Chapter 2
GUILLAUME
Shara fucking Isador is the strongest queen to ever walk this earth in my lifetime. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if the general said ever.
I didn’t say the truth aloud. I wasn’t even sure that she heard my thought in the bond. She didn’t want to know how strong she was.
“So where are all her Blood?” Shara asked.
“That’s a very good question,” I replied grimly. “Because more than likely, all of them turned thrall when their queen died.”
“Or worse,” Sekh muttered.
My jaw clenched for a moment. Goddess. He was right.
“What?” She asked.
Silently, I looked at him, waiting for him to break the bad news.
“Knowing the type of queen she was and her special gifts, it’s very likely she would have given them certain commands upon her death,” Sekh said.
“Like revenge on the queen who managed to kill her.” Her shoulders fell, her heart sinking. “Fucking hell, I wanted to have some peace and safety for once. I killed her to keep everyone safe, not put us in even more danger.”
“And so it shall be, my queen.” Rik glowered at each of us, pissed off that our queen would be in danger yet again. “If the Dauphine’s Blood were sword fighters, then we should definitely continue drilling with weapons.”
“Practicing is well and good, but even if we drill twenty-four hours a day, no one can pick up a sword, and within a few days or weeks, suddenly fight at the level of a master swordsman born in the eleventh century.”
“Agreed,” Sekh said. “The man in Thierry’s memory he shared with you is extremely skilled. It would be a fatal mistake to assume any of the Dauphine’s Blood won’t be nearly as skilled as Sir Guillaume or Sir Lancelot.”
I let out a sour grunt. “Or the Impaler, for that matter. We should drill, definitely, but hand-to-hand combat won’t be the best way to defeat any of them.”
“We can’t assume my blood circle will keep them out either.” She blew out a heavy sigh. “Not when her goule passed through. Though maybe her Blood will be more like thralls than zombies.”
“We’ll double the guards on the perimeter,” Rik said. “Now that your reserves are full, you won’t need to tap us so deeply.”
Are they, though?
I didn’t say anything but Shara’s eyes focused on me and tugged. Insisting I say my thought aloud. “You have acquired new powers, my queen. From the oldest living queen to my knowledge, though certainly others could be hidden from even the sphinx. With new power…”
“Comes new hunger.” She swallowed hard, her gaze flickering over to Sekh. “I thought I’d never feel that kind of hunger again with you and the legion.”
“I can feed you endlessly, Your Majesty.” His eyes blazed like the molten gold of Heliopolis. “Though if you tap me hard enough, I’ll need to feed too, which won’t allow your reserves to build.”
“I do have at least one more Blood waiting. I may also reach out to Houses Valois and Ceresa to see if the former Isador Blood want to come home.”
:They will without question,: Lew replied in our bonds, even though he wasn’t present. :But they’ll bring other queens’ blood into your circle.:
Shara’s lips curved into a smile very much like her secretive mother’s. “I may be able to do something about that. But let’s watch the rest of Thierry’s memory first and then come up with a plan for helping Leonie.”
Of course my tender-hearted queen wanted to help if she could.
Though I didn’t imagine a queen trapped in the Dauphine’s power had been able to retain much of her sanity.
Especially after so long. Thierry had gone to New Orleans before Shara was even born, so Leonie had been trapped for over twenty years.
Festering beneath her own house. Feeding the other, stronger queen.
In her bond, we watched the rest of Thierry’s memories play out. He couldn’t say how long he’d been trapped with Leonie in the pit of mud and leeches. Even when they drove him out to the swamp, his mind wasn’t right. The Dauphine’s first leech had already been warping him.
But I wasn’t prepared for my queen’s sharp inhale or Rik’s muttered curse. She paused the memory again, focused on the other thrall released from the tree before they stuffed him inside.
“Greyson,” she whispered. “Mom’s former alpha. When was this?”
:I’m sorry, my queen,: Thierry replied. :I have no idea how long I was in the pit. It could have been years.:
“This changes everything I thought I knew about those early years. The monsters hunting me. All long, it was her. I… hated him. I was terrified of him.”
“As you should,” I replied firmly. “He would have killed you simply to end his torment.”
“But it wasn’t his fault. All this time, I thought he was just… evil. A weak willed, selfish man who couldn’t get over Mom falling in love with someone else. But maybe…” She looked over at Sekh. “What do you See of him before this?”
