I couldn't be prouder of my queen. She might claim not to understand politics, but she'd handled Mayte perfectly, down to quietly and calmly getting her to admit to everything. However, I did not like the place Zaniyah led my queen. Outside to the rear of the house, to an old cellar door with a massive antique iron lock on it. The thick oak and iron hinges would give even my rock troll a workout if I needed to bust Shara out.

Mayte touched the lock and it opened without a key, so it was coded to her blood only. Her alpha grunted as he lifted up one side of the door and threw it back.

I didn't look at Xin, so that the other queen wouldn't know which of us had penetrated her safeguards, but I gave him a salute in the bond. :How did you get inside?:

:I have my ways.:

:Impressive,: Shara said, her bond gleaming pearly rainbows. She was pleased with how things had gone so far, understandably, and she was eager to see what Mayte was hiding, until she saw the dark hole she had to enter.

Mayte went first. "Let me get a light." She disappeared from view a moment, and then light bloomed from a large flashlight.

Shara quirked her lips. She'd expected some kind of magical shit. We still didn't have any idea of the kind of powers Mayte had. Maybe she couldn't manage a light or a fireball. :Before you decide whether or not to accept her, you should ask her to display her power.:

:Good idea. Is this tunnel safe?:

:It will be.: I turned to Guillaume, Ezra, and Xin. :Guard the door and our queen's way out.:

They nodded.

I looked at Mehen, Daire, and Nevarre. :If anything happens, your primary objective is to get her out. Out of this hole, out of the fucking nest. Whatever it takes.:

:Understood.:

I gave a hard look at Eztli. "One of us goes first."

The man gave a sardonic bow of his head. "Be my guest."

I jerked my head at Nevarre and he went down the stairs and past Mayte, deeper into the tunnel. Eztli went next, then Mayte, Gina, and Shara, with me and her other two Blood close behind. My fingers itched to touch her, to keep a hand on her, but the tunnel was too narrow. I didn't like that I couldn't keep a hand on her. That would delay me one more second from getting her to safety.

:Don't worry so much,: she whispered soothingly, giving me a squeeze in the bond. :I'm not completely powerless, you know.:

:But I'd rather you not have to bleed today, unless you're choosing to feed us, not to save us.:

"Just a little further," Mayte said after a few moments.

Nevarre sent back a quick image of the tunnel ahead. A very large man waited, arms crossed and scowling just as Xin had showed us last night. As we neared, I could feel his power rolling off him in waves.

Fuck. This man wasn't an alpha. He was something else entirely. Something more.

I shook my head, trying to understand why Mayte had kept her most powerful Blood hidden away. Why did she fear Skye, when she had this kind of Blood at her side? Fuck, why was Eztli alpha at all?

"Your Majesty, may I introduce you to Tepeyollotl. My heart, this is Shara Isador, descended from Isis. She came, exactly as you said."

The man looked at each of us, his golden eyes flashing, even though the flashlight wasn't shining in his face. Predator eyes that mostly hunted at night. A black stripe crossed his nose and across each cheek. He wore jeans, but his upper body was bare, covered with tattoos and symbols.

Focusing on Shara, he bowed at the waist, his fist over his heart. "Your Majesty. My queen has put all her hopes in you."

"Me? Why?"

He looked at Mayte. "It’s time to reveal all to her."

"Yes," she replied steadily. "We can go no further until she knows the truth."

Mayte laid a hand on the lock, same as before, and it opened. Even the big man had to exert force to get the door moving. It slid open with a grinding creak.

I'd been expecting some kind of root cellar or unsavory prison cell, but the walls were stacked stone, and the ground was covered with flagstones. Eztli and Nevarre stepped through the door, followed by the queens. I hesitated, eying the heavy oaken door with wide planks that had probably come from a several-hundred-year-old tree. If this big man shut the door behind us...

Even my rock troll would have a difficult time tearing through.

:I came in from above,: Xin said in my mind. :If he blocks the way, I can still get her out.:

More at ease, I gave the man a nod and stepped through, with Daire and Mehen on my heels.

