Queen Takes King

by Joely Sue Burkhart

  Shara

  Great, just great. While I thought I had a bit of a handle on the whole Aima court politics mess, now I found out a patriarchal god of light was gunning for me.

  I felt pretty confident in fighting back against other queens. I was starting to understand my magic. I trusted my Blood to guide me, protect me, and know when to stand back and let me do my thing. But how do you fight a god who’d once been worshiped by ancient Egyptians as Ra?

  “Shara, we’re coming up!” Gina called from downstairs.

  I looked around the room, dismayed. Again. Busted bones, pieces of armor, and weapons littered the floor. Blood everywhere. Of course. The guys were all buck naked. I loved Gina and was definitely getting fond of Dr. Borcht too, but I sure as hell didn’t want two other women getting an eyeful of my men.

  Rik flashed a cocky smile. “Let’s at least put some pants on.”

  I dragged the sheet up to cover my midsection and breasts, though I didn’t know that was any better with all the blood splattered all over it.

  Gina hesitated at the destroyed door and surveyed the room. “Oh my. I guess you’ve had some difficulties.”

  “You could say that.”

  Poor Frank followed the women carrying two black cases. Dr. Borcht stepped around and over the broken skeleton soldiers and made her way to my side of the bed. Her gaze immediately locked on my right knee and she gently began to manipulate my leg to see how badly it was damaged. “If you could set the cases over here close, that’d be great.”

  He brought the two cases over to her and set them down, but I was surprised when he didn’t immediately bolt for the door. He looked at each man and then focused on Rik, correctly reading him as the man in charge. “I get that my team’s strictly outside security, but if we can help with whatever this situation was, we’re willing. Or if there’s any debriefing you can give me, so we can improve our response…”

  Rik nodded. “Yeah, we should fill you in on what happened. All of you. It’s going to affect Her Majesty’s security going forward.” He looked at me, though, a slight frown wrinkling his brow. :Do you mind a human included in this discussion?:

  :He’s willing to stay. I guess we give him a shot.:

  “Here’s what happened tonight. Guillaume and I were up here with Her Majesty. Daire and Xin were on watch downstairs.” He paused with a glance at Daire.

  “I was in the kitchen. Xin went outside to make a quick circuit around the house.”

  Frank nodded. “We saw him, said hello. That was at 2:04 AM.”

  Rik looked at me. “Were you asleep, my queen? When it started?”

  “I had been, but something woke me up. The room was brighter than it should have been and when I started to sit up, I saw what looked like a window in the center of the room and a armed skeleton climbing through it.”

  Frank paled but impressed me again. If he doubted my story, at least he didn’t express any doubts. Though he made a quick look about the room, saw the bones, and I’m not sure how he could think I’d made the whole thing up. Gina sat on the edge of the bed and took my hand.

  “I couldn’t wake Rik and Guillaume. Rik moved and groaned, but he couldn’t wake up. I heard Daire and Xin coming, but the thing grabbed me.”

  Dr. Borcht touched my ankle, which bore an ugly ring of bruises. “The skeleton had quite a grip on you.”

  I shuddered and nodded. “I kicked it two or three times and broke something in it, but it still wouldn’t let go of me. It pulled me off the bed. I grabbed the leg of the bed and held on for dear life, and that’s when it hurt my knee tugging on me. I tried blasting it with fire, and it definitely howled, but still wouldn’t let go of me. By then, Daire came through the door and attacked it. Xin dragged me to safety, and Rik and Guillaume were finally able to wake up and join the fight.”

  Dr. Borcht lifted the largest case up on the bed and opened it up. Inside was some kind of medical equipment. She lifted up an inside shelf and the whole thing lit up. “This isn’t quite as good as the full-body MRI, but it’ll at least let me see what exactly is torn inside. I think your ACL is okay, but you’ve torn at least the meniscus.” She looked over at Rik on the other side of the bed. “If you can help me lift and support her injured knee, I need to get it underneath the scanner.”

  Daire moved out of the way and Rik crawled across the mattress to kneel beside me. One big hand cradled my calf, while the other slid beneath my thigh. He lifted my knee up smoothly and Dr. Borcht moved the scanner into place. I winced a bit, but it didn’t hurt too badly. “I should be able to heal that, right?”

