Page 28 of Forked Tongues Are Fun
“Whatever the queen desires,” he said with a sexy-ass grin.
We started toward the elevator at the edge of rooftop, Asa’s arms latched around my waist and the crowd’s hatred piercing my back like so many daggers. But no one tried to stop us, not with the goddess still here.
“Please, Your Holiness,” Rio said behind us. “My father should be here. Do you know where he is?”
“Oliver was tonight’s full-moon ritual sacrifice. Like I said, I don’t really care who dies at these things.” Léas threw Rio a glare I was surprised didn’t immediately result in her death. “How did you not know your own father was sacrificed?”
Shocked silence lowered down onto the rooftop, followed by a heartbreaking sob.
After we stepped onto the elevator, I turned and stared out at the shifters...as their queen. How the hell was I supposed to be that? They were ignoring me, though, offering sympathy to Rio or throwing accusatory glares at Petra, which she threw right back. She seemed just as shocked as everyone else at the news.
But Oliver had been murdered. Was that the same as a sacrifice?
The doors closed, shutting everything else out but us, and we sank into the building. My body seemed to want to lead the way because my knees buckled. I went down in front of Asa, and a desperate yet relieved wail I’d never made before slipped out as I stared at my brother’s sweet face.
“Are you—” I started, but I couldn’t finish. A month’s worth of sobs bubbled up, a violent storm of emotion I couldn’t stop. They shook through me, poured tears down my face, and Asa patted my head and took my breakdown in stride with a sad, tired smile and only a few tears watering his blue eyes that were so much like mine. He was braver than I was, because I knew if I’d been in his shoes and sprung free after captivity, I’d be a hot mess. Kind of like now.
Vance rested his hand on my shoulder and squeezed while I sobbed. Tavis stroked the strands of my long hair, and Calhoun stood silent in the corner of the elevator, a column of strength and steel. Their presence was a soothing balm, and I knew they weren’t judging me right now. They knew what I’d gone through to get to this point where I could brush my baby brother’s brown hair from his eyes, study every inch of him to see if he really was okay.
“You came for me,” he whispered.
“Did you think I wouldn’t?” I choked out.
“They’re dragon shifters.” He glanced around at the three in here with us nervously.
“These three didn’t take you. They wouldn’t ever hurt you.” I knew that truth bone-deep, and maybe even deeper.
“We’ll look after you and your sister,” Tavis said to him, his tone light yet sincere. “You don’t have to worry.”
Asa blinked up at him. “Yara calls dragon shifters barbaric stovetops that horde assholes.”
I sighed. “Thanks, Asa.”
Vance snorted, and even Calhoun cracked a smile.
Tavis threw back his head and laughed. “Is that right?”
Asa leaned into me and opened his mouth like he wasn’t sure how to put something so I’d understand it. “They’re naked, Yara.”
“Oh, sorry about that.” Tavis snapped his fingers, and then the three of them were clothed once again in what they’d been wearing before.
“Well, darn,” I muttered. Now that I had a chance to breathe, the dragon fire did, too, tightening every sensitive nerve with the need to mate. And fast.
Calhoun caught my eye from the corner of the elevator and smirked, a teasing gleam in his dark and dangerous gaze. “Naked is a hazard of being a barbaric stovetop that hordes assholes, I guess.”
I chuckled as the elevator stopped, and I wiped the beading sweat from my fevered face. The five of us stepped out and exited the building with mine and Asa’s hands firmly clasped. Outside, a light rain fell on the still-bustling city streets, headlights hitting the puddles before the cars splashed through them. The car I’d stolen must’ve been towed away and Bad Mama January’s van was gone. What would she say if she knew I’d been chosen as the dragon shifter queen? No way she’d be happy about it, that was for sure. It felt like I was betraying her and the memory of her daughter’s death at the hands of the shifters somehow, but surely if I explained what happened, that I’d really had no choice in the matter, she would understand. Maybe I would, too, at some point. That would be nice.
“What did that strange lady mean you’re the queen now, Yara?” Asa asked.
I squeezed his hand. “Uh, we’ll figure that out together.”
Calhoun knocked on the driver’s door of a stretch limo parked at the curb, and soon, the five of us piled in, much to the delight of Asa.
“Video games,” he announced as he slid across the seat toward a whole wall filled with vibrant, flashing games on large TV screens.
I nodded, wincing. We didn’t even have a TV, so all the beeping and whirring and madness while the games seemed to play themselves was sensory overload. Especially with the dragon fire burning a hole right through my patience.
The limo pulled away from the curb, taking us to the castle in Mission Hill, I guessed.
