Page 9 of A Game of Queens
Aye, even dark alfar had needs. Not that we had many opportunities to indulge in sex. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been tempted to mate. Certainly not since Hel’s rivers went dry.
“You’re certainly taking this all fairly well.” Myrk gave her a disgusted, suspicious look. “We’re creatures of nightmare. Even Loki won’t mess with us. We can’t leave this realm, and Hvergelmir is no place for a living, breathing creature of Midgard.”
She turned her head and gave him a look that sent chills down my spine. The regal tilt of her head, the proud gleamin her eyes, the grim, determined slant of her lips. She was a queen indeed. The goddess Hel must be well pleased with Her daughter.
“I’ve been trapped, slowly devoured and crushed for what seemed like an eternity in the belly of a giant snake. Finding out the ones who saved me from that fate are dark elves isn’t that big a deal. So yeah, I guess I’m fucking taking it pretty well overall.”
Myrk dropped to his knees beside me. “Would you consider feeding on me too, my queen?”
“Yes,” she said simply. “I will.”
Svar knelt on her other side. “And me, my queen?”
Her lips quirked. “If you wish.”
I didn’t know what to say. In all the many years of my life, I had dreamed for impossible things. I’d dreamed of escaping this realm. Of seeing the sun without turning into stone. Or walking across a field of tall green grass dotted with wildflowers as a man in human form.
But never in a million years would it have dawned on me that I could have a queen. That she’d call me as her Blood. That I would be allowed to serve. And touch. And hold such a precious gift.
I would have wept tears of joy if I had such fluids in my alfar form.
5
HELAYNA
They considered themselves horrible nightmare creatures, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. I’d never met more caring and considerate men. At least, I didn’t think I had. I couldn’t remember my life before the snake. But their extreme gratitude and gentleness despite their size and power told me all I needed to know.
They’d saved me at great risk not just to themselves but the entire world. That they were astonished that I didn’t run screaming into the night at the mere fact of their existence made me want to pull them all close and hug them.
So that was exactly what I did.
I hooked my arm around Dörr’s thick neck and held out my hand to Svar. He wrapped thick fingers around my hand as carefully as if I were made of delicate glass. I tugged him closer so that the three of them knelt shoulder to shoulder.
They were so damned big. Even on their knees, their heads topped mine.
“To feed her, you need to fully transform.” Dörr’s voice rumbled like an earthquake. “She can’t penetrate gargoyle hide.”
I listened to the fragile new bond in my head, sorting through his emotions and thoughts as unobtrusively as possible. As the eldest, he’d taken care of them for as long as he could remember. He’d been alone before that. Such a lonely, endless existence. They’d rather sleep for thousands of years than be awake in this place.
After only a few minutes outside the snake, I couldn’t agree more. I still couldn’t see anything more than vague shadows of black and slightly darker black. The air was chill and damp. Even in this place of supposed safety, there wasn’t any shelter, at least none that I could see. The air felt just as cold. There wasn’t anything soft to rest on. No light. No fire.
“What did I taste like?” Dörr asked hesitantly. “Was it terrible?”
I thought a moment and then smiled. “Take the delicate sweetness from every night-blooming flower and compress it into warm, thick honey. That is what you tasted like.”
I didn’t have to see his face in the darkness to know that he stared at me, mouth hanging open with surprise. His bond splintered with icy shock. He didn’t even know what flowers or honey were. Not really. But he’d fully expected me to tell him he’d tasted awful.
He didn’t believe me. I leaned harder against him, smearing the slickness of his alfar essence on me. “There’s nothing like the sweet, delicate scent of flowers that bloom in the light of the moon. I’ve tasted honey before, and I’m telling you that’s what you tasted like. You healed the damage that passing through the snake caused me and returned my strength. Actually…”
I sank through my body, assessing my strength. Despite the cold, I felt good. Strong. I could feel a spark in my blood that I didn’t think had been there before.
It was so strange to rememberwhatI was… but notwho. I knew I was an Aima vampire queen. I felt the rightness of thatin my blood. I couldn’t deny my fangs, or the enjoyment I’d experienced drinking from Dörr.
I knew enough to understand that this was only the beginning. For whatever reason, I’d never had Blood of my own before. I’d never felt this kind of power rising inside me. Maybe it was this place. If I was truly descended from the goddess Hel…
And this was Her realm…
I was here for a reason, and it had nothing to do with Loki’s grand plan of starting Ragnarök.