  “Oh yes. You could heal an ACL too or a broken bone. I just believe it’ll be easier for you to heal it if you know exactly what the injury is. There’s no sense in you trying to mend back a bone if all you have is ligament damage. It’ll take a few minutes to get a good image. Try to hold still and let Rik support your leg.”

  “The first skeleton was probably a high priest,” Gina said, drawing my attention back to her. “He knocked out the Blood, making it safe for them to come through. How did you finally close the portal?”

  I forgot that Gina had been around Aima courts her entire life. She probably knew almost as much as the guys, even though she wasn’t full Aima. “I couldn’t close it. The harder I pushed on it, the stronger it got.”

  She nodded, her gaze locked on me. Her intensity started to freak me out a bit. Nothing had managed to rattle my consiliarius yet. So if she was worried, or goddess forbid, scared, we were fucked worse than I’d already imagined. And I had a damned good imagination.

  “Xin had pulled me over to the side,” I continued slowly, watching her reaction. “It looked like a bubble. Kind of shiny and floating, moving like the surface of a bubble. So… I popped it.”

  “From the back?”

  I nodded and she sat back, stunned. She opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again, but couldn’t seem to find the words.

  “You do realize who was behind the attack, yes?” Dr. Borcht asked.

  “The guys explained it to me,” I said vaguely, not sure how much supernatural shit I wanted to discuss in front of my human security guard. Though he hadn’t bolted for the door yet, even as he heard my story.

  “You did the impossible,” Gina finally whispered hoarsely, shaking her head. “A portal can only be closed by the one who opened it. When Daire attacked the high priest, he freed Rik and Guillaume from the spell, but the portal stayed open. So the first skeleton hadn’t opened it. Someone on the other side did. He did. The god himself. And you shut it right in his face.”

  “Goddess,” Dr. Borcht whispered, her eyes widened.

  “Holy fuck,” Gina said, startling a laugh out of me. I’d never heard her curse before.

  Suddenly we were all laughing like we’d heard the funniest joke ever told.

  Gasping for breath, I lay back against the pillows. Tears filled my eyes but I didn’t cry. It was just too much, too sudden, too overwhelming. They sensed my changing mood and quieted too. Rik kept my knee steady. Gina held my hand. Daire started purring, even though he wasn’t touching me. Always the knight, Guillaume started piling up the weapons and shields, testing out each sword to see if he wanted to keep any of them. Silent Xin only watched me, his eyes shimmering, crackling ice. If I hadn’t taken him…

  I didn’t think I’d be alive.

  But I had to wonder… If Rik and Daire hadn’t found me, how much longer would I have lasted on my own? Had the king started to wake up before I came into my power? Was I even on the patriarchal god’s radar when I was living on the run and powerless? Certainly Marne and Keisha hadn’t known who I was. I’d never have found Gina. I’d never have needed Dr. Borcht’s care, either. I’d have never seen skeletons climbing out of a golden window to another plane or world. Or dreamed of a massive snake-dragon creature who’d been chained for thousands of years.

  Or stroked a warcat, or a ghostly silver wolf.

  Or been held by a massive rock troll.


  Or loved the last Templar knight.

  The machine dinged and Dr. Borcht said, “Okay, let me slide the scanner out of place, and you can set her knee back down. A pillow underneath to support would be best. Yes, that’s it.”

  I heard the clacking of a keyboard and she hummed beneath her breath. “All right. Yes. Meniscus tear and some MCL damage it looks like. The joint itself is undamaged and the ACL is intact.”

  I opened my eyes and sat up a little. Gina stuffed another pillow under me so I could still rest but remain upright. “So what does that mean?”

  Dr. Borcht pulled up the gray and white scan of my knee. She pointed to some white blobs and rattled off some more medical words but all I really caught was fluid, swelling, and tear. I waited until she paused and said, “I guess I should have asked how do I fix it?”

  She touched my knee with her index finger in the center, the outside, and the inside of my knee. “You have some damage in these places. If you flood that area with power, and concentrate on removing the swelling and knitting things back together, you should be up and walking tomorrow.”

