Queen Takes King

by Joely Sue Burkhart

  Such rage. He didn’t only want revenge against Ra. A queen—maybe several—had hurt him just as badly as the god who’d locked him away from the world for thousands of years. “You don’t know me,” I said softly. “You don’t know what I want.”

  “Queens want the same thing.”

  “What do you want? Why did you want me to come here, if not to free you?”

  “Oh, I never said you weren’t going to free me.” He tightened his claws on my stomach, deliberately breaking my skin. “But it will be on my terms.”

  I had a feeling I knew what his terms were. “Let me guess.”

  “I need queen’s blood to leave this plane, but I refuse to be bound to a queen. So what does that mean, Your Majesty?”

  He wanted my blood. And he didn’t mean to let me walk away, because I would own his ass then. So the only way he could take my blood and not have a bond… was if I was dead.

  I toned down my sense of my Blood bonds as well as I could. Like Xin, I let fog fill me. Not to disappear, but to shield my Blood from the undeniable pain that was coming. If they felt what Leviathan did to me, they’d come after me. He’d kill them, or they’d kill him, and in the end, someone that the goddess had sent to me would be gone. A hole would live in my heart.

  I didn’t know Leviathan. Not really. But Isis had said he was my destiny. To me, that meant he was mine to love.

  Even if he hurt me.

  27

  Shara

  His jaws crunched down on my bleeding hand and the rest of my left arm below my elbow. Bones snapped and I screamed, but I didn’t pull away or fight. Blood frenzy burned in him. He growled and rumbled and hissed, lapping my blood from my skin, but he could have thrown his head back, ripped my arm off, and gulped me in one big swallow. There was something in him that wasn’t twisted and dark.

  Something that I could touch. Call. Love.

  If he would only listen.

  :Shara!: Rik’s rock troll roared in my head.

  :No,: Panting, I breathed through the pain. :Stay.:

  Already, I could feel my blood inside Leviathan. My power slid down his long throat, heating his body. With every swallow, he took me deeper into his consciousness. Giving me a foothold in his mind. I needed a good hold in him. Enough to bind him to my will. I had to let him take enough to almost kill me.

  Almost. That was the trick.

  My head swam, my heart thudding heavily. It wouldn’t take him long to drain me, and if I was too weak, all of this would be for naught. I needed blood. His blood. If I could feed…

  I lurched up, trying to get my fangs in his leg. His neck. Anything.

  He didn’t lift his head, but shifted his paw on me, keeping me pinned to the ground. One slitted eye glared at me. He knew very well what I wanted, even if my fangs hadn’t descended.

  I needed him to bleed. My brain raced.

  Fire wouldn’t help. His hide was too thick and protected him against his own flames.

  Rock troll strength wouldn’t make him bleed quickly enough to save me.

  Daire’s claws? Maybe. But I’d never tried to use one of my Blood’s shifters and I had no idea if it would work or not. I didn’t have time for experiments and no plan B if it failed.

  I ran my other hand along the ground, trying to find a sharp bone. Something I could use to stab him with.

  Wait. Of course. I dug into my pocket and found my puny knife. Hiding it alongside my leg, I worked the blade open and eyed his underbelly, looking for the best place to stab him. His scales were lighter and softer on his belly, a deep, emerald green mixed with pearly white. The scales interlocked together, making an impenetrable armor.

  Except where his front leg met his body. That delicate hollow didn’t have any scales.

  Focusing on my target, I took a deep breath and gathered my will. My power. I had to strike fast and hard. His hide would still be tough. My aim had to be true. I wouldn’t get another shot. It had to be deep enough that he’d bleed, and bleed enough to drip down on me. My hand couldn’t shake. My vision couldn’t waver.

  With all my power, all my will, I slammed the pocketknife into that joint.

  He growled against my skin but didn’t lift his mouth. In fact, he winked at me, as if to say, “Good try, honey. I felt your little bee sting.”

  And yeah, it wouldn’t make him get off me. Let alone kill him.

  But his blood poured over my hand. I cupped my fingers, catching as much as possible, and poured his blood over my mouth.

