Shara

Power rose inside me, making my nerves and senses come alive. I heard the steady thump of Rik’s heartbeat like a timpani drum and felt the slightest twitch of Guillaume’s skin beneath me. My blood hummed in my veins, a rising symphony of goddess retribution.

Xochitl was mine through her mother’s bond, and no child of mine would ever be harmed.

I tore open my right wrist and the surge of power made me tremble, my head falling back under the rush. The dark beast inside me swelled closer to my skin. Not scales this time, but fur and feathered wings. My jaguar wound its way through my bonds like a cat rubbing against her human’s ankles, and then pushed out of me. Teeth and claws, a jaguar’s hunting instincts, combined with the speed and agility of a hawk.

Yes, this was exactly the shape I needed to hunt a kidnapping eagle.

Guillaume shifted his weight beneath me, broadening his stance. I hadn’t thought about my weight and size in this shape, let alone a horse’s instincts to protect itself from a giant predator.

:Even if your jaguar decides to eat a hunk out of me, this hell horse isn’t going anywhere, my queen.:

Despite my worry, I laughed in the bond. :No eating horses. Though I can’t promise I won’t be tempted to take a nice big bite of you later.:

I spread my wings and gave an experimental flap. I didn’t have time for practicing. All I could do was trust in Isis and let the magic She’d given me do its job. I crouched, gathering my power. Focusing my will. I would leap into the air and fly. I would catch this fucking eagle and rip him to shreds. Xochitl would be safe.

I willed it to be so.

Guillaume lowered his head out of my way. Standing in front of the hell horse, Rik ducked down too like a massive linebacker, his fist braced on the ground. His broad back was higher, giving me a perfect runway.

I exploded forward, leaping onto Rik’s impenetrable stone hide. He pushed up as hard as he could, giving me extra momentum into the air. Power surged inside me, fed by my blood, lifted by my love. I soared upward, my wings catching the air perfectly. I ran—but on air.

:I’m coming,: I told Xochitl through the small bond I’d formed by giving her my blood this morning. :Don’t be afraid, sweetie. I want you to fight and kick and scream. We’re going to make the eagle drop you, and my dragon can catch you.:

Mayte’s bond flashed and burned white-hot in my head as she raced to a Jeep to follow us, her rage and fear so bitter I could taste it in my mouth. :My baby, Shara. He took my baby.:

:And I’m going to get her back.:

Anguish twisted our bond. :She’s so scared. She’s bleeding. She thinks the bird is going to eat her.:

I didn’t want to let my imagination come up with all the horrible scenarios that Ra might have in store for a young, defenseless Aima queen. :Over my dead body.:

:That may be what he intends,: Rik rumbled in my head. :This could be a trap.:

:How?: Mayte whispered, her voice breaking into splinters in my head. :How did he find her? How could he know she even existed? No one but my family knew of her birth until you came, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt you or your Blood wouldn’t have done such a thing.: She gasped, like someone had shoved a knife through her heart. :It has to be one of my people. My family. They betrayed me, so they could betray you.:

I concentrated on my Blood bonds to gauge how far I’d traveled already, and how far ahead the golden eagle was. Leviathan tracked the giant bird from a safe distance. Tlacel had deposited Nevarre to safety on the ground and then surged after me. The rest of my Blood were on foot and following, nowhere near as fast as I could fly, though Guillaume and Itztli were the closest after Tlacel. And Rik. He’d shifted back and rode my hell horse. He wouldn’t be left behind this time because of his rock troll’s ponderous pace.

If this was a trap…

I had to be ready to spring it.

Even if Ra intended to grab two Aima queens with one net, he wouldn’t find me easy prey. Surely, he’d already learned that lesson when he’d tried to snag me out of my own bedroom in Kansas City. But if not, I’d be fucking thrilled to blast him back to wherever he came from.

Tlacel

After living—no, barely existing—for hundreds of years, waiting to be claimed, my queen had come for me at last.