"This area used to serve as a wine cellar and overflow storage for the kitchen," Mayte said as they approached another door. At least this one wasn't locked and didn't look like it weighed a ton. "The original entrance was blocked off decades ago to create a more secure area. With Tepeyollotl outside, this is the safest place I could find."

She tapped lightly on the door. "Grandmama, it's me. I have visitors."

"Come in," a woman called softly from the other side. "But quietly."

Mayte pushed open the door and stepped inside. She walked to an older queen sitting in a rocking chair with a sleeping child on her lap. She picked up the little girl and cradled her in her arms.

"She just fell asleep," the older queen whispered.

Mayte kissed the child on the cheek and then lifted her head, her eyes glowing with fierce determination. "This is why I hid the geas from you. This is why my most powerful Blood guards the door. This is why I must be your sib. My daughter, Xochitl."

A daughter. She had a daughter.

So much became clear now. Why Mayte was so desperate. Why she would go to such lengths to secure assistance from me, even if she must lie, cheat and steal to do it. The same as I would do to protect my Blood, and I didn't even have a child to worry about.

A queen. With a child. Gina’s eyes were wide, her bond silent with shock, as were my Blood.

:When was the last time a child was born to a queen?:

:Keisha Skye's child, nearly a hundred years ago,: Rik replied, his bond grim. :And you. If she knew about this baby...:

My stomach pitched and I almost threw up the delightful oatmeal cake. Because if Skye was even half as vengeful and obsessed as I suspected her to be, she wouldn't take another queen with a baby well at all.

Tears rolled down Mayte's cheeks, but she kissed her daughter and handed her back carefully to her grandmother. "I'll be back later after she naps."

The older woman looked at me and the hair on my scalp tingled. Nerves zinged down my spine, as if a splash of cool water trickled over my head. "This is the one?"

"Yes," Mayte said. "She needed to see what we're fighting for."

She came toward me, and we walked quickly back toward her other Blood and then on up the tunnel and outside. I didn't say anything, but my mind whirled with questions. Keisha Skye had resorted to torture and, according to rumors, black magic, to conceive her child. Yet here Mayte, a relatively insignificant queen, had a two or three year old little girl hidden away. She wasn't strong enough to stand against Skye alone, yet she'd managed to conceive a child. A daughter.

A future queen.

Mayte took us back into the bright sunny breakfast room. Gina and I sat down once more and I nodded when she offered the coffee carafe again. Someone had whisked the other cup away. I didn't recall drinking any of it. Fresh plates had also been set at each place, though I wasn't hungry.

"Is it safe for us to talk openly here?"

Mayte nodded. "All my people know about Xochitl. She's usually out and about playing with Grandmama. We only hid her away while you were here, in case things didn't go well." She grimaced. "They haven't gone well, but I hope you understand a little better why I wasn't completely forthcoming."

"Does Skye know about her?" Gina asked.

Mayte paled and shook her head. "Goddess, no. If she did, I don't think there'd even be rubble left here at Valle de Zaniyah. We'd all be dead and I'm very certain she would take my daughter and raise her as her own."

To replace the daughter she'd lost. "Would it be rude to ask how you managed to conceive?"

"That’s a story all of its own. Grandmama had been communicating with... with..." Mayte paused and took a deep breath. "I can't say her name. I hope that means something to you."

My mother. She'd been talking with Esetta Isador, her name not to be spoken by any living Aima. I nodded but didn't say anything to reveal my secret parentage. Not yet.

"She gave Grandmama the idea. After thousands of years, Aima magic wasn't strong enough to sustain a new generation. We needed to bring in new, powerful blood. New magic." Mayte poured herself another cup of tea and dropped in a single sugar cube. "If I wanted a child, I needed to find one of the old gods to conceive."

A dying god. The note Esetta had written about my father, Typhon, father of monsters.

"That's why you were in Dallas," Gina said. "But why there?"

