Shara

Winston flew to New York City with us, so he could meet the staff at the house and ensure their service was up to his level of expectations. Now, more than ever, I was aware of what immense wealth could do. The Isador property we arrived at had once been a small, but posh, Park Avenue hotel situated on the edge of Central Park.

Even after extensive renovations, the gorgeous marble floors, high ceilings, and gold-leaved plaster friezes spoke of old-world wealth. A blonde woman dressed in a very elegant black pant suit whispered quietly with Winston for several moments, and then stepped closer to me.

She dropped into a curtsey. “Your Majesty, welcome to your New York City home.”

“Thank you.” I held my hand out, intending to give her a polite shake, but she took my hand and bent even lower, pressing my fingers to her forehead.

“It’s such an honor to meet you, Your Majesty. When Winston called to let me know to prepare the house, I wept with joy that our Isador queen was coming to town.”

I imagined it must have been a fairly rare occurrence for any queen to come to New York City with Keisha Skye’s centuries of rule. “What’s your name?”

“Magnum, Your Majesty. For the duration of your stay, we’ll be at full staff. All of your clothing orders have been carefully unpacked and are hanging in the master bedroom for your approval.”

The nicest thing about being rich—I could shop without ever stepping foot into a store. Gina had placed a few phone calls, and Alice Wong, the designer I’d met in Dallas, Texas, had shipped several new gowns ahead. With our measurements in hand, Gina had also called several other designers and had probably emptied racks in dozens of stores to make sure I had a wide selection of clothes to choose from, both for myself and my Blood.

All for a few days’ stay so I could catch a Broadway play.

And kill a vampire queen.

We stepped onto an old-fashioned elevator with brass-plated doors and buttons. Rik had already sent three of my Blood up to scout ahead, and now he stepped in close to me, bumping me with his body. He slid a hand around my waist, spreading his fingers out to cover as much of my abdomen as possible. He dipped his head and rubbed his nose in the hollow behind my ear.

Yeah, my period had started yesterday and was going full force today. My alpha couldn’t keep his hands off me.

Itztli and Tlacel stood between me and the new woman. Neither of them looked at me, but I could feel the tension simmering in their bodies. They were fully aware of me and my need.

Mehen’s green eyes tracked my every movement, narrowed with anticipation. If Rik gave him an inch, he’d have me flattened against the wall of the elevator this very moment, audience be damned.

We stepped off the elevator into a marbled foyer, which opened up to a large room with walls made almost entirely of windows, giving spectacular views of Central Park on one side, and the impressive skyline on the other.

I couldn’t help but stare at one particular building only a few blocks away. Keisha Skye’s nest was in the largest residential tower in Manhattan. One-bedroom suites had easily sold for a million dollars before she bought the building twenty-some years ago. There were over one hundred units in the building, many of them two and three bedrooms. I couldn’t even guess enough zeros for the sum she must have paid for the entire building. Let alone the amount of money she must have put into renovations to combine apartments and blow out walls. Rik said the entire top floor had been renovated to combine four penthouses into one, providing her with jaw-dropping views.

Most of the other floors remained apartments, that she’d been filling with sibs.

So many vampires living right here in the heart of Manhattan.

We’d barely stepped off the elevator, when one of the other staff whispered to Magnum, and then came to me with a monogrammed envelope bearing a swirling S.

“Your Majesty.” She bowed even lower than Magnum had and held out the card. “This arrived moments ago for you by courier.”

I smiled wryly. “Just like Marne. They want me to know they’re watching me.”

This envelope didn’t bear a waxed seal. I pulled out the single sheet of thick paper and read it aloud.

“Shara Isador, I formally call upon Triune law and demand recompense for the Blood you’ve stolen from House Skye. You may repay this debt in person at House Skye’s court at your earliest convenience. The Blood known as Leviathan, Wu Tien Xin, and Guillaume de Payne will not be granted access to House Skye. In addition, the presence of Alrik, Daire, and Ezra Skye will be required to gain access to House Skye. I, Keisha Skye, demand satisfaction.”

“Only six Blood.” Daire snorted with disgust. “I fucking hate being called Skye again.”

“That’s more than I expected her to let me take in.” I sighed, looking around at my men, all of them furious, glaring, or in Itztli’s and Guillaume’s cases, testing the sharpness of their blades. “Gina, what Triune law is she referring to?”

My consiliarius was already on the phone with her staff, but she lowered the phone to say, “Blood for Blood, or at least an equal amount of blood they carry.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s a stretch, because they weren’t her Blood when they left. But she’s claiming their value as Blood from her house. She’s probably also going to claim value for Kendall, since he was Blood, and we did kill him, though you have not gained any benefit from the Skye blood he carried.”

“So, she’s wanting the equal amount of my blood to buy theirs?”

“In effect, yes. It’s meant to be a law that specifies an exchange of Blood between queens to solidify an alliance. She’d intended to give you Kendall. Under this law, she could have demanded an equal Blood from yours in exchange. If this case went to a Triune queen, she’d have to weigh the amount of Skye blood that each of your three Blood now bear, which you would repay in kind, if you weren’t willing to uphold the Blood exchange.”

