felt right. The same way my name felt right.
He'd called me a queen, descended from a goddess. I searched inside myself for any hint of power from beyond. A drop of godly blood. Anything that supported the idea.
Inside me, all I found was an empty wasteland. My soul was empty, blasted by endless heat into a desert so barren and devastated that not even sand would swirl across the baked, cracked earth.
"You... Why...?" He growled, shaking his head. "I have so many questions that I don't know where to begin."
I tipped my head to look up at the dark sky, searching for any hint of light on the horizon. But there were too many buildings and lights to see much of anything. "How long do I have before it's daylight?"
"Why does that matter?"
"They’ll come with the sun. I need to be hidden before dawn."
"They who? Where do they come from? You're not making any sense."
I didn't have time for his nonsense. If dawn was close... I wasn't going to be trapped in this car with him. I felt the door, searching for some kind of handle.
His hand dropped down on my thigh. "Look?—"
I flinched away, slamming my body against the car door. "Don't touch me!" Panicked, I pounded my bare hand on the glass. Harder. I'd shatter the window if I had to in order to get away.
He pulled back. "Hey, Karmen, easy. Sorry. I won't touch you again. I swear it. Please, you're going to hurt yourself. I'll take you somewhere safe."
Gasping for breath, I leaned my forehead against the cold glass. Waves of pain flowed over my body. Fire in human form.Crackling flames and energy like the first sign of danger I'd seen in the hallway.
Sweat broke out on my forehead. An image blazed in my mind. A golden hand. Fingers of molten fire. Stroking me. Burning me.
I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood, but the small pain made the horror recede.
"Don't you dare," the wolfman snapped, all teeth and fury again.
I sucked on the small puncture in my lip, making sure none of my blood escaped. I didn't know much—but that was important. It'd been drilled into my head at an early age. "Dare what?" I retorted, refusing to look at him. I wrapped my arms around my midsection, holding myself together. I felt like I might fall apart. Unravel. Explode into a thousand pieces. Tension strained inside me, vibrating with urgency. If I didn't find a way to ease that strain... I wouldn't make it another night in this strange new world.
"You know damned well what I'm talking about." He at least started the vehicle again and pulled back out onto the road.
"Do I? Really? Why don't you explain it to me?"
He drove in silence a few moments. He must have decided that he agreed with me, because he let out another grunt beneath his breath. "You don't know anything about queens or houses? The Triune? Your goddess? Anything?"
"I already told you that I remember my name and very little else." Sadness welled inside me. Grief for someone I'd loved, a very long time ago. I closed my eyes, searching for the memory, but it dissolved into nothingness. "I've been... somewhere else. Not here. None of this looks familiar."
Grudgingly, he nodded. "My sister was held somewhere not too long ago. Goddess only knows what she suffered in the years she was gone."
