Page 39 of A Game of Queens
Eye of Ra indeed.
A lifetime of keeping my feelings and thoughts hidden came to my aid automatically. "What are you offering?"
"I will smash anyone who stands against you beneath the legion's boots. Sol Invictus will swear an oath to protect you."
I didn't need a goddess's power to hear the words he left unsaid. "Until Ra's heir is delivered. Then I’m useless to you."
He pressed the sword blade to his mouth and held it over his heart. "I'll swear any oath you wish, my queen. Bring the sunfires back under control, and the Soldiers of Light will swear allegiance to you and your daughter."
I closed my eyes a moment, letting the peace of darkness fill my mind. His words reverberated through me.
Bring the sunfires back under control.
Most of them have abandoned their carriers.
That was why his sunfire hadn't burned me when he pulled me close.
He'd lost his demon.
He still had power and formidable strength, so I wasn't safe by any means. The molten gold of Ra's power burned in his empty eye sockets. But how long would that power sustain him with Ra dead and gone? How long before the shining armor dulled? Until the brutally white bones withered into dust and blew away on the sands of time?
No wonder he wanted to serve me.
Not because he wanted to protect me or make amends for all the pain and suffering he'd caused. Not even to protect this child I carried.But to preserve his own goddess-cursed existence.
I opened my eyes and weighed the power blazing in his eyes. "How long do you have before Ra's power fades and you turn into a pile of rotted, broken bones?"
He hissed, squeezing my hand brutally. "You forget yourself. You need protection. You need help. Have you forgotten the agony of a sunfire's embrace?"
Ignoring the pain in my hand, I leaned forward, holding his gaze. For the first time in my life, I allowed my hatred and rage to burst forth from inside me. My eyes burned with emotion. "Have you forgotten how many times you tortured me?"
He jerked slightly, as if my words actually caused him pain. Not from guilt—but from the power behind each word.
My power. Denied to me my entire life.
"Did you honestly think that I would go back to Heliopolis?" I lashed him with my rage, relishing the way he twitched and quivered with each word. "Withyou? You were as bad as Ra. Worse, actually. He at least gave me a rare moment of conversation. You only ever treated me like trash. Is that why you threw me out of Heliopolis?"
"I didn't," he rasped, struggling to speak. "Not me."
I pulled harder on the fiery rage boiling inside me. Only then did I realize where that power was coming from, as I watched the golden glow in his eyes dim.
I was drawing power fromhim. Using the last bit of Ra's gift that sustained him. "Who?" I retorted, lashing him with my rage. "Who got me out of Heliopolis?"
He surged upward, stumbling to his feet and tossing my hand aside, as if freeing himself of my touch could save him. Cradling my crushed hand against my chest, I watched him flail. He couldn't stand correctly. His joints crumbled and slipped. He dropped the sword. The once-brilliant silver chest plate dulled as if it'd been buried in a sand dune for a million years to rust.
Falling against me, he tried to hold on to me again, but his fingers broke apart as he slid down toward my feet. "Please." I could barely understand his words. "They will burn you."
"I would rather burn for all eternity than save you. Let alone go back to that fucking city of gold."
Something slammed against the wall behind me. Wood splintered and cracked. I didn't turn around. I didn't need to as Eivind forced his way into the room. Instead, I kept my attention locked on Aurelian until he was nothing more than a pile of dust on the stained rug.
"Are you alright?" Eivind asked, eying the pile warily.
My hand ached. My fangs throbbed. I hadn't thought about anything but saving myself. Until this living, breathing man stepped closer.
Now all I could smell was his scent. Fur and pine dusted with snow. A shaggy black wolf howling mournfully on a rocky outcropping. Alone. Even when surrounded by the howls of his pack.
I could sink my fangs into his warm throat. His blood would be hot and good, washing away the horrors of Heliopolis. In amatter of moments, his blood would heal my shattered fingers. He would be mine. He would protect me with his life.
