Chapter 49
SHARA
Igave a gentle, polite knock on Carys’ bond. Even when she wasn’t hyper focused on a book or research project, she could be a little prickly. :Wanna go to court with me?:
She replied almost immediately. :Where?:
:Paris.:
I had a vision of her owl’s wings fluttering with excitement. :Oh yes, my queen.:
:Perfect. Head over to the Park Avenue house, and I’ll pick you up when we go tonight. I want to be there before dawn in Paris.:
Shifting my focus back to my surroundings, I laid out the first stage of war preparations. “First, very quietly, open our house in Paris. I don’t intend to stay there long, but while everything else is happening, I need a place where our larger party can be gathered and ready at a moment’s notice.”
Gina typed rapidly on her phone. “Done.” She looked up at me, so familiar with how my magic worked that she already knew what else I needed. “If you want to move into the living room, I can put pictures of the house and its very lovely water feature on the larger screen.”
Nodding, I started to rise. Of course immediately everyone leaped into action.
Guillaume still had my hand, so he tucked my arm around his while Rik hovered, naturally keeping himself between me and the two humans we didn’t exactly trust yet.
Sekh was already on the move to the larger room, and other Blood took up position at the rear door.
“Thank you, Winston.”
He bowed just as formally as Julie had curtsied. “A pleasure as always, Your Majesty. Would you like desserts and coffee brought in later?”
“That would be lovely. Thank you. Would you like to go to Paris with us?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Your Majesty. Unless you need me here…?”
I patted his arm as we passed. “You’re always welcome to come with me anywhere we go, but especially when we’re doing formalities. I may need your coaching on proper etiquette.”
“Then you may wish for Magnum to attend as well, Your Majesty. She has experience from the London court.”
Following us, Gina said, “I’ve already texted her. She’s packing a bag.”
That gave me the polite opening I’d been looking for. “Julie, Regina, why don’t you go pack as well. Just a change or two of clothes in a bag you can easily carry. I’m not planning on an extended stay.”
“In Paris?” Regina squeaked out. “What does one even wear in Paris?”
Gina laughed. “Sounds like we may need to do a little shopping after business, my queen.”
“Absolutely.”
“How quickly do we need to be ready to leave?” Julie asked.
Rik sat in our chair and pulled me up against him. I met Sekh’s gaze and he shook his head, so Marne had not left her Paris home yet. “Not immediately. Get some sleep if you can, but be ready at a moment’s notice. We will likely leave yet tonight under cover of darkness.”
“Oh my god!” Regina gasped. “I don’t have my passport.”
My lips quirked. “You won’t need it.”
“But— Are you sure? It’s a foreign country.” Realizing who she was arguing with, her eyes widened and she clamped her lips shut. Then quickly added, “Your Majesty. Sorry.”
“We won’t be going through an airport or customs, so you shouldn’t need formal identification,” Gina said.
“Though it won’t be a bad idea to retrieve your passport for any future traveling we do.
When we get back, I’ll help you arrange a trip home to Texas so you can get anything else you may need. ”
The young woman’s brow scrunched up and she opened her mouth.
Shut it. I could see a million questions flickering through her eyes, but she wisely followed the other woman outside.
Vore stood guard at the front door, and in his bond, I saw the two women pause a moment, chatting quickly and excitedly, then they split up and headed down different paths to their houses.
I would feel more confident in their trustworthiness once Carys had a look at them.
By the time I re-focused on my surroundings, all of my Blood not currently on duty had joined us.
Gina had pictures of a grand old-world mansion on the television.
Three stories of well-aged ivory stone and meticulous gardens on the edge of a larger park offered some privacy, though I could see buildings on either side.
She swiped to another picture of a walled courtyard with a bubbling fountain.
A statue of a smiling, beautiful woman stood over the edge, pouring water from her jug into a shallow pool tiled in lapis lazuli.
“Perfect.”
Gina and Kevin both sat on the sofa, while Leonie sat in a smaller chair angled toward me, though she could still see the screen as well.
Her new Blood stood at her back, outwardly calm and steady.
But he grasped his queen’s fingers tightly.
I wasn’t sure if he was just nervous—or if he had concerns about his queen’s involvement.
Hopefully he wasn’t second guessing his decision to answer her Call.
I could ask her… But I didn’t want to interfere in any way with her relationship with her own Blood. That was her business. Not mine.
To hopefully put them both at ease, I explained why the water feature was needed. “Just like the tree portal, we can travel through any body of water, as long as I have a picture in my mind of where we’re going.”
“That’s how you traveled so quickly to Mykonos and back,” Leonie said.
“Exactly. Plus I had a little extra help because Okeanos’ mother was also there, and we were able to pull ourselves to her. There’s also a fountain outside of House Valois.”
Gina clicked a few times and brought up the same image I’d seen in Sekh’s mind when he Saw Vaughn and Mallac reporting to Rosalind.
“Do we know if the fountain is inside or outside the blood circle?”
“Outside,” Lew said. “Unless Rosalind changed it since we last visited.”
“Perfect. We’ll all travel quietly to the Isador house using the pool. Likely tonight so we arrive before dawn in Paris. I can grab Magnum and Carys if they join us in the pool.”