The general’s eyes darkened to bronze, and he started back through time, searching for Greyson’s face.
“I See him visiting Selena Isador in Kansas City. Watching, waiting, secretly meeting away from the house. Then… he’s gone.
I’m guessing you would have been around three years old or so, Your Majesty. ”
“So when he said Mom still loved him, it was true. Goddess. I feel bad that I burned him alive now. His spirit would have been trapped inside him, just like Thierry’s.”
“You still saved his soul by releasing it from the rotting corpse,” I said.
“What about all the lies he told me? Like Leviathan being my father?”
:While I was festering in the tree, her voice whispered in my head constantly,: Thierry said. :It drove me mad. I’m sure she planted all kinds of lies in his head, hoping to throw you off your game, or send you on a wild goose chase until she could find another way to eliminate you.:
Festering. That was an appropriately descriptive word for the hell he’d endured in the tree. Shara played the rest of the memory for us, watching them plant more leeches in him, this time tainted with human blood. Then walling him up alive in a tree to rot. For years.
We gasped and panted with him out in the sunlight when they freed him. Even in a memory, his brain felt scrambled, his thoughts disjointed. Rotting fabric, stretched beyond recognition and falling apart with gaping holes. They put him into a vehicle and drove him to Kansas City.
“Wait, wait,” she said out loud, shaking her head. “That can’t be. Xin followed your footprints back to the swampy island.”
:They had to drive me,: Thierry said. :They didn’t think I’d be able to walk all the way to Kansas City.:
Yet he’d somehow found the strength to drag himself all the way to New York City to find our queen.
She touched Xin’s bond. :The trail you followed back to the Dauphine’s island was Thierry, wasn’t it?:
:It was the same stench of death,: he replied. :Though perhaps it was Greyson’s trail. I would assume he smelled the same way.:
:But that was years ago.:
:It wouldn’t have mattered, my queen. The taint was incredibly strong with a unique signature. I assumed it was Thierry’s scent but perhaps it was simply the Dauphine’s signature all along. I could only say for sure if I’d been able to smell Greyson’s trail and compare them.:
“What are the odds?” She shook her head, her eyes shimmering with tears. “If Greyson hadn’t been freed to hunt me, then we wouldn’t have been able to find the location using what we thought was Thierry’s trail at all.”
“Queen Carys is the numbers person, but when the Mother wants something done, She’ll ensure the path is available to you.” I paused for a moment, waiting for her gaze to lift to mine. “The real question is who else is trapped in those trees?”
SHARA
“One problem at a time.” I sighed. “Let’s get Leonie out of the pit and see what I can do for her Blood, assuming they’re still alive. Then Xin can take us out to the swamp.”
“How do you want to get to New Orleans?” Nevarre asked.
“I’m assuming Gina has House Delafosse’s address. Do we have a house in New Orleans that we can use to travel like we did to Galveston?”
Nevarre typed rapidly on the phone, waited a few seconds, and shook his head. “Gina says you do have a house in New Orleans but there’s no pool at the residence. You could use the gulf again.”
A low rumble vibrated through Rik’s chest into my back. “I’d rather not pull that kind of stunt again with potential sword-master thralls to deal with.”
I focused on Thierry. “Do you remember if there’s a large tree close to the house that we could use?”
He sent me an image of a hoary old tree with low branches that swept out over the garden, laden with Spanish moss. :There was a large oak in the courtyard when I first visited. But there’s no guarantee it’s still there after so long.:
“Let’s try the tree. It looks big enough. But it wouldn’t hurt to have a plan for the jet if we need to fly. Sekh, have you been able to See when Basilia may have been entrapped by the Dauphine?”
Sekh shook his head. “Nothing specific, Your Majesty. The last time I Saw her outside her nest was forty-seven years ago. She traveled to New York City and visited Skye Tower.”
My eyes flared. “Why would she see Keisha? When did Tanza supposedly die again?”
“1938.” A faint shudder rocked through Rik. “According to Gina when we were down in the basement.”
When he’d ended up trapped in the demon child’s circle while I bargained with Keisha to satisfy her blood claim before the Triune. I hugged his arm tighter around me. “Maybe Keisha wanted to see if a Triune-level queen could heal her. Was Basilia known as a healer?”