"I've only ever called jaguars as Blood," Mayte said. "So I wanted the god of jaguars to father my child. When Tenochtitlan fell, many of the old gods and goddesses returned to Aztlan. However, after so many centuries, no one knows exactly where that ancient city is. I hoped that if I found the lost city, that I'd find at least one god there. All the references referred to an island in a lake, somewhere north of here. We searched for years with no luck, and I talked with every Mesoamerican researcher I could find. Then I realized I'd been searching with my eyes and my brain, when I needed to search with my blood and my heart. I used my power and asked my goddess to guide me, and with Her help, I found Tepeyollotl."

Her old and extremely powerful Blood who was so much more than alpha. "He's a living god?"

Mayte smiled at the incredulity ringing in my voice. "He's known by many names, including Tezcatlipoca, or 'Smoking Mirror.' When he felt my power and heard my plea, he roused from his long sleep and joined me. I don't know if it was me, honestly, or the jaguars with me. But he did come, and we did conceive my daughter. But then my worry increased a thousandfold."

Sobered, I could imagine all too well what would happen if Keisha Skye found out about the baby. Or her father.

"If she took me as sib, then she'd have access to Tepeyollotl too," Mayte said softly. "He’s bound to me now. In many ways, he’s vulnerable, because I’m mortal, even though I’m definitely harder to kill than a human and will live much longer. I'm under no illusions that she would allow me to keep such a powerful Blood who'd already proved that he was able to sire a queen. She would demand I surrender his bond."

"And take Xochitl," Eztli growled, his voice more jaguar than man. I met his fierce shining eyes and saw his beast prowling in his body. "We would die to protect our queen and her child, and without question, we would die first and hard, but we wouldn't be able to change the outcome. Skye would level this nest, and lay claim to our queen, her child, and her god. Zaniyah would be no more."

Mayte laid her trembling fingers over mine on the table. "This is why we need you so desperately. Why I didn't dare give you a reason not to try and enter the nest. Why I couldn't risk exposing Xochitl or her father, not until I knew for sure if I could trust you or not."

I sighed, my heart already tugged into this mess. I couldn't fault a mother for doing anything to protect her child, the same as Esetta had done for me, going so far as to use the last of her magic to place a geas on her entire people so she would be forgotten.

So I could be free.

And poor Eztli. In many ways, he was in the same position as Rik. Alpha, but put at risk because his queen took a powerful old Blood. In my case, it'd been my king, Mehen, and in Mayte's, her god. But it could have easily gone badly if our alphas didn't love us so much. If they weren't willing to compromise and risk their ego for the good of all.

I reached up to Rik over my shoulder, blindly lifting my hand. And he wrapped my fingers in his big powerful palm, as I knew he would.

:If you need to take a god, I will do all in my power to help you accomplish the task at hand.:

:I don't intend to take any god.: I squeezed his fingers and then put his hand on my shoulder and picked up my coffee cup once more. :My alpha and our Blood are plenty for this queen.:

His bond suddenly cut like hot steel through butter, melting around my heart. :If you want a child and are not able to conceive with me, then I will find your god and you will have him and your child. So I say as your alpha.:

Deciding it would be easier to ignore his promise rather than argue, I took a sip of coffee and met Mayte's intense eyes. Still shining, only now shining with fierce hope and determination. "What made you decide you could trust me?"

She cocked her head to the side, a smile playing on her lips. "Honestly? When you refused both me and my brothers last night."

My eyebrows rose with surprise. "Really?"

"Do you think if I'd offered to swear to Keisha Skye that she would have refused? Even keeping Xochitl out of the picture, she wants my power for herself. She wants my nest and everyone in it to serve her will and increase her power. Even more, she never would have refused to take such powerful Blood. My brothers have some secrets of their own."

I remembered the agonized longing in their eyes. I’d been fairly out of it after the geas knocked me on my ass, but I could feel their gazes following me all night. Taking them as Blood would be no hardship, that was for sure. I didn’t want to add more to our number, but I had to admit I was intrigued. "Oh?"

"How old do you think Grandmama is?"