  He tasted like the blackest night, the deepest part of the ocean where sun never shines. Cold, empty, forgotten, lost on the mists of time. He’d endured silence and loneliness for centuries, plotting his enemies’ demise. Planning exactly how he’d lure his queen to his side.

  Only to kill her.

  Yet my blood slid into that cold, empty space. Blood, spreading in the water. Stirring his hunger. Reminding him of all the things he’d been denied.

  Sunshine. Air. Green grass. Blue sky.

  A queen’s blood.

  A woman’s skin against his human body.

  The dragon shape was his prison. He couldn’t ever be a man again…

  Without me. His queen.

  And that’s what he wanted most of all. He wanted to be able to walk on two legs. He wanted to touch another living person. Hug, fuck, kiss, everything. He was starved for affection, the same as Guillaume and Xin, and even Daire and Rik. They’d at least had sibs to touch, but it hadn’t been enough.

  Leviathan tried to scramble back to save himself. But it was too late.

  The ancient blood of an Aima only a step or two away from the god and goddess who’d sired him now flowed in my veins. I lurched up and wrapped my good arm around his neck with all Rik’s troll strength hammering through my muscles.

  The cobra queen’s brutal fangs descended and I sank them deep into his neck. His scales couldn’t keep this queen out.

  He surged into the air and shot up the tunnel. Wind tore at me, but I clung to him, my fangs an anchor in his hide.

  Flee. Dread. I read his emotions, his mind open to me like a book. He feared me more than anything. More than Ra, the great blazing god of light. More than his queen mother who’d banished him for fear he’d kill her and the rest of her brood.

  He’d raged. He’d bled. He’d fought.

  Queens had tried to calm his beast and return him to his human form, but they’d failed.

  Each failure like a sword in his heart.

  I tightened my grip on him, wrapped my legs around his muscled neck, and used our new bond for the first time.

  :I will not fail you.:

  28

  Rik

  Agony. To stand here and know my queen was in danger. That she was hurt. That she feared for her life. And do nothing.

  But that’s exactly what she wanted.

  And so I would do it. No matter how difficult it was.

  The mountain rumbled like it was a volcano ready to spew any moment. The guide finally gave up on us and hightailed it back down the trail. Our horses screamed and reared, milling about frantically. Guillaume let his and my mount go and they tore off down the steep path. Hopefully they didn’t break a leg on their way down.

  :We’re coming,: Shara said in our bond.

  We. She’d done it. She had the king.

  He came boiling up out of the waterfall, a massive dark shape that shot into the sky. Wings beat the air frantically and he soared up into the darkening sky, gone so quickly that I’d barely caught a glimpse of my queen.

  Shara clung to the great beast’s neck, her small form like a child against his bulk. Her bond blazed with strength and I realized she was feeding on him. In fact, she was draining him, like he’d tried to do to her.

  Like her cobra had done to me.

  I let the rock troll bulge free of my human shape, and the other Blood shifted without my command. “She’s going to try and drain him back to his human shape.”

  :Then how will they fly?:
Daire asked.

  Guillaume’s warhorse reared and screamed a challenge up at the sky. :Exactly.:

  Nose in the air, Xin’s wolf sprinted off into the night, following her scent and her bond.

  “Get down the mountain,” I told Gina. “Follow the guide. We’ll catch up as quickly as we can.”

  Using Shara’s bond, I lumbered after Xin as fast as I could. Daire ran at my side, but Guillaume easily galloped ahead. Xin paused every once in a while, a silver flash in the growing murk to guide us. Her bond was still strong, but she felt too far away. Too high. Fuck. If they started to fall from the sky at that height, it’d kill them both. I didn’t want to count on her resurrection power to bring her back from smashed and broken. The thought made me scream with rage and shake a giant fist at the sky.

  Not that either of them could see it.

  Holding on to her bond, I felt the dragon’s wings slow. The air was thin and cold. So high.

  He tucked his wings around her, folding her close against him. :It is finished. So we end, my queen.:

  They hovered a moment, sliding to a halt. And then they started the long fall back down to earth.