An incredibly powerful, beautiful, and fascinating queen. Every cell in my body burned to be taken by her. I wanted to prove my loyalty. My willingness to do whatever she required of me.

But the last thing I wanted was to find us tasked with saving my niece. I would rather have faced any danger myself, no matter how dire, than risk harm to a single hair on Xochitl’s head.

I cut through the air effortlessly, a sinuous, feathered shape of legend in the sky. Shara Isador made this possible. Her blood. Her power. I wore the flesh of Quetzalcoatl, Great Feathered Serpent, for her, but even with this magnificent power humming through me, I could barely keep pace with my queen as she streaked after the thieving golden eagle carrying my niece away. A black jaguar with wings. I had never seen such a wonder.

She touched my bond and lightning tore through me. :Where do you think he’s taking her?:

:Huitzilopochtil’s main pyramid was in Mexico City, but it’s long gone now, only a crumbled ruin beneath the city.:

One of her other Blood, the big dragon, spoke to us. :He’s circling around a small body of water, like he’s waiting for you, my queen.:

Realization shot through me and I drew on every ounce of power she’d given me to surge faster through the sky. :The cenote. We must hurry.:

:Why? What is it?:

:Our ancestors thought the cenotes were portals to the otherworld. If he takes her through the portal, we’ll never get her back.:

Shara’s urgency matched mine and she blurred with a sudden burst of speed.

:It’s a trap,: the dragon growled. :He’s baiting you.:

:Doesn’t matter,: she retorted. :He’s not taking her from us.:

A massive fist tightened on my heart. It took me a moment to realize it was our alpha’s warning. :You and Mehen are the only ones close enough to protect her until I arrive. No harm will come to her, or I’ll rip this organ from your chest and feed it to you.:

:Understood, alpha.:

I managed to gain enough speed to hover at her flank. The eagle circled lazily over the cenote. When he saw us, he let out a triumphant screech.

:Enough of this bullshit,: Mehen growled. :I’ll just bite the bastard’s head off and catch the child before she hits the water.:

He didn’t wait for our queen’s approval and dove at the smaller bird.

Light blazed from the eagle, a sweeping flash of painful brilliance that seared my eyes even at a distance. The mighty dragon howled with agony and tumbled down, crashing off the limestone wall to splash into the water. The eagle made another circle, and then tucked his wings and plummeted toward the surface.

:Mehen’s down,: she told Rik.

Our bonds vibrated with the force of his fury, and an image filled my head of the big man leaning lower over the straining hell horse’s neck, willing him to gallop harder.

Light sparkled upward from the cenote like someone had turned on a brilliant spotlight deep below the surface. Rainbows sparkled in the air. As we swooped down closer to the shining circle, I felt its incessant tug like the moon on the tides. It pulled me closer, and irrational fear or not, I didn’t think I’d be able to turn my path aside now that it had locked onto me. The portal was activated and eager to allow us to pass, to gods only knew what on the other side.

Steep limestone cliffs clogged with trees, roots, and vines passed as we raced down after the eagle. A black shape lunged up and caught the eagle before it could sink into the water. Mehen, the dragon, roaring with rage as he tore the golden eagle apart.

Xochitl screamed and hit the water, sinking like a stone.

:Can she swim?: Shara asked me.

:Yes, but it won’t matter. The portal has her.:

:Rik, I’m going in after her. Tlacel, you’ll have to pull me back out. I’ll tell you when I have her.:

She tucked her wings tight and dove into the water, shifting back to her human shape as her body moved through the water. She stretched her hands out ahead of her, straining for Xochitl. Seconds later, I broke the surface too. Cool water flowed over me. I kept my eyes wide open, straining to keep sight of my queen. Still in my winged serpent form, I sliced through the water, my muzzle touching her calf. I ought to be able to seize her ankle in my jaws and drag her back out of the water. As long as I stayed close and didn’t sink too far through the portal myself.

The water suddenly heated, like I’d jumped into my sister’s favorite bathing pool. Golden light flooded the water, so bright my eyes would have been streaming with tears in my human shape. I fought my instinct to turn aside, avert my gaze and protect my eyes. I had to see. I had to be ready to grab my queen and haul her back out.

