“Diego, my queen, formerly of House Chak.”
My eyes widened. Chelle Chak was a queen of the old guard, one of Grandmama’s friends when she’d been queen. Grandmama and Chelle were sibs, but I had never formalized such a relationship with her. “Her nest is in Antigua. How did you get here so quickly?”
He slipped from my bed and padded around the room as quietly as his jaguar. One moment he was at the balcony, and the next, he was coming back in through the door to the hallway. My balcony was on the second floor of the house. In the back of the house. He would have had to race around to the front of the house and back up the stairs. In the blink of an eye.
“I can move great distances in a single step. It’s as though space has no hold on me.”
Awed, I tried to estimate the miles between us when I’d first made the call last night. He’d crossed the jungles and mountains from Guatemala to Zaniyah lands in Mexico in a matter of hours. By foot. Or paw, rather. It was astounding.
“My apologies, my queen. That’s why I was so ravenous last night.”
“No wonder. That’s quite a miraculous gift. Please let me know when your reserves are running low.”
He inclined his head. “Normal food also helps restore my body’s energy. By your leave, I’ll sniff out the kitchen and grab some food.”
“Of course. Sarah’s an excellent cook. I’ll be along shortly.”
I’d nearly finished dressing when Grandmama suddenly spoke in my head. :I have something to show you in the attic.:
She only rarely used our blood bond to communicate, even though she’d fed me often enough as a child. :I’ll be right there.:
I stepped outside, and Eztli nodded. “I heard.”
Even his voice was tight, simmering with so much left unsaid. We walked upstairs in silence, my heart aching with every step. I hated this. I didn’t want to hurt him, or, goddess forbid, lose him entirely. I didn’t want our lives or relationship to change.
I sighed softly, shaking my head. Everything would change. A child would complicate even a regular human marriage. For a queen to sire an heir was even more important and exponentially more difficult. Even if everything went perfectly, our lives would still be in turmoil. The danger would be greater. Always.
That was why I needed to call Diego last night. That was why I needed to find the god. Even if he killed us all.
I laid my hand on the door knob to the small storage room tucked beneath the roof, but I hesitated. Looking at him, I let sincerity shine in my eyes. “I love you, Eztli.”
His grim edge softened slightly, but he didn’t smile. “And I love you, my queen.”
I wanted him to say that all would be well. He would make it so. But he couldn’t. He wouldn’t lie to me, not even to make me feel better.
I pushed the door open and stepped into the attic. Dust motes danced in the air. Boxes were stacked here and there, mixed in with old furniture, picture frames, and other treasures from the past that Grandmama couldn’t bear to part with. Thick dust covered most everything, making it easy for me to follow her tracks around a stack of old trunks.
She sat on a sheet-draped chaise lounge that had once been in Mama’s room. On her lap, she held a rounded wooden case. It almost looked like a guitar case, though it was missing the long neck. As I neared, I could make out a calendar wheel as part of the design on the case, but I didn’t recognize the other glyphs.
Patting the seat beside her, Grandmama silently invited me to sit. I did so, but she still didn’t speak. She only stared at the case in her lap, her gnarled fingers tracing round and round the wheel.
I reached over and laid my hand on top of hers, stilling her aimless drawing. “What is it, Grandmama? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She grimaced, shaking her head. “At least, not yet. I don’t know if this is the right thing to do or not.”
I had no idea what she might need to tell me. Why had she asked me to come to her, if she was afraid to give me whatever she’d found? I decided to talk about something else entirely until she was ready. “I called a new Blood last night.”
She nodded but didn’t reply.
“I went to the old ruin like last time. I bled so much that I could barely walk home, but I still couldn’t find Tepeyollotl. I even asked for Coatlicue’s help. I felt Her presence, but I have no idea where the god may be.”
Grandmama blew out a sigh as she transferred the wooden case onto my lap. “That’s what I was afraid of. I think this may help, but it’s extremely dangerous.”
Nothing fazed Grandmama, not even the giant spiders that were likely sent by the sun god to kill Citla before she could have me. So it must be especially dire. My fingers quivered as I flipped the latch and gingerly opened the case.
Inside, a white cloth lay on top of the item protected inside the case. Someone, likely Grandmama, had embroidered a dancing Aztec god in bold primary colors. Black and gold stripes crossed his face, and his right foot was replaced with a black circular disk. Something wiggled out from the circle, almost like snakes.
“I hoped you could call the jaguar aspect and not deal with Tezcatlipoca directly, but I suppose you can’t find one without the other.” She touched the circular disk where his foot should be. “Smoking Mirror. He’s the god of darkness, divination, and sorcery. He gave his priests obsidian mirrors, so they could view the supernatural and discover truths that would be impossible for mortals to learn on their own. They used the mirrors to not only talk to dead ancestors, but also to the god himself. If you’re not careful, you can be sucked into the smoky world on the other side and lost forever, so you must respect it, every single time, and hold on firmly to what you love.”
She pulled the cloth aside, and I saw myself looking back in the shiny black surface. Volcanic rock had been polished to a fine sheen.
