Chapter 17
SHARA
It wasn’t exactly a light and cheery discussion while we ate, but I filled Leonie in on all the crazy shit that had gone down in my life so far.
From Rik and Daire finding me and taking me to Kansas City and Gina, where Guillaume and Xin came to me.
Ra’s attack. Establishing this nest only for Keisha to attack us again.
Going to Mexico to meet Mayte only to find Keisha’s geas on her blood circle.
The subsequent trip to New York City to deal with Keisha’s blood claim since I’d taken three former Skye Blood as my own.
I’m sure I missed a few details—especially the Marne challenge in Rome—but I couldn’t tell her all the shit we’d done, or I’d be sitting here all night. While the food was delicious and took the edge off my hunger, I needed to feed. Deep. Long. And probably bloody as hell.
Leonie looked up through her lashes, her gaze sultry, hearing every single one of my thoughts in the bond. :I’m yours to use however you wish, my queen.:
:If I feed only on you as long as I need, you might not survive.
: She started to shrug, but I laid my hand over hers.
:I drained Keisha Skye to death. I won’t risk you, Leonie, especially after losing the ability to bring you back.
Maintaining my reserves has been a challenge from day one, and healing you tapped them hard.
I’ll likely need to work my way through all my Blood tonight before I’ll be comfortable feeding on you again without fearing I might drain you too much. :
Her head tipped to the side, her eyes searching mine. Then widening as I allowed her to delve into some of my most intimate memories. :Your power is immense, my queen. Of course you need to feed deep and well. I will eagerly await your call to come to you when you’re ready.:
“I think we’re ready to retire for the evening,” I said out loud. “Gwen mentioned wanting to have a conversation shortly. I’m guessing she may wish to leave the tower again to find another Blood, so we may want to talk about who can step into that role while she’s gone.”
“I too would like to have some of your time for business discussions,” Gina replied. “We really need a couple more consiliari to help us get through the onslaught of transferring all of the Dauphine’s worldly possessions to House Isador through formal channels.”
Knowing Gina, she already had a list of candidates prepared—but we still needed to talk things through. “I’m thinking about heading to Mykonos tomorrow, which is awfully close to Rome. Should we give a heads up through formal channels so the queen of Rome doesn’t leap to any assumptions?”
Rik tightened his fingers on my shoulder. “I think it might be best to wait a few days before we leave the nest again, my queen.”
My eyebrows rose with surprise. “Are my reserves that tapped? I don’t feel so low.”
“No, it’s not that. I suspect your cycle will start within the next twelve hours.”
Oh crap. How could I have my very regular period for years now and still somehow be surprised when I started again? Though to be fair, it wasn’t like I had a calendar or planner to consult every month to check.
:That’s what I’m for,: Rik rumbled. :Even a calendar won’t pick up on the subtle shifts in your scent that my alpha senses notice.:
Leonie’s eyes rounded and her mouth sagged open for a moment. “You can breed? So young?”
I gave her a rueful smile. “My period is extremely regular and heavy, every single month. I even have a human doctor who’s been trying to help me regulate my cycle so I’m not so incapacitated for a week at a time, but so far, it really hasn’t made much of a difference.”
“A week of rest once a month will do you good,” Gina said firmly.
Her usual response. Not that I quite believed it yet.
I blew out a disgusted sigh. “But there’s so much to do.
I need the other two seats at Triskeles filled.
I need to help Basilia. Undina wants to meet regularly so we can talk about what to do about the other Triune, which now has two seats available.
Not to mention all the paperwork stacking up.
But the absolute last thing we need is for me to be bleeding heavily while we’re out and about with the Dauphine’s former Blood hunting us. ”
“You can’t solve all the Triune problems overnight.
” Gina stood and leaned down to give me a quick hug.
“I’ll text Kevin and he can let Gwen know any further rescue missions will be delayed a few days.
We’ll arrange a meeting with Gwen toward the end of the week, so you can have that resolved before heading out to Mykonos. We have plenty of time.”
“It doesn’t feel like it when I know people are trapped and suffering and there’s something I can do to help them.”
“Which is why we love you so much, my queen.” Guillaume stepped aside as Gina passed through the doorway. “However, there’s something else I wish to discuss with you before you make any decisions about Basilia.”
“Should we talk about it now, or can it wait a day or two?”
