I napped through midday and worked with Gina the rest of the afternoon to finalize the contractual side of a sib relationship with Mayte. I'd thought it was blood only, but evidently there was a whole other financial and legal side to consider. Taking Mayte as my sib meant she was entitled to my protection. To me, that meant she was part of my family and my court, and thus, my legacy. Though we had to define exactly what that entailed.

As far as I was concerned, it was an easy decision. She had a child. If I had no heir at the time of my death, I told Gina to give my legacy to Xochitl on the condition that she take care of my court as her own. If I did have heirs at the time of my death, Xochitl, and any other children Mayte conceived, would receive an equal portion of the legacy as my own children.

"Will you want an heir?" Gina asked hesitantly, looking up a moment from the stack of papers she was reviewing for signatures.

I shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't really know. I've never thought about it."

Gina turned her attention back to the contracts. "You have plenty of time to decide. But it's a hell of a lot more paperwork once you have a child."

I huffed out a laugh. "That seals it then. No heirs, ever."

She knew I was kidding. Mostly.

Once the paperwork was organized, I had to select yet another dress. I groaned, rolling my eyes. "If I'd known I'd have to wear so many fancy outfits, I never would have come to Mexico."

"Nonsense. It's a wonderful opportunity to play dress up."

We finally settled on a sultry black gown that hugged my curves. Though it was floor length, the sides were see through except for bands that criss-crossed up my legs and hips. Daire picked it out, along with some incredible fuck-me red stilettos that didn't seem to go with the dress at all. But who was I to argue with the king of shopping and sandwiches?

"The order of presentation will be different this time," Gina told me as we headed downstairs to meet with Mayte and Bianca to sign the contracts. "You are going to be their queen, and so you will go first. Then your Blood. Then Mayte, alone. She'll present herself to you in front of her court."

I took a deep breath. "And I do the deed. At least she knows what to expect when I bite her."

Gina smirked. "But the rest of her court likely doesn't know."

Crap. I was going to make Mayte come in front of her entire court. She knew it, and she was still going to go through with it.

In her place, I wouldn't have minded, because my entire court was my Blood plus Gina, Frank and Winston. The latter two would be kind of embarrassing, I guessed, but nothing like the hundred or so people Mayte protected inside her nest.

"Then each of her Blood will come before you and you can choose whether to take them or not."

Ugh. "No way. I'm not taking any of her Blood from her."

"It's your right as her queen."

"Not happening."

Nodding, Gina paused outside a heavy set of doors where one of Mayte's Blood waited. "After that, the rest of her family will be presented to you. You can take her brothers at that time, or wait until later in private. That doesn't need to be done formally. Each sib will also be presented to you."

"I don't have to taste any of them though, right?"

"Not unless you want to."

"And none of them take my blood either."

"Again, not unless you feel moved to do so."

The Blood bowed low and pushed the doors open. "My queen, she's ready for you."

Having complete strangers refer to me as their queen was going to take some getting used to. "Thank you. I'm sorry, I'm terrible with names. Which of her Blood are you?"

"Luis, my queen."

I waited while Rik made his orders about how to position my Blood. Guillaume, Xin, and Ezra went before me. Nevarre, Mehen, and Daire took the rear. I gave my hand to Rik and he tucked me close to his side as we walked through the door.

This time, Mayte had set the meeting in the library. The walls were broken into panels by dark wood with murals painted in each section. Books lined the walls from floor to ceiling. A large round table sat before a fireplace with several heavy wood and leather chairs placed around it. Larger leather chairs were positioned in front of the fireplace and around the room. Mayte stood at the table with Bianca and her alpha, with her grandmother, daughter, and the rest of her Blood behind her, including Tepeyollotl.

Her brothers stood on my left as I came in, but with a hard look, Guillaume kept them from approaching.

"Your Majesty, please let me formally introduce you to my grandmother, Tocih Zaniyah."

The older woman started to curtsy, but I quickly took her hand in both of mine. "I'm honored to meet you, Tocih, but please, let there be no formalities between us."

The older woman humphed beneath her breath. "The younger generation has no appreciation for formal courts or proprieties any longer."

I thought she was truly offended for a moment, but then I saw the twinkle in her eyes. "I'm afraid I couldn't care less for proprieties."

She laughed more openly and patted my hands with her free hand. "Me neither, truth be told. Thank you for helping us protect Valle de Zaniyah and all who live here."

"It's my pleasure."

I released her and Mayte stepped closer with Xochitl on her hip. Mayte was dressed in a formal pink princess gown with a huge sweeping train, and her daughter wore a matching dress in purple. With flowers in their hair, they looked like beautiful fairies dancing in a garden of flowers beneath a full moon.