  Faster. Picking up speed. They plummeted toward the ground at a speed that made me want to vomit.

  Shara sucked on his throat, straining to take more of his blood. Fuck, she was so strong. Stronger than ever. Her power blazed like a beacon in the night, rising higher and higher. The ground split and cracked open. Trees quivered and crashed. Boulders rumbled down the steep sides of the mountain. The stars dimmed in the sky, unable to shine against the bright supernova that blazed from her.

  Ears pinned flat, Guillaume galloped in a dead run toward her, but I didn’t think he’d make it. Even if he managed to catch her, I didn’t think it would help. He’d only be dead too.

  :Let go of him,: I roared through our bond. :Use your power to slow your descent.:

  :I can’t let go of him or he’ll die.:

  :Then let him die! We can’t lose you!:

  Grim determination shone in her bond like a naked sword hot from the forge. :No one’s dying. Not today.:

  I felt Leviathan ripple against her. Spiraling ever faster toward the earth, he started to shift. Wings dissolved. Scales melted. The dragon swallowed up by our queen as she drained him dry. She literally took the dragon into her. I could feel its massive form slithering inside her. It hissed and roared and blazed with all its wrath inside her. Tearing at her bonds, her heart. I felt her bleeding inside. Battered. But she wouldn’t let go, not of the man in her arms, nor of his dragon that was trying to tear its way out of her body.

  Seconds slowed. I had time to gauge how hard she would hit the ground. Guillaume was close… but he wouldn’t make it. Xin’s wolf leaped into the air, soaring higher than I’d ever seen a wolf jump, but he fell short and landed hard, rolling and tumbling into a steep ravine with a yelp.

  Ten feet. Nine.

  Horrifying visions filled my head. Her bones broken. Her blood splattered everywhere. Her screams of pain, but worse, would be her silence. Helplessness ate through my gut like acid. I couldn’t save my queen. I couldn’t catch her. None of us could. We were doomed to love her, to hear her call, and enjoy her sweet blood and spirit this short time, only to watch her die a horrible death before our very eyes.

  Eight.

  Her power surged even higher. Light blinded me, but it wasn’t Ra’s golden glow. Shara was white-hot. Lightning and ice, moonlight and cold, water and pure. She glowed brighter, so fierce, I had to shield my eyes. Something grew in that brutal light but I couldn’t make out its shape.

  The dragon finally clawed its way out of her, but it was changed. It didn’t have hind legs at all, only a long, black body and massive hood like her cobra queen. A ruby-red diamond gleamed on that hood, the same as when she’d envenomed me.

  Cobras couldn’t fly. Even my cobra queen.

  Seven. Six.

  Guillaume leaped toward her, neck outstretched, jaws wide, as if he could catch her in his mouth. The tip of his nose brushed the end of her tail, but he too fell short. He landed hard, whirled, ready to try again.

  Wings unfurled, knocking him aside. With a mighty snap, her wings caught air and she swept away from us and back up toward the sky.

  :Wyvern: Guillaume panted in our bond. :Never saw that coming.:

  My lungs burned, my massive thighs aching like I’d run a marathon. I was built for strength, not speed, and rock weighed a ton. Literally. I stumbled to a halt and braced my hands on my knees, head down, and just breathed deep and hard a few moments. Daire wormed his head under my arm, panting just as hard as me. :I’m going to go check on Xin.:

  I gave him a single nod, too tired to even respond in the bond. He loped over the edge of the ravine to find the wolf.

  Guillaume trotted over, his sleek sides wet and splattered with foam. Blowing hard, he scanned the sky. :Do you see her?:

  I straightened and looked too, but she was impossible to see against the night sky. “She’s close. I think she’s coming back.”

  Straining to hear the beat or rustle of her wings, I listened to her bond, trying to pinpoint how far away she was. Goddess, it felt like she was right on top of us but I couldn’t see a fucking thing.

  A black shape dropped in front of me, so close I flinched back involuntarily. Tucking her wings tight to her body, she dropped into a neat coil with a dark-skinned man in her smaller forearms. He didn’t move. I wasn’t sure that he was alive. His throat was a mess, torn open by two huge punctures. Blood coated him and her muzzle, dripping down her chest.