I grimaced. "I don't have any idea. I wasn't raised around our people, so I have no idea how to judge age. You look like you're maybe thirty or thirty five years old."

Laughter bubbled up out of her throat, and I was struck again by her delicate beauty. Like a rose growing in the desert, seemingly tender and fragile. Until you remembered that the rose was growing in the fucking desert. "Oh dear, you are bad at guessing ages. I'm two hundred years older than your guess. Grandmama lived in Tenochtitlan at its height. Our goddess is Coatlicue.”

I had no idea which goddess that was, or what Her significance was. “I’m sorry, my knowledge of the Aztec religion is sadly lacking.”

“In some stories, she was the mother of Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl. Twin gods.”

My eyes widened. I’m pretty sure everybody had heard of Quetzalcoatl, the great feathered serpent. “Are you saying your brothers are gods too?”

“No, not at all. But from the moment they were born, Grandmama said they were a throwback to the Twins. They have great power locked inside them, waiting for the right queen to make them Blood.”

She must have called them to her. I felt Guillaume and Mehen both bristle as the twins approached, but they stayed outside the protective ring of my Blood. Though Mayte’s older Blood gave them both looks that said he’d thump their skulls together if they didn’t behave.

I looked out the bay window a moment, avoiding everyone's gaze, though they all stared at me. Waiting for me to make a decision. My Blood wanted to know how I felt about these twins. If I wanted them, period. Mayte wanted to know if I'd accept her as my sib. Even Gina wanted to know what my decision would be, so she could help me plan through our alternatives.

So what if I didn't take a sib. What would happen to us?

Keisha Skye had already attacked me twice. It was clear that she wanted to eliminate me before I could gain too much power, experience, and allies. She'd already missed out on killing me before I could establish a nest. She'd done everything she could to prevent Mayte from inviting any queen to help her. I'd broken that geas, but if Skye learned from her mistakes, she might lay an even nastier one on my nest. Who, then, could help me break it? Mayte, when she hadn't been able to protect her own people?

Unfortunately, Skye was only my most immediate concern. I still had to worry about the Triune. They had to know about me by now. They had to know about Guillaume and Mehen from the Christmas footage from Venezuela. From Skye, they'd know I had at least three other Blood that had originally been her sibs. Regardless of what I decided to do with Mayte, the Triune had to be plotting a way to either control me or eliminate me.

I didn't like either option. At all. Even more, neither did Isis or Morrigan. The necklace weighed heavily on my chest, the memory of the heart tree taking my blood and my life fresh on my mind. I hadn't grown the grove to watch Skye hack those glorious old trees down and raze my manor house to the ground. I hadn't traveled to Mexico to leave a fellow queen and her child defenseless.

But taking Mayte's side was another line in the sand. A battle cry to Keisha Skye. I'd already taken three of her sibs, survived her attacks, and broken her geas. If I also took the queen she'd been trying to take for herself for nearly fifty years...

Even if she never found out about Mayte's daughter, I would have made an enemy. A very powerful enemy, allied with one of the stronger European queens with an eye on the empty Triune seat.

Worse, I'd taken Guillaume from Marne Ceresa. She wouldn't be pleased at that, either. The Triune would give Skye free rein to do whatever she could to eliminate me. Probably even help her, to an extent. They certainly wouldn't help me if their most powerful and oldest living queen was pissed.

In a matter of a little over a week, I'd somehow managed to piss off two very powerful queens.

Great. Fabulous. Fuck.

Rik's fingers moved slightly on my shoulder. A reminder of all that I had gained in exchange. And I wouldn't change a single thing. Not as long as I had him and the rest of my Blood.

So the question came down to what I would do to keep them. How far would I be willing to go to keep my Blood safe? I'd already angered the oldest living queen and alienated the queen of New York City. We were at grave risk. At any moment, Skye could attack again. Or the Triune could demand I come to Rome or wherever they wanted. And I would have to go.

With seven Blood...