:She’s gone too far,: Rik rumbled in my head. :You have to pull her back out. Now.:

:Not yet,: she whispered, straining harder. I felt her fingertips brush Xochitl’s hair. :Almost… Fuck. I missed. She’s through.:

Through my queen’s bond, I saw Xochitl staring up at her, eyes wide, mouth open on a scream as she fell out of water into blue-green sky. The world tilted crazily, my equilibrium struggling to right itself in the inverted new world. Shara broke through the water too and flung her hands out to snag Xochitl’s hair. She tugged the child up against her and wrapped her arms around her protectively.

:Now!:

I sank my jaws around her lower leg and flung my wings out, arching backward, struggling to stop our momentum through the portal. My wings provided drag against the water, and definitely slowed our progression, but we still slipped deeper into the otherworld. Shara was through to her waist, pulling me closer and closer to the inverted world. The world of Huitzilopochtil. Through my queen’s gaze, I saw a golden pyramid rising up so high that it pierced the sun. Streams of crimson ran down the pyramid’s sides and trickled across the ground to feed a dark-red river.

A river. Of blood. So many sacrifices. So many deaths.

My queen and niece would add to that bloody river if I couldn’t pull them back through.

Soulless sacrifices stood below my queen, moaning with agony and ecstasy both. Golden light blazed from empty eye sockets and gaping mouths. Their skin seemed oddly loose, as though they were completely empty sacks. Their arms wavered in the air, rubbery and slack, though definitely reaching for her. Eager to claim her for their god.

Shaken, I strained harder. Something tore in my wings. Pain splintered through my mind. But I threw myself back. Back to our world, dragging our queen to safety. Darkness filled my vision and I tasted blood in my mouth. I broke something deep inside me. I spun out of control, unable to tell if I was even pulling her back in the right direction any longer.

Blood. Her blood, in my mouth. I focused on her taste, the sweet rush of power. Isis, Great One. Coatlicue, Mother of the Gods. Grant me enough power to save my queen, and then do as You will with me.

Something seized my tail and nearly ripped it out of my body. I didn’t struggle against the pain but embraced it. I was still alive, and that formidable grip was my alpha. He hauled me out of the portal by my tail, I dragged Shara with me, and she gripped Xochitl against her chest. Rik grabbed our queen and pulled her up out of the water. Choking and gasping, she lifted Xochitl up out of the water, too.

Nevarre swooped down to snag the little girl by the back of her shirt and lifted her toward the edge of the cenote. At least the raven hadn’t been killed by the first blast. Hopefully the dragon had fared just as well.

Liquid golden power rippled in the water. :The portal’s still open,: I gasped. :Get out!:

The black dragon surged up out of the water and clung to the side of the cenote. :I can’t fly yet, but I can at least get out of the water.:

I tried to do the same, but I felt like cartons of broken eggshells floated inside me instead of bones. The current swirled me further away from the sides, toward the center, where a whirlpool sucked the water—and everything in it—down a grim path into the portal.

:Heal me, and I’ll get him out,: Mehen said.

Rik reared up out of the water and tossed Shara toward the edge of the cenote by the dragon. She gave him her arm, and the dragon closed his jaws around her wrist with utmost care, eyes closed in ecstasy as he drank from her.

She kept a wary eye on me. I sank lower in the water. A dull roar filled my head, like a gigantic bathtub plug had been popped, and all the water of the world was sinking through the drain. The whirlpool widened, sucking me faster in a vicious circle toward the center. I didn’t try to swim out. I knew I didn’t have the strength. It was all I could do to keep my muzzle up out of the water. :Get her out first.:

I looked up at the sky as water closed over my head. So blue. I had saved my queen and my niece, the future queen of my people. That was all I’d wished for. Night fell, black spreading across the sky, death closing in.