“You’re not fucking giving her your blood,” Rik retorted, dragging me closer to him. “Not for me. Not for any of us.”

“With any other queen, it could be handled reasonably,” Gina said, shaking her head. “Any queen can call her blood out of anyone she wishes and leave them without a trace of her power. We call it Cleansing, and it’s especially important for ailing queens to do before they die, so their Blood are freed before her death. However, we all know that’s not what she’s after. She doesn’t want her blood back—she wants yours instead. Let me do a little research and study the precedents to come up with the best defense.”

“Does it matter, if I intend to kill her?”

“Yes. She invoked Triune law. Killing her before this debt is resolved could draw the Triune’s punishment. The last thing you want is Marne Ceresa ordering your execution because you broke Triune law and then killed the queen before she could bring the case before the High Court, even if that’s not Keisha’s goal at all.”

I blew out a disgusted sigh. “This is all really a ploy to keep me from walking over and killing her before she can hurt anyone else. In that light, it’s a very smart play.”

“Indeed,” Gina said grimly. “She’s been playing the game since long before you were born, my queen. The whole reason she sent young Aima males out in search of lost queens was to draw them to her and trap them into becoming her sibs. She planned to demand Blood recompense when she allowed them to leave. Why don’t you take a look at the gowns Alice sent while I talk to my team?”

“This way, Your Majesty.” Magnum led us down a short hallway to an imposing twelve-foot-tall wooden door. Fanciful animals were carved on its surface, including dragons, gryphons, and even a phoenix rising from the flames. “I hope you will find it satisfactory.”

She pushed the heavy door open, and even though I was prepared for grandeur, my jaw still dropped in awe. Most of the ceiling was a giant skylight, illuminating the entire room in soft light to frame a massive bed that was only slightly smaller than my custom bed at home. The marble floors were warm golden honey inlaid with large onyx circles. As in the other rooms, the walls were mostly glass.

Racks of clothes waited for us to examine, even more than I imagined. Daire dived in with a whoop.

Magnum walked over to another set of doors. “Your sauna, whirlpool, and master bathroom, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you, Magnum. The suite is lovely.”

“You’re most welcome, Your Majesty. This home has been languishing for more than twenty years waiting for our lost queen to return.”

I turned back to search her face. “I’ve only been lost five years.”

Her face blanked, like everyone when they thought of my mother, but her throat worked, each word forced out like she’d swallowed something thick. “A woman. Beautiful. Dark hair, like yours. Her mocha skin glowed like she’d swallowed the moon. She owned this house and oversaw every single renovation herself. I knew her well, though I can’t seem to remember her name. Do you know her?”

My eyes blurred with tears and I nodded. Esetta Isador. My mother. “Yes.”

“She said this house was to be her daughter’s sanctuary away from home, a place of safety and joy in the midst of danger and sadness.” Magnum cleared her throat, her eyes as teary as mine. “She was heavily pregnant the last time she came. When she left… she was not.”

“I was born here,” I whispered, my eyes flying wide. “Where? Could you show me?”

“Of course.” She led us back out to the elevator and a second massive door, though this one was ebony wood carved in snakes and a large tyet, knot of Isis. “Most of this unit was absorbed into the other, except for this one room. She was the last to enter this room. When she left, she ordered that no one enter it until the lost queen returned. I have kept the door locked ever since.”

She held out an antique, large key made of iron. My fingers trembled as I took it and inserted it into the lock.

“Should we wait outside for you?” Rik asked.

I shook my head. “No. You’re as much a part of this as I am. Without you, I wouldn’t have made it here.”

Even though the door hadn’t been opened in decades, the lock clicked smoothly, and I pushed the heavy door open. A single light flickered on automatically, but the room was still so dark that I could barely make out anything but black marble veined in gold and a small pool built into the floor.

Rik jerked his head, and Mehen, Guillaume, and Nevarre entered the room first, though I wasn’t far behind. The room didn’t have any windows, so nothing could have gotten inside. Very much like how I’d grown up, hidden from the monsters.

Magnum hovered outside the room. I gestured her inside with us. “Was she here long?”

“Many times over the years for renovations. Then usually a few days around Samhain. The last time I saw her, she arrived in late September and stayed through the first of November.”

My birthday.

My heart ached so badly I couldn’t breathe. “Did she leave me here? Or take me with her?”

“Another woman arrived, her sister, I believe, but she came and left in secrecy. I never spoke to her or knew her name. She stayed only one night and left with the baby. I never saw her again.” Magnum cried silently, fat tears trickling down her cheeks. “I heard…” Her voice broke and she turned aside, averting her face. “Sobbing. All night, after her sister left. And the next morning she left, alone, and I never saw her again. She looked shockingly weak and pale, but she wouldn’t allow me to call for help. She whispered something, and I fell asleep. When I awoke, she was gone, as well as most of my memory.”

My poor mother. She had given me to her sister immediately, and then left.

To die alone.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Oh, Mother. I’m so sorry. I wish I could have known you.

