Page 22 of A Game of Queens
My sister had been kidnapped toHvergelmirat Yggdrasil’s base by Loki himself. Sacrificed to Jörmungandr, she’d been bound in agony as the massive snake devoured her power. While fighting her way back to our realm, she'd seen the dark, rotted branches of the World Tree. Paths to alternative realms and worlds...
Dead.
The goddesses' daughters tended the Tree with their blood and power. As our kind died...so did Yggdrasil. If the great tree died, Ragnarök would come. Jörmungandr would be freed to destroy everything in his path.
I had to admit that I didn't give a rat's ass for most of the world. I ran alone, except for my pack of wolves that waited for me in the woods outside the sprawling city. Let the sun god burn the world for all I cared. Let the giant snake rot Yggdrasil's roots. I honestly didn't fucking care. The world was filled with garbage humans, just as this alley was filled with bags of trash. As long as my sister lived with whoever she held dear beside her, then the rest of the world could slide into eternal darkness. Burst into flame. Disintegrate into nothing.
I didn’t. Fucking. Care.
She didn't say anything further in our bond, but my beloved sister didn't have to say a word. I felt her disapproval. Her... disappointment. Goddess help me, I'd cut off my own nose to spite my face, but I'd rather be skinned alive than let her down.
There were more ways than one to help this unknown queen. Ways that would keep me free and out of her control. Keeping a wary eye on the injured queen, I shrugged the strap of my knapsack off my shoulder and dug around inside the bag for the evillest contraption ever invented by mankind.
The cellphone.
Mine was at least a decade old but anytime I entered the city, I made sure to charge the damned thing. Just in case. You never knew when you'd need to call an old friend.
Or polite enemy, in this case.
Detective Harris answered my call with a growled, "Well, well, well. Hello, Wild Man."
I didn't let his nickname get under my skin. "Good to hear your sweet voice, Harris."
He let out a disgusted grunt. "What the fuck do you want?"
"Oh, nothing. Just thought I'd let my friendly neighborhood cop know that there's a body in the alley just south of the intersection of Noble and Terra. She's still alive, but I don't know for how much longer."
"She bleeding out? I'm only a few minutes away but I'll put an alert out?—"
Involuntarily, I shuddered slightly, every nerve in my body screaming and dancing in ecstasy at the thought of what this queen's blood would smell like. "No," I retorted. "No blood. I don't see an actual injury, but her life signs are faint."
"How'd you find her?"
"Oh, you know, just doing my job." If he was actually close, then I needed to book it in the opposite direction. Harris was a good guy. For a cop. But he sure didn't like the work I did. Not that I could blame him. He'd hauled my ass in before just because he could.
I glanced down at the unknown queen, reluctant to leave her until help arrived. Even though I had no intention of staying with her, let alone giving her blood. Dark circles ringed her eyes. A dark mark on her cheek could be dirt. Or a bruise. I was tempted to bend down and rub carefully at that mark to see. If someone had hurt her...
But who could hurt a queen?
Helayna had been hurt. Maybe that was why I felt such an affinity for this queen. Why I didn't want to leave her alone and helpless. What would have become of my sister if her Blood had decided it wasn't any of their business?
My wolf snarled in my head as I turned sharply and trotted out of the alley. Sure, I wanted to punish anyone who'd hurt another person and leave them to die in a pile of garbage. But my wolf was angry at me.
For leaving her.
And that scared me more than anything.
3
KARMEN
Asoft muzzle brushed my cheek. Maybe a dog. It couldn't be though. My mind insisted that was impossible. There weren't any dogs here. There weren't any animals of any kind. I knew that to be true. Though I had no idea where I was exactly.
I forced my eyes open but there wasn't any dog nearby. Just a shape walking away in the darkness. A man. I didn't know who he was. Tall, broad shouldered. I opened my mouth to call after him—but who was he? Could I trust him? What had happened?
I distinctly smelled the fur of some kind of wild animal. An image filled my head of a massive furry black beast trotting on four legs. Wolf. Until that moment, I didn’t realize I even knew such a thing existed, let alone the word for it.
I tried to lift my head, but it felt like it weighed a ton. Pain splintered through my skull. I stilled my movements and focused on my body. Quick movements might injure me further, or worse, bring punishment.