We would die. No matter how strong I was, I wasn't strong enough alone to protect the ones I loved. Not when Marne Ceresa had at least twice as many Blood.

:She had over ninety Blood the last I heard,: Guillaume said softly in my head.

:How many does Keisha Skye have?: I asked Rik.

:Twenty female Blood she calls her Furies, and a handful of male Blood, including whoever her alpha is at the moment. I've never felt her unleash her power, but in my heart, I know you're stronger.:

:But.:

He sighed in our bond. :She has the numbers. Many sibs, plus an alliance with Rosalind. Eventually, she'll trap one of us. She'll get to Daire and use her old bonds to pull him home. Or she'll get to one of your human servants. Winston, say. Or Gina when she goes to town. They'll be vulnerable and easy pickings. If they get to Gina, she carries your blood. That gives them a foothold on your bonds.:

And if I did nothing to protect Zaniyah, Keisha Skye would get to that sweet baby girl her mother had hidden with an Aztec jaguar god. Even he wouldn't be enough to protect them both if Skye managed to break through the nest.

I nodded and turned to meet Mayte's gaze. "I accept your offer."

Her eyes. Fuck. They gleamed with tears, shining with hope and relief, spilling over like a sparkling crystal waterfall. She threw her arms around my neck and pressed her forehead to mine. "Thank you. Thank you for helping us."

"And us, my queen?" One of the twins asked, his booming voice making me shiver.

I didn't turn to look at him or his brother, but I reached up and laid my hand on Rik's fingers, still on my shoulder. Closing my eyes, I brought up the tapestry in my mind.

Mayte's nest gleamed like her eyes, sparkling crystals and drops of liquid moonlight and soft, pink petals. Her jaguar Blood looked at me, their eyes flashing like predators hidden in the underbrush. But I saw them clearly. All five of them, even her god guarding her daughter.

Xochitl was like a colorful rainbow shining in the sky after a devastating tornado. I touched her shining dot in my mind and felt her power. She would be a queen to be reckoned with, ripe with power thanks to her father. I tasted sweet, pure rain in her gift and the sharp crack of lightning. Her eyes glowed golden and fierce, a jaguar, like her father.

Bracing myself, I let my mind drift to the twins. They blazed like the rest of my Blood. Bonfires in the darkness of my mind. One of them was a giant monstrous-looking dog, growling and slobbering at the mouth, snapping viciously in the air. The other was some kind of dragon-type creature, only instead of scales, he wore green, gold and red feathers.

:He's no fucking dragon,: Mehen retorted in my head. :He's a cross between a chicken and a snake.:

:A fucking dog,: Ezra muttered. :Toss him a stick in the ocean. That'll get rid of him.:

Oh joy. I could only imagine the fighting and jostling to come. Though hopefully there would be jokes and laughter too. If nothing else, the twins had already put my two grumpiest Blood on the same side.

:A feat indeed,: Rik said.

He laughed, but I felt a heaviness in his bond. He expected problems. The twins had already made comments about challenging him or eliminating him entirely.

Gently dislodging Mayte's grip on my neck, I turned in my chair to look at them but didn't stand. :Let them come closer,: I told my Blood.

Guillaume dropped his hand and the two brothers strode to me, though they stopped a respectful few steps from my alpha and dropped to their knees.

"As I said before, I don't take Blood just to increase my numbers. I love my Blood. We've become friends and lovers in a very short time. I'm here because of them. I'm accepting your sister's offer so that I can keep us all alive, because I'm willing to do anything to protect them."

Rik squeezed my shoulder, pressing closer so that his thigh pressed to my side. "And we'll die for her. Gladly."

"I'm willing to die for you, my queen." The brother with the black sun tattooed on his face said. "We'll obey you. We'll swear to you. We'll do anything you ask for the honor to serve."

He said the right words, but I still wasn't sure. I didn't feel drawn to him or his brother. I couldn't imagine having sex with him, or asking him to join me and Rik in bed. For all I knew, he'd only want to come to my bed with his brother, and how weird would that be?

:Test him,: Rik whispered in his rock troll rumble. :Give him an order. See if his ego will bend to your will.:

"Rik's my alpha. Nothing's changing that. Ever."

The black sun brother's eyes flicked to Rik and back to me. "As you say, my queen, so it shall be."

"That's not enough for me."

He looked at his brother with a bit of panic spreading across his face. "What else can we do to convince you, my queen?"

I touched Guillaume's bond. :Are you comfortable with a small demonstration?:

:Absolutely, without question, my queen.:

"Surely you know of Guillaume de Payne's reputation."

Both brothers nodded, but their eyes tightened, and the brother with the red spiral on his cheek gripped his thighs firmly.

"When the last living Templar knight came to me, he did something very significant to show his willingness to submit to me and my alpha. Guillaume, would you please show them now?"

My knight strode into the room, inclined his head to me, and then lowered himself to the floor on his belly, hands flat against the floor, his eyes down. "I come in peace, my queen. I'm yours. Use me as you see fit."

The twins mirrored his movements without me saying a word, both going flat on their stomachs without hesitation.

Keeping my voice soft, I continued. "The great Templar knight who's famous for beheading alphas has gladly and willingly fucked me at the same time as my alpha. Even though Rik could have refused him access to me at all, he follows my alpha's orders to the letter."

"I obey my alpha without question because he guards my queen’s heart," Guillaume said, his voice carrying through the room even though he was on his stomach.

"Leviathan, king of the depths." Mehen came closer and dropped to his knees before me. "Tell them how we welcomed you to my bed."

"Our alpha fucked me senseless while Guillaume fucked our queen on top of us," he replied without hesitation.

“Why did Rik need to fuck you into submission, my dragon?”

Mehen looked up at me, his eyes blazing with green fire. “Because I was… unruly,” he said the last word with a rumble of sexual heat.

"And how did you entertain me last night?"

"I beat the shit out of Daire and then fucked him for you, though Daire enjoyed the hell out of it."

Daire let out a rumbling purr. "I sure as fuck did."

"And where was our alpha during this?"

"Beneath us. Fucking you, my queen," Mehen replied.

I looked back at the twins, judging their reactions. Their pupils were dilated, their nostrils flaring with each breath, their eyes locked on me. The one with the red spiral licked his lips, while the one with the black sun shifted his weight to the side. No doubt trying to make his erection more comfortable against the floor.

“I say these things to you crudely so you know what to expect if I take you into my Blood. I love my Blood. I fuck them all as often as I can, in as many ways as I can. Even if that means multiples at the same time. I like watching my Blood fuck each other. My favorite way to sleep is with as many bodies as possible crammed into my bed, and my nest is going to have the largest bed I can find so I can sleep with as many of you as possible next to me. I want to touch as many of you as possible, as often as possible, and everyone feeds from me, unless you've made a prior relationship with another Blood and want to continue feeding him. I don't play politics in my Blood. Rik's word is law. If he decides to punish you and ban you from my bed, so be it. You won't touch one hair on my head until he says otherwise."

I leaned forward, pinning them each, one after the other, with a hard look. "I won't take kindly to any thoughts of trying to dethrone my alpha. He's my alpha. Period. I will him to be my alpha with every fiber of my being and every ounce of my blood. I love him as my alpha. I won't accept anyone else as my alpha. If anyone tried to harm him with the mistaken idea that I'd be open to replacing him, I'd rip their skin and flesh off their bones and grind their skeletons into fertilizer to feed my trees. Is that understood?"

"Yes, my queen," the black sun brother said, while the other said, "Alrik Isador is my alpha."

I stood and stepped closer to them, but neither rose from the floor until I bent down and offered them each a hand. They took my hand and rose to their knees, their eyes locked on me. "When I take your sister as sib, I'll accept you as Blood, on one condition."

The black sun brother narrowed his gaze on me, pushed well past his normal limits for patience. "Yes?"

I laughed softly and tugged them to their feet. "You have to remind me of your names again so I can stop calling you black sun and red spiral in my head."