54. Shara #2
I could smell the acrid burn of her terror. Good. A small price to pay for all the harm she’d caused with her plotting and betrayals.
When Rosalind’s Blood were eliminated, I stared out over the gathered court and allowed my voice to carry. “We have two Triune queens present, Marne. Did you wish to hold a quorum?”
“Not today, Shara.” She gave me a tremulous smile. “Though I would like to offer my condolences for the former Isador Blood I exchanged with Rosalind. I had no idea she had such nefarious plans.”
“That’s certainly unfortunate. Especially when you demanded I take a Blood from inside your house—but failed to mention five of my mother’s former Blood were with you, waiting for me.
” I didn’t even look at her. Because if I did…
I would strike her down before she could flinch.
“What a strange coincidence that you brought them to Paris, even knowing what happened to the last Isador Blood you gave to Rosalind.”
Smooth as butter, Marne replied, “I hoped to come to an understanding with her, but I’m pleased you intervened. You may of course take back your mother’s former Blood, if that’s your wish.”
“It’s so kind of you to offer what’s already mine,” I said dryly as Lew came to stand beside me, providing me with my mother’s Bloods’ names. “Gerard, Nox, and Khalid, please come forward.”
The three Isador Blood immediately knelt before me below the dais. Eyes shining with eagerness and joy, they gazed up at me. Lew’s memories flickered through his bond, filling me with images of them laughing at Mallac’s jokes. Holding Esetta and Selena.
Protecting their queens. Loving their queens.
Losing their queens.
Despair closing in. Sent away to a large, powerful Triune queen playing the deadliest game of all. Knowing the risks but going anyway. Because as any Blood would say, it was an honor to serve. Especially if they could live to serve an Isador queen again.
“I have only one requirement.” My throat ached, my voice hoarse. “You may carry nothing but Isador blood into my court.”
The man in the middle, Khalid, spoke for them. “We serve House Isador, Your Majesty. Do as you will with us.”
I held my hand out and in unison, they leaped to their feet, beginning to rush up to me.
Lew let out a gryphon shriek without shifting. They froze in place, immediately looking to their former alpha. :Show them who the fuck we are.:
Evidently they could still hear him through Esetta’s blood.
Controlled and proud, they stepped up onto the dais and knelt at my feet. They did not touch me. They didn’t say a word. Even as blood began to leak from their eyes, ears, and noses.
The same as all the Valois Blood who’d fallen just minutes ago.
Unflinching, they stared at me as every drop of blood not belonging to Isador dripped out of them. Every drop of Marne Ceresa’s blood they’d taken since Esetta sent them to Rome. Her siblings’ blood.
Luckily for them, it wasn’t much. Though I would’ve gladly restored them with my own blood, even if they were barely still alive.
The scent of blood made my fangs throb. But it wasn’t Marne Ceresa I wanted to taste. Only my mother. Esetta Isador, daughter of Isis, but not the last. “You’ve tasted Her, so you’ve tasted me.”
If I could hoard anything, it would be my mother’s blood. Every fucking drop.
Since Khalid had spoken earlier, I chose him first. Guillaume made a cut on his throat for me, so I didn’t blast the man to queendom come.
Yet. Though I made sure to let Khalid get a glimpse of my fangs as I leaned closer.
His breath caught, recognizing why I didn’t bite him in front of the gathered assembly.
His dark skin felt like velvet against my lips. The spice of his blood hit my tongue, and I forgot everything. The watching eyes. The sweaty Triune queen filled with dread beside me. The bloody devastation I’d just dealt to House Valois.
Esetta burned in his blood. Still.
No wonder the hateful old queens had been so determined to see these last three of her Blood dead.
My hair tumbled free, flowing out to drag the other two men close. Guillaume had cut them too, so I could feed on them all at the same time.
Blowing desert sands glistened beneath a crescent moon.
A sandstone pyramid gleamed in the moonlight, capped in gold.
Night-blooming jasmine and blue lotus petals released their perfume as I walked into the pyramid, trailing my fingers over the carved and painted hieroglyphs on the walls.
Tendrils of smoky incense wound around me like living serpents.
Power. Blossoming with every swallow. The blood of the goddess, multiplying inside me. Swallow by swallow by swallow.
Khalid’s bloodline went all the way back to Anubis’ daughter, Kebechet, She of the Cooling Waters, who refreshed and purified the pharaohs for embalming.
His sleek jackal barked and yipped, as eager as Xin to hunt once more.
Khalid slumped against my knees, so I switched to the next man, though I pressed my upper arm to his lips so he could complete the Blood bond with me and restore himself.
A hint of briny ocean flowed through me. Pounding waves shifted to horse hooves as a beast approached. Though it didn’t seem to have any skin. Red flesh galloped closer, a silhouette of a man riding on his back, but the bodies flowed together into one.
:Nuckelavee.: Gerard’s neigh sounded more like a strident scream. :Your mother loved her monsters.:
I tipped my head, offering my throat. :So do I.:
Eager, he leaned in to sink his fangs deep but hesitated, shifting his target from my neck to my shoulder. Crap. I forgot about the stupid necklace.
My other hand found short, spiky hair and I pulled Nox closer so I could taste him directly on my tongue.
His beast was a giant pterodactyl-like bird with blue feathers on his belly and sweeping black leathery wings.
His beak was long and pointed, revealing rows of sawblade teeth when he let out a glad shriek to welcome me.
He nestled into my other arm to feed.
Okeanos’ bond jolted with recognition. :He came to see me when I was still caged. Before the queen of Rome took me.:
:Our queen was searching for a trapped kraken she saw in a dream,: Nox said.
:By the time I was able to locate you again, it was too late.
You were already caged in Rome. We still hoped to free you, even inside the queen of Rome’s court.
My sincerest apologies, mighty kraken. Marne must have suspected we had clandestine orders from our former queen and forbade us from ever approaching your prison. Her blood held me to that oath.:
Arms curled around them, I let them feed as long as they wanted. A lesser queen might have only given them a taste. Just enough to establish the bond.
But I was Esetta Isador’s daughter, and I reveled in blood.
:Welcome home, my Blood.: