Shara

My grove had been extremely busy while I was away in Mexico. I stared in wonder at what Morrigan had wrought.

At the base of the heart tree, the ground had cracked open and fallen away to create a deep, hot mineral spring. Lined with smooth stones, a pool bubbled and steamed, inviting me to step down into the water for a nice long hot soak. Rose petals from my heart tree covered the surface, releasing their delicious scent into the air. Almost like Mayte’s flowery scent, but thicker and less sweet, like the difference between a cabernet sauvignon and a crisp, light moscato.

The tree itself looked damaged with a deep gaping hollow in its trunk, but then I noticed the flash of brilliant feathers inside. Quetzals. They were flying in and out of my tree… like the ones in Mayte’s nest.

A portal, between the two heart trees. My mind raced with possibilities, though I didn’t step into my tree in order to find out if I was right. I didn’t want to smell whatever was happening with the traitor Mayte had disposed of in hers.

Rik gave me a hand as I slowly stepped into the water. “When you admired the Zaniyah grotto, I had a feeling you might find your own surprise when we returned home.”

It was smoking hot and oh so good. I had to step down incrementally until I was in up to my neck. Closing my eyes, I leaned back against his chest. “Intention, I guess. I need to be careful with random thoughts. I don’t want to accidentally wish ill on someone and regret it later. Surprises like this, though, I absolutely love.”

Daire sat on a boulder beside us and dangled his feet into the water. “Are you ready to talk about how to deal with Marne’s mirror call?”

I blew out a sigh. “Yeah, we need to talk through a strategy. Guillaume said she doesn’t do anything without a plan, so I can’t afford to wing it. You said that Triune politics were your gift. Do you mean like a power? A strength? Or just something you’ve always been interested in?”

“Both.” He quirked his lips, flashing his dimples. “I’m easy to talk to. I’m easy to get along with. Mom and our queen always said I was too amiable by far. So I built that as my reputation. It’s my greatest strength. The Triune game gets tricky when other people know you well enough to start playing to your weaknesses. If I said I’m too amiable by far, what do you think my weakness likely is?”

“That you’re naive and too trusting.”

“Exactly. I allow people to believe that I’m naive and too trusting. It’s what they expect and it matches my strength. You’d be surprised how much people will tell me, hoping to mislead me, or worse, hoping that I’ll mislead others because I won’t see through their lies.”

I frowned. “I don’t like lying to anyone. Even Marne.”

Omissions, sure. My life wasn’t anyone else’s business and I didn’t have to correct their ridiculous assumptions. But I didn’t like the idea of deliberately lying to someone, especially if I meant to bring them to justice.

“Then we use that. We make sure your reputation is that if Shara Isador tells you something, it’s not a lie or an exaggeration. But then you have to follow up on it. If you say you’ll kill whoever tries to hurt one of your Blood, then you’ll need to act on that when someone does.”

His words alone were enough to trigger my anger. Nobody had better try to get to me by hurting one of my Blood. “That won’t be a problem.”

“Think about what Marne Ceresa knows about you. You were lost and never raised in a nest. Most queens will assume that you don’t know how to deal with the finer details of court life, let alone the Triune. But you’ve already proven yourself more than capable by claiming a sib and deflecting House Skye’s attempt to absorb you.”

“If she’s heard about Ra’s attacks, then she’ll be even more impressed,” Rik added. “You’re a new fledgling queen, dealing with Ra and the most powerful American queen. Marne will know you have plenty of power to spare, and either you’re damned lucky to escape so far, or you actually know your stuff.”

“So, what you’re saying is, it’s too late to play stupid.”

Daire huffed out a laugh. “Which would be a lie anyway, and Shara Isador doesn’t lie. If you go into this meeting with Marne pretending to be stupid and unskilled or weak, then she’ll know you’re playing her for a fool. The queen who broke Keisha Skye’s geas and claimed House Zaniyah as an ally cannot be clueless.”

Guillaume and Nevarre climbed down onto the ledge beside Daire, though neither sat down. “All clear, alpha,” Nevarre said. “I didn’t see anything for miles in any direction.”

“Good. How are the twins fitting in?”

Guillaume shrugged. “Fine, though they’re a bit standoffish. They have each other, so they don’t need camaraderie with us.”

I concentrated on their bonds and found them walking the edge of my nest with Xin. He was his ghostly wolf and Itztli was a huge black dog, but Tlacel walked with them like a man taking his pack on a walk. They weren’t talking like friends, but they were comfortable together. My silent wolf often ran alone, so I was pleased that he had company, and his silence made him a welcome partner for the twins.

I turned toward Guillaume, propping my arms on the ledge, and he immediately squatted down. “How many queens have you known?”

“In the biblical sense, or received introductions?”

I arched a brow at him. “Both, I guess, but I don’t want the details. You know I’m a jealous queen.”