"Is this the queen, Mama?" Xochitl asked.

"Yes, my precious. She's come to protect us from the bad queen."

Xochitl held out her arms to me.

Stunned, I glanced at Mayte to make sure she was fine with me holding her, and she nodded, smiling, and lifted her to me.

She touched the jet black and ruby necklace I wore and then gave a playful tug on a curled strand of my hair the hairdresser had pulled free of the braid she'd wound high on my head. "You're pretty."

"So are you."

"Are you going to kill the bad queen?"

I checked Mayte's face again to gauge how much she shielded her daughter and how open I should be. By the hard, fierce look on her face, I decided to tell her child the truth. "Yes, I'm afraid so. None of us will be safe until I do."

Xochitl wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her cheek to mine, and I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I would kill anyone who threatened her.

"Good. She made Mama cry."

I handed her back to Mayte. "Well, we can't allow that to happen again, can we?"

"Please, sit, be comfortable." Mayte gestured to the chairs. Rik pulled mine out for me, and Gina passed a leather portfolio folder containing the contract we'd drawn up to Bianca.

The consiliarius read the summary page, looked up at me, eyes round, mouth hanging open. "This is unprecedented. Are you sure?"

Taken aback, I looked at Gina for help. She'd drawn it up for me. I trusted her guidance implicitly, and I had a very hard time thinking she'd made a mistake. "Isn't everything in order?"

"Well, yes, but... But..."

Mayte was looking a little pale around the mouth. Tepeyollotl pulled a chair out for her and helped her to sit. He looked at me with disgust, as if I’d called his queen a filthy name, and then turned a hard look on my alpha. His tattoos shimmered and moved on his skin, forming into spots. His jaguar. He bared his teeth at Rik and clenched his hands into fists.

I couldn't blame him for being upset that she was upset...

But what had we done that was so horrible?

Bianca passed the folder to Mayte. She scanned the page and then sat back in her chair. Hard. Even paler. When she started to cry, I felt worse than the lowest worm I could imagine.

"Mama, Mama." Xochitl squeezed her neck and puckered up too. "Don't cry. The pretty queen said you wouldn't cry again."

If the little girl started to cry, too, then I was walking out of here without looking back.

Mayte hugged her and kissed the top of her head. "This is a good cry, precious. I'm just... shocked. I can't..." She closed her eyes and squeezed her daughter tighter. "Everything's going to be all right now. Everything. I promise."

Rik squeezed my shoulder. :I think she expected you to take everything.:

A small sound of surprise escaped my throat, and Mayte looked up at me.

"You don't even realize what you've done, do you? No. I can tell by the look on your face. At most, I hoped that you would allow me to keep my nest and continue to provide for my court as Zaniyah has done for hundreds of years. But I never really thought it possible."

"Why would I take your home? I have a home. I have a nest. I don't want yours."

"It's your right to demand anything of me now. Anything at all. Do you think Keisha Skye would have allowed us to stay here as an independent court? A nest of power separate from her stronghold in New York City? Of course not."

I was starting to be offended myself. Her shock, her tears. Why had she asked for my help if she truly thought I'd take her home from her? "I thought we'd already established that I'm not Keisha Skye. So why is he glaring at me like he's going to eat me for lunch?"

Mayte took Tepeyollotl’s hand and tugged him down beside her. "She's not only letting us keep everything, but she named Xochitl an Isador heir."

"What does that mean?"

Gina passed a heavy golden pen to Bianca. "It means that if my queen never has an heir of her own, your daughter will inherit the entire Isador legacy."

"I don't care about gold," the man grunted. "I only care that my family is safe and happy. For a moment, I thought we were going to have a chance to see how well Isador's alpha fought in hand to hand combat."

"And you're allowing this as the Isador consiliarius?" Bianca asked Gina.

My eyebrows arched but I bit my tongue. Gina laughed, shaking her head. "My queen does as she will, but yes, I do support her in this decision. My queen would never take another queen's home or legacy. I knew better than to even suggest such a thing when we were writing up this agreement."

"I lived most of my life without access to the legacy. I could live without it now if I had to."

Rik squeezed my shoulder harder and his voice rumbled through me. "Not happening, my queen. You deserve every luxury and benefit the legacy will provide to you."

Bianca and Mayte signed the contract, then Gina, and then me. It was done. Mayte beamed as Tepeyollotl bounced their laughing daughter on his knee, but all I could think of was what would happen to her...

To them all...

If I failed.