  Frank made a low sound under his breath, making us all look at him. He blushed and stammered, “Sorry, my friend’s daughter tore her meniscus a couple of years ago playing basketball and they recommended surgery. She had pain and swelling for weeks.”

  “In case you hadn’t realized, I’m not exactly human.”

  He met my gaze steadily. “I got that. Um, Your Majesty.”

  Daire snickered. “What was the clue: the giant warcat or the skeletons or the dead bodies?”

  “All the above.” He came closer and though Rik didn’t move, I felt his readiness in the bond. If this human so much of flinched in a way he didn’t like, Rik would tear him apart with his bare hands. Frank went down on one knee. “I’m willing to do whatever you want to stay and make sure you’re safe.”

  I tried to keep the surprise and doubt off my face. It was a really sweet offer. But I wasn’t sure what a human could do for me that my Blood could not.

  Gina said softly, “Humans are generally beneath other queens’ radar. And they have access to places where you may not want your Blood seen.”

  :What do I do?: I asked Rik. :Is this like that human servant thing? Or do I just say fine, okay, and let it go?:

  “I’ve seen things before,” Frank said, drawing my attention back to him. “Things I couldn’t explain. Things that…” He sighed, trying to find the words. “It’s like they tugged on me. Just a string, a thread, but I felt it. I always knew there was more out there. Like if I just turned my head fast enough, I’d see it. I want to see it, Your Majesty.”

  :He must have some Aima blood in him,: Rik said through the bond. :It would respond to your magic.:

  :How?:

  :If you want to magnify his gift, you would need to give him some of your blood. If he’s willing. That will make him wholly yours.:

  I let the idea rattle around in my head a minute. :You wouldn’t care?:

  :It’s your blood, my queen. We Blood will always be your first and closest servants.:

  “There is a way.” Gina met my gaze, her eyes gleaming with intensity. “And if you give it to him, I’d ask for it too.”

  :There are ramifications,: Guillaume said. :They will live longer. Their appearance won’t age the same. They will not willingly leave your service if you change your mind later. Gina has proven herself, but I’m not sure that the man won’t regret it later.:

  Frank stared up at me. He was forty, maybe forty-five, I thought. A good looking tough guy, probably ex-military by the way he held himself. Maybe an ex-cop.

  “Do you have any family?”

  He shook his head. “Only my business and the people who work for me. My partner and I served together two decades ago. He was the brother I never had.”

  “Was?”

  “He died last year. Cancer. I’ve got nothing but my business. My people. They’re good, loyal, smart people not afraid of anything. Even skeletons that crawl out of windows that don’t exist.”

  “I wouldn’t do this for anyone that I didn’t know. And I don’t even know if this is something you’d want to do.”

  He looked at Gina a moment, weighing her reaction.

  She was entirely focused on me, no doubt in her manner. “You know I’m more than willing.”

  “What’s required?” He finally asked.

  I looked at Guillaume and he immediately came to me with a blade in his hand. I held out my wrist and he made a small cut, so quickly that I didn’t even feel it.

  Blood welled. I felt a surge inside me, as if a gigantic wave swelled higher, lifting me toward the sky. Guillaume’s nostrils flared and all my Blood’s intensity sharpened. I held my wrist out to Gina.

  Her icy fingers trembled on my skin but her eyes gleamed with excitement. Joy. “I swear my life to Shara Isador, last daughter of Isis. I’ll serve you faithfully, as my grandmother served before me.”

  I wasn’t sure what to expect as her lips touched my skin. When one of my men tasted my blood, even from someplace as innocent as my wrist, it felt like he was licking my pussy or nipples or hell, both. It was purely sexual, stirring my lust as easily as a kiss.

  I didn’t feel anything really as Gina swallowed my blood, just the rising power. She swallowed several times, but I didn’t count. I didn’t know how much was appropriate, but trusted that she knew.

  She lifted her head and her eyes swum with tears. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I never thought…” She cleared her throat and gave me a brilliant smile. “Thank you.”