Gina nodded. “She’ll need a five-to-ten-minute window but she’s ready.”
Now for the part no one would like. Especially Rik. I could already feel the granite sliding beneath his skin.
“Only four of us will be going to House Valois,” I said softly. “House Isador will not be invited.”
“I guess I’m not following.” Kevin cast a sheepish glance over at Gina. “Why do you need us all to go if we’re not actually going?”
“First, let me ask a different question. Have we given the Triune formal notice that Leonie is now my sibling?”
“No,” Gina replied. “Nothing has been outlined in contracts yet, and there’s the matter of…” Her words trailed off, her eyes flaring. Then her lips quirked. “Well done, my queen.”
“So as far as House Valois and the Triune are concerned, House Delafosse is still a Valois sibling.”
Leonie stared at me, her eyes shining brighter and larger with every passing second. “That’s how we get in. As a House Valois sibling paying homage to her queen after a long absence. But what about you, my queen?”
My lips twisted with distaste. “If I go as myself, then right off the bat, they’re on the defensive. They know I’m on to their game. They can simply refuse me access to the blood circle, and short of tearing it down—”
I paused, and on queue, Sekh growled out, “Which I absolutely can fucking do.”
“I can’t get inside to deal with either queen without wrecking the nest. Which I do plan to do, by the way, but on my own terms. Plus, I want to catch them in the act, so to speak. I want them to sweat. I want them agonizing about how much I know, and what the fuck I’m going to do to them.”
“In other words, you want them shitting their britches and wishing they’d brought extras,” Ezra said.
Laughing, I nodded. “Exactly. So if Itztli is willing to make a short run for me...”
He stepped forward immediately, hand over his heart, and bowed. “I’m ready, my queen.”
“Go back to New Orleans to the cabinet of the Dauphine’s curiosities and get me Queen Isabelle’s trophies.”
He whirled, already shifting into his dog, leaving his shredded clothes on the floor. :I’m on my way, my queen.:
I looked at Guillaume and he immediately stepped closer and dropped down to one knee. “Queen Isabelle and her knight will accompany the long-lost Valois sibling into the nest.”
“But Queen Isabelle died in 1988,” Kevin said quickly.
“I don’t think it’ll matter,” I replied. “Remember what you said before we went to free Basilia,” I said with a nod to G. “No one would expect me to be able to heal such injuries, let alone be willing to restore her. It’s the same for Leonie.”
“I was the same as dead,” Leonie whispered, though her voice quivered with rage. “Powerless. Trapped. A Valois sibling. Rosalind would’ve known where I was and could’ve at least put me out of my misery. If she wanted.”
I nodded. “I guarantee if one of my siblings was attacked and trapped, I would do anything within my power to free her.”
Blinking away tears, Leonie gave me a dazzling smile. “Which is why no other queen can ever hope to match Isador’s.”
I gave her a mental hug in the bond, a brush of our souls.
“Rosalind will realize one of us must be fake, but which one? Am I masked as the elderly queen she allowed the Dauphine to use to get to Delafosse? Or am I Leonie and somehow using an illusion for Isabelle? She can’t attack us both at the same time or risk exposing her treachery and lies to her entire court.
“Plus she’s dealing with the queen of Rome’s entourage. Marne’s trying to strong arm her into joining her against me. I’m counting on it being a little chaotic and extremely tense, which will let us get as close as possible to both queens.”
“And then what?” Rik’s voice rumbled so deep the floor vibrated beneath our chair. “When do you bring us to you? Because it’ll be the perfect time for them to attack you as well. Especially the queen of Rome.”
I pulled his arm around me, hugging him snuggly to my chest. “I’ll have the Triune Executioner at my side, and Wu Tien Xin at Marne’s throat.”
As his silver wolf, Xin sat down beside Guillaume, tipped back his head, and let out a long series of howls and yips no one needed help translating to “fuck yeah, let’s fucking go.”
“Not good enough,” Rik retorted. “Rosalind Valois has at least fifty Blood, and I saw how many Blood were on that yacht with the queen of Rome. Plus we don’t know where the Dauphine’s former Blood may be. Maybe she sent them all home to Paris, hoping that’s where you’d go next.”
“I’m good but not that good,” Guillaume admitted. Though from the glint of challenge in his blue eyes, he really did think he could take them all on by himself.
“Which is why when Leonie and I exit the fountain at House Valois, I will leave it keyed open with my blood. When we’re attacked, you can all pass through the portal, and Sekh can bring the blood circle down.”
Rik’s jaws ground like crunching boulders.
“I know it might take him a few minutes, but it’s only one blood circle.
” I loosened my grip on his arm so I could turn around on his lap and cup his stony face in my palms. “I assure you, my alpha, I’m fully prepared to rain down unholy hell upon everyone in that fucking house except my mother’s former Blood.
I will not be in danger. No one will dare touch me. ”
He gave a grudging nod. “You’ll have the Eleusinian Mysteries, but will you also wear Desideria’s jewelry as back up?”
I nodded. “As much as I hate using it, yes. I will use every weapon at my disposal.”