  She arched up, her hood flared wide. The ruby stone caught fire and she swayed, eyes closed. A sound filled the night, almost like singing without words, music without notes, rhythm without actual beats. Like if I could just hear it a bit more loudly, I’d recognize it. I’d know the song and remember its melody. It stirred something deep inside me. Something ancient that had slept as long as the mountains and had only just realized it had opened its eyes.

  That music pulled our beasts back inside before we’d even realized we’d shifted. Including our queen.

  Bleeding but whole, she shifted the man’s head up with her good arm, lifting him to her throat. “Rik, can you—”

  I was moving before she could finish the thought, eager to hold her, touch her, taste her. Relieved that she was alive and well and victorious. I wrapped my arms around her and pressed against her back, taking my spot. And then I leaned over to bite her throat, so she could revive the man she’d saved.

  She always tasted magical, addictive, and vibrant with power. Now there was an edge in her blood. A blade that would cut, that would face the hardest test and come away marked, scuffed, perhaps, but her edge true and sharp. Her blood dripped onto the man lying lifeless in her arms and he stirred. He sucked in a rasping breath and opened his eyes.

  For a moment, I thought he’d lunge up to try and rip her head off. His eyes blazed with fury and hatred. He’d wanted to be free, even if that meant our queen was dead. He’d rather be dead than here, looking up at her, tasting her blood. Chained. To a queen.

  A fate worse than death, for him at least.

  She said nothing. Didn’t move a muscle. Didn’t use her bond to command him. She didn’t give him arguments or promises or excuses. She just waited. Looking into his eyes. Letting him decide.

  If he didn’t feed, she’d let him die. She’d lay him on his back on the ground and walk away. It was his choice.

  He tore his gaze away from the blood dripping down her throat and met my gaze. I stared back at him as evenly as she did, refusing to drop my eyes. I was alpha. If he stayed, he’d accept me too. Or I’d be more than willing to pound him back into the ground, flat on his back, and leave him bleeding. I didn’t care how old he was. How powerful. I had him beat, and I knew it.

  Because I loved my queen with every muscle and bone in my body, and I’d willingly die to keep her safe.

  This slimy fucker had been willing to
kill her to save his own scaly hide. I wouldn’t soon forget it. Let alone allow him to forget.

  Certainty hardened in me. Shara needed him for some reason. Her goddess had said so. So she would have him. Even if that meant I had to bash his head in for him until he saw the error of his ways.

  His breath sighed out and he dropped his gaze from mine to hers.

  “Say it.” She kept her tone soft, but her bond gleamed sharp and strong, ready to cut him down.

  He swallowed hard and closed his eyes, averting his face.

  “Look me in the eye, and say it.”

  He lunged up toward her throat, but she didn’t have to move a muscle to defend herself. I wrapped my fist around his neck and squeezed. “She gave you an order.”

  He shuddered in my grip, all the fight bleeding out of him. He’d used the last of his reserves. Through her bond, I felt his heart skip and flutter in his chest, desperate for blood. For life.

  Emerald green eyes glittered up at us. His throat worked beneath my hand, as he struggled against his own pride.

  “My,” he snarled out, his voice raw. “Queen.”

  I released him and she lifted him up to her throat. “Take what you need from me, my king.”

  29

  Shara

  Wounded and weary, we slowly made our way down the mountain. Rik had to carry me because my knees wobbled every time I took a step. Pulling an Amia as old as Leviathan back from the grave had taken the last of my reserves and I hadn’t been able to heal him all the way yet. Poor Xin limped beside us, refusing even a drop of my blood for healing. Leviathan stumbled along, slung between Daire and Guillaume. From the dark looks they both kept giving him, the man was going to be lucky to make it down to the waiting cars in one piece.

  My broken arm throbbed with every step Rik took. Although I had my face pressed to his throat, I could sense him glaring at me. “If you would feed, you could heal it now and no longer be in pain.”