“It’s a mirror, so you see yourself first. You have to see and know yourself before the god will speak. You will see truths about yourself that may be difficult to face. Some people would rather not look, for fear of what they’ll learn, and others have been driven mad, tormented by the truths they can’t accept. It’s impossible to lie to yourself in the obsidian mirror.”
My fingertips were icy cold, and I gripped the outer case so tightly that my hands ached. I averted my gaze from the mirrored surface, my heart pounding. “How long do I have to look? How long is too long before it’s dangerous?”
“Until you activate it with your blood, it’s only a mirror. Other than that, I don’t know. I’ve never used it myself.” She lifted the mirror out of the case and lovingly ran her fingers around the unpolished rim. “It was my brother’s.”
She set it back in the case and dropped her hand over mine. I released my death grip on the case and entwined my fingers with hers. “Tupoc was one of Tezcatlipoca’s teopixqui before the fall of the city. He smuggled as many holy items out of the temple as possible, including his obsidian mirror. I begged him to stay in the nest where we were safe, but he insisted on going back to Tenochtitlan. He said it wasn’t over. The Spaniards would return despite their initial defeat, and he would die with his city. He told me to take everyone as far away from Tenochtitlan as possible, and that’s how we came to our new lands here.”
I squeezed her hand gently. “Did you ever see him use the mirror? Or did he tell you how to work it?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know much more than I’ve already told you. I was called to the Templo Mayor once, when Mama was still alive, to help care for a young priest who’d been lost while using his mirror. Mama was the best healer I’ve ever seen, and even she said there was nothing anyone could do for him. His soul was already gone and his body died the next day.”
“So, I might find the god I seek… and lose my soul at the same time. Great.”
Grandmama snorted and released my hand to pat my cheek. “You’re the queen of House Zaniyah and daughter of Coatlicue, Mother of the Gods. I think you’ll do just fine. But I recommend extreme caution. Do all you
can to locate his resting place before using the mirror, and if you must, use it rarely. Some people become so obsessed with the mirror that they can do nothing else but stare into it, lost in visions of the otherworld. Make sure your Blood are close by and able to pull you back if anything seems amiss. Use your intention, as you do when you work any magic. If our goddess wants another daughter, She’ll help keep you safe.”
My mind raced. If the mirror could help me find the god, then the risk would be worth it. I’d do anything to have a daughter, even risking my soul in the murky otherworld only priests had ever visited. “Where do you think he rests?”
“Aztlán, where the Mexica originated.”
That wasn’t much help, because no one knew where Aztlán was located. Human researchers had been seeking the mythological city for as long as they’d been looking for Atlantis.
I carefully rewrapped the mirror and secured the case. “Is there a certain time of day I should try to reach him?”
“Never during the day. The night is Tezcatlipoca’s domain.”
Darkness. If I was truly Huitzilopochtli’s child, then the last thing I wanted to do was work any magic in the light of day. I didn’t want to draw his attention to me or the nest.
Let alone to my future child.
5
Mayte
Twenty years later
I couldn’t seem to stay warm outside of the nest. Even in December, the temperatures in Texas weren’t that different from what we saw at home. It was the lack of safety and security that made me hunch my shoulders and hug myself. I wasn’t actually cold, though my teeth did occasionally chatter. My nerves were getting the best of me. Though we went home periodically, these trips were taking a toll on me.
I’d been as meticulous in my research as any Mesoamerican expert hoping to make the discovery of the century. Over the years, I’d talked to anyone who’d ever written a paper or made a knowledgeable comment about Aztlán, the legendary origin of seven tribes, one of which migrated to Lake Texcoco and founded Tenochtitlan.
We’d made excursions to at least fifty different lakes, from western Mexico to New Mexico and now, to Texas. I needed a lake with an island. How hard could that be to find? Evidently, it was impossible to find the right one. To be honest, I couldn’t imagine that any of these highly commercialized fishing and boating attractions would ever host the lost city. There were very few “wild” places left in the southern United States. Surely if Aztlán were anywhere north of the border, someone would have found it already.
That was what I’d told myself thousands of times as I stared at the obsidian mirror’s case, my stomach clenched with dread. I had promised Grandmama I’d explore every reasonable location first before attempting to use the mirror as a last resort.
The last resort was upon me. All I had to show after all these years was a laptop full of notes and a stack of maps with big red Xs, only this time, X did not mark the spot where Tezcatlipoca lay in eternal sleep, but the sites I’d visited, and ultimately eliminated, as possibilities.
After examining yet another tourist-trap island resort near Austin, I’d despaired of ever finding a solid clue to Aztlán’s location. Rather than driving all night, I asked Eztli to pull off the road so we could relax and sleep. We stopped at the first highway motel for a cheap room and ordered a stack of delivery pizzas. Half dozing, half watching the news, I almost missed it.
I shot out of bed so quickly that Maxtla and Luis both shifted to jaguar, while Eztli scooped me up in his arms, braced and ready to carry me to safety.
“No,” I gasped, twisting back around to see the television. “Turn it up!”
Diego grabbed the remote control that had been knocked under the bed in our mad scramble, and rewound a few minutes so that I could hear the whole thing.