“Many queens, but they’re all dead now, thanks to Desideria. She ruled as the highest Aima queen for centuries. The other two Triune queens are Marne Ceresa and Jeanne Dauphine. I personally met Marne Ceresa three or four hundred years ago but would not say I know her at all. I’ve certainly never known her.”

He waggled his eyebrows, making me snicker. “I’ve never heard anyone mention Jeanne.”

“Most queens refer to her as the Dauphine. She’s one of the oldest queens, and certainly powerful, both in our courts and the world’s. Her less powerful line founded the ruling family of France centuries ago, though her Aima court became more and more secretive as the French monarchy grew in prominence. She was rumored to be a close friend of Desideria’s when they were young queens, but they became bitter enemies once they both gained seats on the Triune. As Desideria’s reputation grew, the Dauphine withdrew, though she still holds a Triune seat.”

“What’s the point of holding a Triune seat if she’s not actively doing anything for Aima queens?”

“Power. She holds great power, so much that no one can unseat her, even if she chooses not to interact with any other court. However, I wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking she’s not actively doing anything. She absolutely does still act to influence events to her wishes, but from a distance so great that by the time the deed is done, no one realizes it was a whisper from the Dauphine that started it.”

“Influence, too,” Nevarre added, plopping down beside Daire. “Even if she hasn’t been seen for hundreds of years, every queen still knows of her. A whisper from the Dauphine is enough for even Marne Ceresa to pause and consider whether she wishes to continue her course or not.”

“Did you ever meet the Dauphine?” I asked Guillaume.

He shook his head. “No one from Desideria’s court would have been allowed anywhere near the Dauphine. Especially me.”

“Where’s her court, her nest?”

He shrugged. “No one knows.”

My eyes widened. “Wow, really? From her name, I would have expected somewhere in France.”

“Rosalind Valois is descended from the Dauphine and does claim Paris as her home. But she’s nowhere near as powerful as the Dauphine.”

All these names were starting to blur in my head. “Rosalind is Keisha Skye’s sib and lover?”

“Yes. They both covet Desideria’s Triune seat and have been jockeying back and forth for decades. They finally allied, hoping that would put one of them on the Triune, but it still wasn’t enough.”

“Who determines which queen will take that seat? Is it a vote from the Dauphine and Marne?”

“If only,” Nevarre snorted. “Though getting even those two to agree on anything would be a feat indeed. The Triune decides.”

“But they are the Triune.”

“Ah, I see your confusion,” Guillaume said. “Sometimes I forget that you weren’t raised among us, my queen. Forgive me for this minor history lesson, but I think it will help. The Triune was originally three courts of three queens each. A Triune of Triunes, a perfect number. Over thousands of years, we lost one court entirely, and the other two courts diverged and sided more against each other. Skolos is typically ruled by queens with darker gifts, and the other court simply became known as the Triune, though even the dark queens are still part of the original Triune that Gaia founded. Each of the original three courts had a relic from the Mother that symbolized their power and their connection to Gaia. We often call those relics the Triunes too, since there were three of them, and they represent the true power of Aima courts. As a queen calls her Blood, so each Triune calls its queens to take a ruling seat.”

Rik grunted softly. “That’s way more than I ever knew, and I grew up in a nest, though House Hyrrokkin has always been isolated and remote.”

“You and Daire are still babes,” Guillaume said. “And Keisha Skye, for all her efforts at gaining a seat on the Triune, has never fully understood what that means exactly, nor how it’s achieved. Your home queens did you no favors by fostering you with House Skye. A Triune seat is not something to be won. It’s a blessing from the Goddess, a great blessing. But you know what they say about great blessings.”

“They can also be a curse,” Daire said.

The more they told me, the less I wanted any part of it, and I’d already dreaded having any dealings with Marne Ceresa. “The one court that was lost—what happened to it? Did the other Triune queens destroy them?”

“It was lost before my time, so even I’m not clear of the details, but it’s my understanding that they lost their relic. Either it was stolen or destroyed, and their court was broken. As a result, the remaining Triune and Skolos relics were hidden away by their queens to protect them. Since Desideria died, the Triune relic hasn’t called forth a queen for the third seat.”

“Does Marne have the Triune relic?”

“It’s possible, but I would suggest it more likely that the Dauphine has it, and that’s why she disappeared entirely. Desideria certainly didn’t have it.”

The wheels started turning in my head, slowly, like they were coated in molasses, but definitely moving. I stared at a huge map draped in a cloak of fog, that was slowly starting to thin enough that I could make out the shadow of trees and hollows between mountains. “Marne is a Triune queen. She understands how she was called to the take her seat. Yet she strings Keisha Skye along like it’s something she can personally guarantee her.”

“Ding, ding, ding,” Daire said, nodding. “That’s Marne’s game. That’s her angle. She plays other queens against each other, while maneuvering them on the board in a way that hopefully aligns them on her side, rather than the Dauphine’s.”