“Later is fine, my queen.”
Leonie and I both stood and followed Gina out into the kitchen area, where Winston waited for us.
“Good night,” Gina called over her shoulder, heading for the front door. “Text me if you need anything.”
“Good night. Thank you, Winston. Dinner was lovely.”
He inclined his head, his lips quirking. “Barely a snack, Your Majesty. We’ve prepared a queen suite next to Carys’ if you’re ready to retire for the night. Daire already took Her Majesty’s bag up.”
“That’s perfect, thank you.” He led the way upstairs to the guest wing of the house. “Carys had some research she wanted to do at the Library of Congress, so she went to stay in New York City for a few days. But she usually travels with me.”
“And Gwen? I’m sorry, I didn’t catch their former House names.”
“Gwenhwyfar Camelot and Carys Tylluan. They were both siblings to Keisha when we took the tower. Now Gwen holds the tower for me and manages all the other sibs. For Carys’ gift to work, she needs to be with me and see what I see so she can help me strategize. She can see probabilities.”
“Oh, that’s interesting. Like what, exactly?”
“When the Dauphine arrived at Undina Ketea’s nest disguised as Basilia, Carys saw a rare one-hundred-percent probability that she wanted me dead.
Which was one clue that helped us see through the disguise.
Though her probabilities that I would survive the encounter at all were beyond scary, so take that with a grain of salt. ”
At the landing, I showed her where my suite was and then walked her down to the room opposite Carys’.
Winston had outdone himself, which didn’t surprise me in the slightest. The room was spacious but still cozy with thick fluffy bedding, luxurious rugs, and soft lighting, decorated in Egyptian turquoise with pops of Mom’s favorite color, lapis lazuli.
The attached private bathroom had a large basket on the vanity, filled with a variety of perfumes and lotions any woman would enjoy.
A thick black robe with the House Isador logo on the lapel lay draped across the foot of the bed.
“If you need anything at all, Your Majesty, please don’t hesitate to let us know,” Winston said.
“This is beautiful,” Leonie replied, her eyes shining in the soft golden lamplight. “Thank you, Winston.” Then she curtsied to me. “Thank you, Your Majesty. For everything.”
I fought the urge to cup her cheeks in my palms and press a chaste kiss to her lips. Hunger rippled through me, growing in intensity. A chaste kiss would quickly lead to me burying my fangs in her lovely throat.
She made a low, soft sound. :Yes, please.:
Need throbbed through me. :Once I get started, I won’t stop, and you deserve more than a hard, ravenous bite that might endanger you.: Aloud, I simply replied, “Good night. Thank you, Winston.”
And hoped to hell he could still understand my words despite my fangs.
:I eagerly await your pleasure, my queen.:
RIK
I had a rough plan sketched out for making sure my queen was well fed—and well loved—before she invited her new sibling to her bed.
She didn’t want to drain the other queen too severely, not so soon after healing.
Vivian would love to be involved with the queens, so she would be the reserve for later.
Same for me. Since I was the closest to Shara all the time, day in and day out, I felt it was the least I could do to make sure her other Blood had time with her first as often as possible.
Especially when they would be excluded for a brief time.
I’d had time this morning, and I’d serve as the final reserve if she needed to feed again once she was finished with Leonie.
Some of the Blood were more aggressively demanding when it came to their turn.
Cough, Mehen. She had promised to snack on him once we returned from Galveston, though none of us had expected to go after Leonie so quickly.
So far, the dragon had avoided being too much of an asshole.
Though if he got too demanding, I’d send him and Sekh out on guard duty together.
:Don’t you fucking dare,: Sekh retorted. Though he grudgingly added, :Alpha.:
Coming up with partners who’d tolerate the dragon’s snark and still have a good time was challenging.
Daire, of course. Nevarre or Tlacel might work, though Nevarre had already had a turn this morning.
Guillaume could deal with anybody, especially if that meant getting a turn in our queen’s bed, though I needed the dragon’s blood for our queen.
Not spilled by the knight because he was being a dick. She could still call the blood to her—
“Can I make a request tonight?” Shara asked as we approached her suite’s door.
I nearly broke my neck jerking my head around so fast. I barely managed not to splutter. “Of course, my queen. Always.”
She laughed softly. “I’d like to give Ezra and Daire some time together, if that helps you adjust the combinations in the queue.”