Claws sank into me and yanked me up. Not darkness or death, but Leviathan. He let out a disgusted laugh in my head. :She refused to leave even the scaly chicken behind.:

Head lolling, I was beyond pain as Leviathan carried me up and out of the cenote. We passed Rik in his rock troll form, our queen clinging to his back as he scaled the limestone cliff. The dragon tossed me down on the ground, and Itztli stuck his bleeding wrist in my face. :Feed, brother. I can’t heal you like she will, but at least let me ease your pain until she’s here.:

It was an indication of how close I must be to death for my brother to be willing to feed me. He’d done well to hide that dread from our queen last night when she’d taken us, but she’d have every ugly secret soon enough. I wouldn’t torment him needlessly, but I did send a wave of gratitude to him. :She’s the last queen of Isis. If I die, she’ll bring me back.:

He didn’t protest. Clutching my sobbing niece in her arms, Mayte knelt beside me, tears in her eyes. “Oh, brother. What have you done to yourself?”

She laid her hand on my head and her power sparked along my scales. She’d healed me before, but this time… It wasn’t her touch I wanted. She released a soft little sigh and pulled her hand away with a wry smile. “Here’s our queen now.”

Rik cleared the edge of the cenote and Shara slid down beside me. I could smell her blood already, her magic sinking into me before a single drop of her blood passed onto my tongue. Her bond glowed like a soft, glowing moon in a clear midnight sky, shining light on all of my internal hurts, while simultaneously wiping them away. She lifted my head into her lap and pressed her wrist against my muzzle, dripping blood from the dragon’s bite.

I opened my jaws and carefully cradled her fragile arm inside my mouth, letting her blood drip down my throat without tearing her skin any further. Her fingers stroked over my head and down my neck, kneading strength and power into my hide. “Without you today, both Xochitl and I would be lost to Ra.”

Rik made a low, dangerous rumble, though he didn’t take her to task for risking her life, and ours, to save the child. I might be her newest Blood, but with her bond shining in me, I knew her heart. She would never hang back, waiting for someone else to help. Not with any child at risk, and certainly not one she’d taken into her heart like my niece. She’d made Xochitl an Isador heir. She would die for her. For any of us.

Not that we would ever allow that to happen.

The great jaguar god came closer, moving as though something deep inside him still pained him. He dropped a hand on Mayte’s shoulder. “I thank you all. I had no idea the sun god would be able to strike us so effectively. It’s quite humbling to know that all my immense power means nothing, as I was forced to watch helplessly as my daughter was carried away.”

His voice broke, and Xochitl reached up for him. He pulled her up into his arms and Mayte swiped her tears away. “Without you, Shara, we would be lost. But it’s my great shame to admit that someone in my household must have betrayed us. Very few people knew you were coming to Zaniyah until the very last minute before your arrival. Before this incident, I would have sworn that all my people were one-hundred-percent loyal, but Bianca feared someone might alert House Skye that we were expecting you.”

“Bianca.” Shara said the name flatly, her mouth twisting as if she’d tasted something bitter.

“No,” Mayte gasped, shaking her head. “I can’t believe it. Her family has served Zaniyah for generations.”

“Who else knew I was coming? Who else would have the contacts to reach out to one of Ra’s believers? Who else knows Xochitl’s habit of riding with her father?”

Pale, my sister closed her eyes, her mouth moving as she whispered softly beneath her breath. Her hair lifted, fluttering about her face, her voice rising, though I couldn’t understand her words. I knew she spoke in our ancient tongue, but those words were forbidden for my ears to understand.

When she opened her eyes once more, they flashed like cold diamonds. “The spell is cast. We’ll know the truth once we return back to the nest.”

“What about the black dog?” Shara asked, turning to Rik. “Were we able to capture it, or at least kill it?”

:I have him,: Xin said in our bonds. :I kept him alive for you.:

A grim smile flickered across Shara’s face. Cold chills raced down my spine at that look. Retribution. A promise of pain and punishment. Justice. A goddess’s righteous fury.

I almost felt sorry for whoever had dared not die when Ra’s plan failed.

Almost.