“Shara, you need to see this.” Guillaume’s reverent voice drew me to him against the far wall.

From a distance, it looked like the wall had been papered, but up close, I realized it was actual hand-painted papyrus. Painted by my mother, in her own hand.

Her last words to me.

“I need more light.”

“Here.” Magnum hit a switch and rows of lights clicked on all around the room to illuminate all four walls, each painstakingly covered in papyrus and hieroglyphics.

“Can you read it?” Guillaume asked.

I stepped back and scanned the walls quickly, looking for where to start. The shorter wall including the door had a large pyramid with the crescent moon hanging over the top of it, so I started there. “Blood of Isis. Upon this House She builds Her future.”

I moved to the next wall. This one was painted with a large volcano, with streams of lava flowing down its sides. Underneath, a man’s chest and upper body rose up out of what looked like a nest of large serpents, heads flowing out along the ground in place of legs and feet. “Lo, Father of Monsters, look down from Heaven and see what we have wrought.”

The third wall was one long passage. “We loose chaos upon the world. She brings blood. She brings magic. She brings justice. She walks with paws, slithers with scales, and flies on mighty wings. She cries out with flames and the dead rise to do her bidding. The grave is hers to command.”

That sounded too much like my dream of Coatlicue. I swallowed hard, pushing away my fear of which loved one I would lose, and stepped to the next wall.

“What she takes, she loves, and what she loves, she keeps for all time. Blood flows from the Mother through the Great One to our Daughter of Chaos. Burn with fire. Kill with shadow. Bleed to punish those who have turned aside from the Mother. Rise, Daughter, and blot out the cruel Sun. Fly, oh dark wings. Run, oh silent feet. Bite, oh wicked fangs, and mark the souls of your dead. Walk the ways cloaked in Shadow seeing all. Rise.”

Mehen grunted sourly. “Well, that’s as clear as fucking mud.”

This door had been locked at my birth—yet she described me so well it was scary. I did burn with fire. I did only take Blood that I loved, and once they were mine… I wanted to keep them for all time. I certainly flew on dark wings, whether as the wyvern or the winged jaguar I’d gained in Mexico. But marking the souls of my dead… Did she mean like I’d bitten Rik as the cobra queen? Or something else? Did I have to do that to each of my Blood? Kill them… to mark them as mine?

Shaken, I turned around to look at the sunken tub in the floor. It was big enough for several of us to fit in comfortably, like a whirlpool, but I didn’t see any jets. I laid my hand on the low tiled wall and my ears roared. A vision from the past filled my mind.

Two women knelt naked in the water, both dark haired and dark eyed. Mom, the woman who raised me, had her hands on the other woman’s rounded stomach.

My mother. I hadn’t ever seen her face before. It was like looking into a mirror in thirty years, if we were human and aged normally. Gray streaked her hair at the temples. Lines bracketed her mouth and eyes, pain and exhaustion sapping her strength. I didn’t see great power shining in her eyes or written on her face, but I wouldn’t, at this point. She’d already given up her Blood and her power.

To have me.

All I saw on her face was wonder and love, even though I was killing her. She still smiled. “She’s almost here. You must take her far from our world.”

“No. She needs you. She needs her mother.”

Esetta gritted her teeth and leaned forward, straining. Blood swirled in the water. “She needs. Her freedom. Take her. Away. Let her fly.”

She pushed and strained, screaming with effort as I tore my way through her body. Yet she laughed with relief and clutched the squalling newborn to her breast. She held me. She let me nurse. She kissed my fuzzy head and whispered secrets to me.

She looked up and stared into my eyes as if I was there by her side, even though she held me as a baby. “Someday, you’ll come here and see where you were born. You’ll see how much I love you.”

She handed me to her sister. “Go. Take her. Take her now before I change my mind and damn us all to his fiery hell. Go!”

Mom fled with me clutched against her chest and the woman who birthed me sagged in the water, barely able to hold on to the side of the tub as she tried to climb out. Blood dripped down her thighs and pooled on the black tile. She hunched on her knees, her back shaking. I reached out to touch her, but my hand flickered through her image.

“Shara,” she sobbed. “My baby.”

Tears dripped down my face, my throat locked down with grief.

As before, her voice echoed in my head. Achingly familiar, because even though I’d grown up without her in my life, she had always been with me.

“Ra and his minions have distorted our power to the point that all women, whether Aima or human, have lost control of our bodies. Our power, our very lives, are at stake. They judge us amoral, twisted, and deviant, when the very acts of sex and giving birth show our connection to the Mother. She lives on in every woman, whether we choose to have children or not. We create love in the world. What greater magic can there be?

“And so Ra hates us, but he will hate you especially, daughter of mine. You were conceived in darkness and born here, where the Sun never shines. Always work your greatest magic in complete and utter darkness. Embrace that darkness. Embrace your nature. Revel in your hunger. Love your monsters. Because you are the beloved child of a god and a queen of Isis who died to set you free.

“Beware,” her voice thinned as if she whispered from a great distance. “You are not the only child born in darkness and kept in secrecy.”