“Not to my knowledge,” Guillaume replied. “Skolos queens generally have darker gifts. Earthquakes, poisons, monsters.”
Other than earthquakes… all things I was drawn to. “I guess we probably won’t learn the truth of what happened to her until we free her. I’d like to go straight to Mykonos to help her, assuming I’m able to help Leonie. I’m sure I can free her, but I’m not sure I can heal her.”
“Especially mentally,” Guillaume added. “That kind of captivity damages a person’s mind. She may not be able to recover, my queen.”
Which meant I might have to kill another queen. Though surely a mercy killing wouldn’t earn her goddess’ wrath, especially if I was able to free her. I touched Daire’s bond. :Do you know who Leonie’s goddess might be?:
His gift was keeping track of all the old houses and how they were all related. Though I wasn’t sure if that extended to their goddesses or not.
:I don’t know off hand, my queen. It should be listed in the Triune registry, though.:
“Nevarre, ask Gina to look up Leonie’s goddess in the Triune registry, though since the Dauphine masked her information before, it might not be accurate at all. I’d like to have a little forewarning of what her power might be and who I might need to bargain with if it comes down to killing her.”
Something nagged in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “Everything always seems to come back to the Dauphine. Or Keisha. Or both of them, in the case of Basilia.”
“She played the game hard,” Rik replied. “She was willing to use her fosters to force House Devana into supporting her bid for the Triune.”
“Plus she had a personal relationship with Rosalind Valois,” Guillaume added. “Maybe the Dauphine was using that ambition behind the scenes through Leonie and then Basilia.”
“Hopefully they can give us some answers once I free them.” Assuming their minds weren’t too damaged.
Though that gave me an idea. “I’ll see if Gwen can come with us.
She said she’s a powerful healer, so having someone more knowledgeable will be a bonus.
I can throw power at the problem, but I won’t necessarily know how to put things back together again. ”
Guillaume let out a soft grunt of agreement. “Especially reattaching limbs.”
My stomach gave a queasy roll, but the tea and toast were helping.
I ate some of the fruit while I touched Gwen’s bond.
First, a light knock, so to speak. I kept my sibling bonds muted most of the time, though if Gwen ever needed to talk to me, I’d be open to her, Mayte, or Carys.
Technically, the other siblings in Isador Tower could contact me as well, but I’d only exchanged enough blood with them to establish the bond.
I didn’t care for a bunch of people I didn’t even know to have access to my head.
I certainly didn’t want to know their thoughts and feelings.
Though if I used those bonds more often, I might have trusted them more when I wasn’t sure where the Dauphine was, rather than having Gwen take them all into a room and guard them.
:Good morning, Your Majesty,: Gwen answered in our bond. :Congratulations on a successful campaign.:
I wasn’t sure how much she’d felt through our bond. If she’d been aware that I was locked to the Skolos table. Unable to defend myself from the Dauphine when she tried to kill me. :Thank you. It was touch and go there for a while. Are you free today for a rescue mission?:
:Absolutely. Shall I come to you?:
:Yeah, I think that would be best. We’ll go to New Orleans first, but we may also need to go to Mykonos. Though that might be a real flight. I’m not sure of the tree or pool situation.:
:When I traveled through your tree here in the tower to Newgrange, we exited out of a pair of standing stones that formed a kind of doorway.:
My eyes flared. :That’s interesting. I wonder if the stones are more significant to your bloodline and that’s why it worked, or maybe a receiving tree on the other end isn’t needed at all. I’ll have to experiment.:
:How quickly should we travel to you?:
:Is an hour enough time? I’m still eating breakfast.:
She laughed softly. :Of course, Your Majesty. We’ll arrive by two.:
Now I understood her amusement. I grumbled in the bond. :I was up before the butt crack of dawn this morning to leave Galveston while it was still dark.:
:Not to mention surviving a major war against a Triune queen,: Gwen chided. :You should sleep for days let alone a few hours. Though I understand being eager to rescue someone.:
:I should warn you that this likely won’t be a pleasant trip.:
:I didn’t figure it would be if the Dauphine was involved. We’ll see you soon, Your Majesty.:
Allowing her bond to dip back into the soft gray fog that muted my siblings, I sighed. Understatement of the century. Maybe the millennia.