“Or Skolos’s,” Nevarre added. “When they split from the Triune, they fell off most queens’ radar as insignificant.”

Leviathan plummeted down from the sky, shifting into Mehen at the perfect moment to land on his feet and walk the last few steps to the new grotto. “Which is a mistake. The Gorgons and Krakes have always been the stuff of nightmares. I should know.”

“What’s my angle? I don’t want her to read me like a book.”

“That’s not the right question to ask,” Daire replied. “She’s going to read you like a book. It’s what we do. The question is, what book do you want her to read? Deep down, what do you really want? Ignoring all the politics and games.”

Looking at them, my throat tightened. “This.”

Rik took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “A home. A family. Blood that you love, and who love you in return, so much that we’d gladly do anything you asked.”

“Yes.” The word was harsher than I intended, but only because I fought back the surge of fearful tears. I resisted the urge to touch the ruby snake around my neck. “Plus, safety for Zaniyah.”

“It’s more than that.” Mehen shook his head. “You don’t give a fuck about the Zaniyah clan in general.” He slipped into the pool with us, submerging completely despite the heat. He came up slinging water like a dog. “Why them, and not Keisha Skye?”

“Because Keisha tried to hurt me already.”

He shrugged. “Mayte hurt you by not telling you about the geas.”

“But—” I wanted to say that was different, but even I knew that didn’t make sense. Mayte had hurt me. She’d lied to me. She’d hidden everything until I dragged the truth out of her.

Yet I still gave her my blood, made her daughter my heir, and took her to my bed.

“Let me say it another way,” Guillaume said, drawing my attention back to him. He danced one of his blades across his fingers, twirling it like a pencil. “Any other queen powerful enough to free Leviathan would have put him down like the rabid monster he is and saved herself the trouble of breaking him to her Blood. But not Shara fucking Isador.”

Mehen swam around me, a dark, lithe shape in the water, flashing emerald scales. “Why did you save me, Shara?”

“I dreamed you.”

He swept back around, making me jerk my head around to keep sight of him. “So? Nightmares don’t mean a motherfucking thing. I had nightmares for centuries.”

I was starting to get irritated. Not at them, exactly, but at my failure to figure out what they were trying to tell me. “I wanted you, okay? So I took you.”

He swept toward me in a rush of water and pushed me back against the boulder, lifting me up out of the water so we were eye to eye. “You wanted me, when I would sooner tear you limb from limb and gnaw marrow from your bones than suffer Triune politics and queen commands.”

I gripped his nape and squeezed hard enough that his upper lip curled in a snarl. “Yes, I did.”

“You took me.”

“Yeah.”

“Shara fucking Isador doesn’t lie, and she takes what she wants. She takes what she wants because she wants to fuck it, claim it as hers, and bend it to her will for all time. Even Leviathan, king of the depths.”

“Even the headless knight,” Guillaume whispered. “Long-time hated and feared executioner for Desideria Modron, with the blood of a thousand Aima on his hands.”

“Even Morrigan’s broken Shadow, the son whose family lost the grove and was rejected by his own queen for that failure,” Nevarre whispered. “Who died, helpless to save even a minor druid witch who’d taken him in when no one else would.”

Ezra crashed through the underbrush in his grizzly form. :Even a grumpy bear that everyone hates because he can’t be fucking bothered to mind his tongue for anybody or anything. Except you, my queen.:

Xin and the twins were right behind him. My silent wolf—who was an invisible killer. Tlacel, my beautiful, graceful feathered serpent who’d given himself massive internal injuries to save me and Xochitl.

My tortured black dog, Itztli. Though I’d healed him after sacrificing him on Zaniyah’s new heart tree, he still bore a long brutal scar on his chest to remind us both of what I’d done to him. He didn’t have to say anything. All he had to do was stand there with his fingers lightly touching the obsidian blade on his hip, with a brutal scar over his heart.

“Okay,” I whispered, nodding. “I get what you’re saying. I take what I want. Even Blood other queens would use as weapons, or Blood other queens would kill outright, or simply reject because they’re too dangerous.”

“If you use that as your angle…” Daire gave an artful toss of his head that drew my attention to his hair sliding over his shoulders and down to his waist. “What’s your perceived weakness?”

I looked back at Mehen and grinned. “I take Blood because I want to fuck them. So I probably fuck. A lot. And it gets messy, bloody, and yeah, dangerous.”

He leaned in and inhaled deeply, his mouth on my throat. “You’re obsessed with fucking monsters, aren’t you, my queen?”

I laughed and looped one arm around his neck and the other around Rik, who was never far from my side. “That’ll be an easy thing to sell to Marne Ceresa. Because it’s true.”

Mehen sank his fangs in my throat, making me arch against him. :Because Shara fucking Isador never lies.: