Chapter 14
LEONIE
(Bottom of the River by Delta Rae)
Istared at my savior as if she was the last dawn I would see before I crossed the river to Oya’s embrace.
I’d never felt such desperation as I did now at the thought of not feeling the constant assuring warmth of Shara’s presence flowing through me.
Her spirit brushing mine. Her thoughts echoing in my head.
Not to mention her desire. Her steadfast dedication to those she loved.
I wanted to be allowed to worship her, the same as her monsters.
So young. So casually powerful. As if she didn’t honestly understand or even realize the wealth of explosive strength hovering inside her. She hadn’t hesitated to feed and heal me, despite the cost to her own reserves. Let alone her own flesh.
With great power came immense hunger. I felt the underlying gnawing ache in her bond, a ravenous black hole of need barely touched despite her feeding on several of her Blood.
Such hunger I’d never known in all my centuries, even the last years trapped beneath my own house and perpetually starved by the Dauphine.
Now freed and walking beside this young queen, my fangs throbbed to feed on her again.
Even better if she would bite me too. Again and again.
It was all I could do not to press against her and offer her my throat every time she looked at me.
She had healed me beyond my wildest expectations, yet I was still starved.
Starved for touch. Safety. Warmth. Hope. Love. Desire.
To be held. To lie in her embrace surrounded by her love and know she would burn the world down to protect me if anyone even thought to entrap me again.
Though perhaps she didn’t desire women the same as her monsters.
I resisted the urge to delve through her bond and search her memories.
She held the other queen’s bond and mentioned the queen in Mexico, but her cheeks didn’t color when she looked at Gwen.
Not like when she looked at me. Though perhaps that was because I couldn’t prevent myself from wallowing in her bond.
Listening to her thoughts. Feeling her responses to her Blood and wishing, aching, needing her to feel the same for me.
I didn’t even know her Bloods’ names or exactly how many she had, though from the depths of her power, it wouldn’t surprise me if she had a hundred Blood. Finding my place among them would be challenging. Though the flesh eater walking beside her and the alpha was new.
She’d only held his bond one day. The Blood who could see faces into the past had only shown her one night of the thrall feasting among the humans of New Orleans.
Did that mean she’d killed the Dauphine only the day before?
I burned to know all the details. Why she’d lost her gift of resurrection.
Though I hesitated to burden her with even more questions, when she clearly hadn’t intended to take me with her.
“Oh, Leonie, I’m so sorry.” As we walked outside, Shara held a hand out to me, and I seized her fingers like a lifeline.
“You’re not a burden. Far from it. Yesterday, we traveled to Galveston, Texas, where the Skolos Triune planned to meet and hold a quorum.
I had a dream from the Mother telling me to go.
I knew the Dauphine would be there, but we didn’t know who she was until she almost succeeded in killing me and two other Skolos queens.
Jeanne was masquerading as Basilia Gorgos, the third Skolos Triune queen. ”
My eyes flared with interest. “The queen you mentioned in Mykonos.”
Shara nodded. “No one knew the Dauphine had eliminated another Triune queen. We don’t even know when it happened yet, though I’m hopeful once I claim her blood circle, Sekh will be able to See the details of her capture.
“When I killed Jeanne, her goddess stripped me of my gift of resurrection, though of course I gained the Dauphine’s powers in exchange.
Not going to lie, I fucking hate her powers, but if that’s what helped me regenerate you, then I’m pleased with the exchange.
We spent last night in Galveston and went home to my nest in Arkansas early this morning.
I rested for a few hours, but Thierry showed me where you were trapped, and we came immediately. ”
That was an impressive amount of traveling back and forth across the country in such a short amount of time. “How did you arrive here so quickly?”
She flashed a smile at me as she led us to the very same oak where she’d healed me. Thierry fluttered down from the branches to sit on her shoulder. “I’ll show you. Are we ready?”
The alpha’s voice was so deep his words sounded like boulders crashing together in an earthquake. “Leviathan, Nevarre, and Vivian, pass through first and guard from the air. If you see anything unexpected, notify us immediately before our queen passes through.”
Wait, wait, wait. Vivian. A female name. Among her Blood…
Shara looked at me again, her dark eyes gleaming like a midnight sky filled with a trillion stars.
:You’re under no obligation whatsoever, Leonie.
You’ll always be safe in my house, regardless of whether you want a closer relationship with me or not.
I have several siblings, but the only females I currently share an intimate relationship with are Mayte Zaniyah and Vivian. :
I clenched my jaws, fighting to keep from throwing my head back to whoop with joy. :I want, Shara, my queen.:
Shara drew her blood with one of her nails and closed her eyes. :Vivian doesn’t touch my male Blood, and neither does Mayte. Rik, my alpha, is always with me, but he will not touch you.:
:I understand.: I hesitated for only a moment, watching as a hole opened in the side of my healthy oak. Wide and tall enough to walk through. :If I take Blood of my own, you’re welcome to use us all as you desire.:
Her head tipped to the side in a slight shake.
:I only take people I love to my bed. I don’t expect to love your Blood.
They’ll be yours. But my mother and aunt did share Blood between them, so I won’t say I’ll never share Blood with another queen.
Just not my Blood I currently have, unless they come to love you too.
Two of my Blood—Thierry and Llewellyn—previously belonged to House Isador before I was born.
I hope to reclaim the rest of our Isador Blood soon. :
It said much about this queen’s personality that she still considered Thierry her Blood despite his death.
He’d been in the pit with me for years. Decades.
I had no way to know how long. But surely before this young queen was even born.
So he’d been contaminated by the Dauphine long before Shara could have claimed him as her own.
Yet she loved him still.