The male reporter was interviewing a very excited woman, Dr. Ramona Torres, who held two pieces of chipped, broken obsidian.
“Pause it,” I told Diego and he hit the button, so I could see the chunk of rock better. “Doesn’t that look like it’s carved?”
The television screen was too small to be certain, but I could barely make out weathered lines of a glyph. I didn’t know many of the ancient symbols, but I did know that one, because it was my brother’s name. Itztli. Obsidian.
“Go ahead and let it play.”
“As reported earlier this summer, Lake Tawakoni has receded significantly over the past few years thanks to drought conditions across the state. But this time, the low waters were a good thing, right, Ms. Torres?”
“It’s Dr. Torres, and yes, we never would have found these artifacts under normal lake conditions.”
“Right, sorry, so what’s so significant about these pieces that have been found?”
“This is obsidian. There are no volcanoes in Texas,” she replied dryly. “These are also fairly large chunks that also show evidence of carving and craftsmanship.”
“What do you think they were used for?”
She adjusted the two pieces in her hands so they fit together, forming about one third of a dinner platter.
Or an obsidian mirror like the one Grandmama had given me.
“I believe this was a piece of polished obsidian that priests used in rituals to communicate with the otherworld.”
“Not Catholic priests.” The man laughed, as if he’d made a joke.
Dr. Torres was not amused. I made a mental note to find wherever she taught and make a donation to her university’s department.
“Mexica priests, possibly dated prior to Tenochtitlan’s existence. I won’t know for sure until I have it tested.”
“Do you mean Aztecs?”
“No. They never called themselves Aztecs.”
The reporter blinked several times, as if trying to come up with something clever to say. Rather than risking sounding like an idiot, he changed the subject. “Why would a priest carry this all the way from Mexico, so it could be discovered in a Texan lake, Ms. Torres?”
“Doctor,” she corrected him again, firmly. Then she turned to the camera, and it was like she was looking straight into my eyes and speaking directly to me. “What if they started here and meant to carry it south?”
I opened my mouth to ask for my laptop, but Eztli placed it on my lap, open and ready for me. I Googled Lake Tawakoni and found it about an hour east of Dallas. “That’s where we need to head in the morning, though it doesn’t look like it has an island. I never would have thought to check this lake as a possibility.”
“It’s big,” he said over my shoulder. “Do you want us to try and locate Dr. Torres so you can speak to her?”
Already searching her name, I shook my head. “I found a transcript of the article. It says they found several items on the shoreline in the state park.”
“That’s still a lot of area to search, and this time of year, the park will likely be closed. At least we ought to be able to investigate as jaguars without worrying about being sighted by tourists.”
A pulse of magic made my eyes flutter shut. I breathed deeply, letting my mind relax and open to the message from my goddess. She didn’t speak words, but I felt Coatlicue’s intent. Shivering, all I wanted to do was crawl under the cheap comforter and hide.
Eztli sat closely beside me and wrapped his arms around me. “What is it, my queen?”
I swallowed hard and cleared my throat. “I need to use the mirror.”
“Now?” He asked softly, rubbing my back in soothing circles. “Or when we get closer?”
I leaned into him and buried my face against his throat. He held me, letting me soak in his heat and strength. My alpha had never failed me. Goddess, please don’t let me fail him. Especially now that I’m so close to finding the jaguar god.
“When we’re closer, I think. I’m hoping it will guide me to the exact location.”
He pressed a kiss to the top of my head and tightened his arms around me. “At the first hint of trouble, I’ll pull you back. I won’t allow anything to harm you, not eve
n Tezcatlipoca.”
That was what I was afraid of.
Because if my Blood felt I was in danger, they’d die to protect me. Was I strong enough to protect them from a god?
6
Eztli
My queen finally had a promising clue to the location of Aztlán after decades of fruitless searches. She could have her jaguar god in days, or even hours, if all went well.
I felt like utter garbage for wishing that all would not go well. It was a futile wish, and completely, despicably selfish. I was lucky to have found a queen at all, let alone one who’d loved me for so long.
But if this might be my last night with her as alpha, I would do everything in my power to ensure she would remember it always.
I didn’t say anything, but I watched her with heavy-lidded eyes. Missing nothing. Holding back nothing in our bond. I studied her like a man who knew he’d soon lose his sight and needed to etch every facet of Mayte Zaniyah into my memory.
The exact dusky brown of her skin. The silky pink of her lips. The delicate curve of her ear as she tucked a wayward strand of hair back. When I’d first come to her call, she’d worn her mahogany hair bound in a braid and coiled at the base of her neck. I’d spent hours at a time simply brushing her hair and admiring the weight of it on my fingers. Every morning, I’d brushed and braided her hair, and every night when she took me to her bed, I’d unbraided and brushed it for her again.
Why did we stop that comforting ritual? I couldn’t remember why she’d decided to cut her hair back to shoulder length years ago. But I missed it. I missed that small thing I could do to show her how much I loved her.
I still could have braided it for her, even though it was shorter. One day, she must have sent me to some small task and skipped our ritual. Which made it easy to skip again over the years.
Realms and Rebels: A Paranormal and Fantasy Reverse Harem Collection Page 118