  Looking at her, I could see my blood in her. I could feel it spreading through her like a soft, warm glow. She carried a piece of me now. I suspected that if I closed my eyes and felt for her in the tapestry I carried in my mind, that I would see her. Wherever she went in the world.

  I looked at Dr. Borcht and she smiled apologetically. “I’m a doctor, Shara. I’ve studied blood-born diseases all my life. I’m afraid that the thought of sharing blood is too risky for me. I’ll still serve you as faithfully as I can.”

  I nodded and smiled back. “Yeah, it never occurred to me either. Not until Rik and Daire showed up. I understand.” I turned to Frank. “No pressure. If you change your mind, I’ll understand.”

  “Are you really Isis’s daughter? The goddess?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll swear.” I held out my wrist and he came closer, taking my hand in his. “Your Majesty.” He pressed his lips to my skin, shuddered a little, but swallowed. Again. And it was the same as with Gina. I didn’t feel anything but my blood glowing inside him. Nothing sexual.

  Relieved, I smiled at Rik. I didn’t want to be some kind of sex fanatic anytime someone touched me.

  His bond rumbled with low laughter. :You can be our sex fanatic whenever you wish, my queen.:

  Frank lifted his head, his eyes wide, his pulse thumping rapidly in his throat. I felt all that, now. I felt the tremor of nerves in his stomach. He was afraid he’d throw up and embarrass himself. Or worse, crave my blood like some kind of beast. But as each moment passed, his nerves settled. He didn’t feel any different, other than a spreading warmth, like he’d drank a shot of whiskey.

  “I, Frank McCoy, swear my life to Shara Isador, daughter of Isis. Is that right?”

  Smiling, I nodded. “As far as I know. This is a first for me too.”

  Rik took my wrist and licked the small cut. One swipe of his tongue and my eyes fluttered closed and my nipples hardened. I was very aware of being naked, in bed, and surrounded by a bunch of people. Three of which I didn’t really want to have see me in the throes of passion.

  “Are you ready to heal your knee?”

  I was so tired. All I really wanted to do was sleep.

  He scooted closer and eased me back on the pillows, still holding my hand. “It doesn’t have to be hard or take long, my queen. There’s plenty of blood in this room already. Draw it to you and let it heal you.”


  I closed my eyes and brought up the billowing fabric. Everything glowed, blood like fiery rubies, but the bones and weapons gleamed with liquid sunlight. It was so beautiful—I still couldn’t quite wrap my mind around the fact that it’d been used to try and kill me.

  :Do you see this?: I asked Rik.

  :Fuck. It’s like a beacon, telling his servants exactly where to come. We have to get rid of it.:

  :How?:

  Aloud, he asked, “Everything they left behind is glowing with his magic. I’m surprised every light fanatic in the state isn’t camped outside. Is it safe for her to pull that magic to her, like her blood?”

  Xin frowned. “I don’t know that she can. If it will respond to her call, since it’s not hers.”

  “But will it hurt her? Otherwise how do we dispel the magic?”

  “The fuck if I know,” Guillaume grumped. “Xin and I are old, but we’ve never messed with the sun god before.”

  I knew someone who might know. If I dared ask Her.

  24

  Shara

  For the first time, I tried to deliberately enter the dreamscape. The place where I’d met a goddess and seen Her pyramid and tasted Her blood.

  Closing my eyes, I brought up the pyramid in my mind. Gentle breezes across the sand dunes. Incense and night-blooming jasmine on the air. The gleaming golden pyramid rising in a night sky, a crescent moon hanging above, almost hooked over the tip of the pyramid.

  I was there. Barefoot. Hair blowing in the breeze. I called out. “Isis? This is Shara Isador, your last daughter. Your queen. I need your help.”

  A gust of wind whipped my hair around the opposite direction, right into my face. I started to brush the hair away, and not all of it was mine. It was dark like mine, but heavy with oil and sweet perfume. Her hair tangled with mine, Her arms drawing me back into Her embrace. She wasn’t warm or cold against me. Only hard. Like a statue come to life.

  “My child. What may I help you with?”

  Closing my eyes, I pictured my bedroom at home with the golden glow blazing from bits of skeleton and armor.