The dragon slithered through the hole in the tree, twisting and contorting his way through the slit until he disappeared.
Then a huge raven—the one who’d been so kind as to provide fresh milk for our tea—flew through the crack, followed by a fiery phoenix.
I’d never seen a phoenix with my own eyes, but I hadn’t expected its flames to be so dark.
Like black fire with flashes of molten lava.
I feared the ancient tree might burst into flame but not a single leaf was scorched.
Vivian must be the phoenix. Both the dragon and raven had male voices in our queen’s head.
:Welcome to the party,: Vivian purred. :When our queen desires, we’ll introduce you to my sunfire, Smoak.:
I had no idea what a sunfire was, but I couldn’t wait to find out.
“Itztli, Tlacel, Xin, Daire, and Ezra, you’re up,” the alpha said, giving me an idea of whose names went with each Blood. Though he said five names and I only saw four Blood pass through the tree.
Once they were through, Shara released my hand and turned to the other queen to embrace her. “Thank you for coming, Gwen.”
“Always, my queen. I’ll be ready for another adventure tomorrow. Once all of your Blood are through, we’ll pass through to the tower.”
Shara nodded and gave a smile to the queen’s alpha and the other flesh eater dressed in a purple robe. “Thank you for your service today, Sir Lancelot and Merlin.”
One of the other knights grunted with disgust. “Hopefully we can get in on some action tomorrow. I felt useless today.”
“Anytime you want to chow down on some thralls…” Merlin began.
The man shuddered. “Not happening.”
Shara’s knight shook hands with Gwen’s three knights, and then we were finally ready to enter the dark hole ourselves. Shara tucked her arm around my waist as we walked closer to the tree. Her alpha strode behind us, his hand on her back, as if he couldn’t bear to not touch her for one second.
Same, big guy. I had no idea what manner of beast he might be, but I’d never seen such a large man. The knight and three other Blood brought up the rear. Sekh, the general, the one with the tentacles who’d carried us out of the pit, and the other flesh eater.
:Okeanos and Vore,: Shara said. :Guillaume’s the last Templar knight. You might know him as the former Triune Executioner.:
I let out a low whistle. :Desideria’s former Blood? He’s still alive?:
:Sir Guillaume de Payne Isador at our queen’s service, Your Majesty,: the knight said, though I also heard a horse pawing the ground and snorting in his bond. :Death rides again.:
My heartbeat quickened as we entered the darkness, my muscles braced for a jolt or a scare.
I smelled moist, rich earth and green living things mixed with damp, decaying leaves.
I didn’t feel a tingle of magic on my skin, though goosebumps raced down my arms. In seconds, we stepped out into open air.
The temperature was cooler and less humid, though it was still a lovely spring evening.
Frogs peeped. Bugs hummed and buzzed. I glanced back over my shoulder to see a similar dark hole in the trunk of a tree, but in the darkness, I couldn’t identify its species.
Red petals and thorns dotted its branches, but it was far too large to be a rose bush.
Mossy rocks and thick roots arched up out of the ground. Steam curled around the roots.
Releasing me for a moment, Shara turned to the tentacled Blood and gave him a hug and kiss. “Thank you, Okeanos.”
“Always, my queen.” Then he shifted into his massive kraken and slipped over the rocks and disappeared.
“There’s a grotto on the other side of the tree,” Shara explained. “It’s a hot spring here, but it also has a portal to the Deep Blue, the ocean, so Okeanos can swim and hunt.”
“And the tree is a portal?” I asked.
“Yes. I set the intention in my mind and simply step through, though it helps to have a picture in my mind of where we’re going.
Thierry showed me the giant tree in your yard, which made it easy for us to travel straight to your nest.” She lifted her hand up to the blue bird on her shoulder and he hopped onto her fingers. “Thank you, Thierry.”
He chirped back to her in her bond. :Thank you for upholding the oath I made in Isador’s name, Your Majesty.:
:Always.:
He bobbed his head to me and then flew up into the thorny tree.
The rest of Shara’s Blood exited the tree behind us and began dispersing to their guard duties.
Though the knight and general followed us toward the house.
It was a sprawling old-fashioned manor house complete with turrets and fanciful peaks in the roof, tucked into the woods and mountains around us.
Closing my eyes for a moment, I drank in the stillness and peace of this place.
All the powers of earth, even animals, welcomed their queen home.
The very ground trembled with joy at each touch of her footstep.
Trees rustled and swayed. Birds swooped overhead that should’ve been roosting for the night.
In the distance, I felt a fairly large city, but I didn’t know Arkansas geography enough to know what its name might be.
“Eureka Springs,” Shara said, picking up on my unspoken question. “Rik and Daire found me just a few miles away. A group of thralls had run me down and surrounded me. If they hadn’t come to my defense, I would’ve been torn apart without ever understanding what we are or embracing my power.”
“You weren’t raised in a nest?”
“No. I had no idea what any of this even meant. I thought Mom was human. She was killed when I was sixteen years old. Only after my Blood found me, and then we found my consiliarius, Gina, did I learn the truth. Mom was my aunt, but she’d given up her power to live as a human.
My mother, Esetta, sacrificed herself to have me. ”
She looked at me, a sad look in her eyes I couldn’t quite decipher. “Esetta Isador was a renowned queen in my day.”
Shara’s eyes flared wide, filling with tears. I feared I misspoke, but her lips trembled with a smile. “You can remember her name. Part of her sacrifice was for her name to be wiped from all living memory.”
I gave her a small shrug but allowed my lips to curve in an equally tremulous smile. “Until you lifted me from the pit and restored me, I was the same as dead, Shara, my queen.”