Guillaume

I tried not to twitch my tail with impatience, although I would have loved to snap at the man droning on and on about the different pieces of tack as he saddled me.

Picking up on my irritation, Shara asked in the bond, :Are you sure you don’t mind?:

:Not at all, my queen. You need to learn how the saddle and bridle work so you can ride a regular horse. I simply wish he wasn’t quite so dedicated in telling you everything you could possibly ever wish to know about a piece of leather.:

The new Blood, Itztli, gave a hard tug to tighten the girth one last time. Unnecessarily, because I was no standard horse that would employ such tricks to loosen the girth and risk giving my queen a tumble off to the ground. I picked my rear hoof up and deliberately planted it on the fool’s foot.

I was a hell horse. The smell of brimstone burned my nose, along with the scent of scorched leather.

To his credit, the man didn’t make a sound, even when his boot started to smoke.

“G,” Shara chided.

:Oops.: I picked up my hoof and the idiot moved his foot out of my way. Even better, he received the message loud and clear that I was finished with this lesson.

“May I assist you in mounting, Your Majesty?”

“Of course.”

“On a smaller mount, I’d suggest putting your left foot in the stirrup and swinging up onto his back, but he’s rather too tall.” He bent down and laced his fingers together. “Give me your left foot, and I’ll toss you up. Carefully,” he added that last word hurriedly, sensing our alpha’s unspoken warning.

She picked up her foot, encased in borrowed boots, since we hadn’t thought to shop for riding gear in Dallas, and Itztli gave her a gentle toss up onto my back. Even with the leather separating my sensitive skin from direct contact, her weight brought the nerves in my back to life. I had a warhorse’s instincts. I could feel the tightening of her muscles, the slight press of her thighs and heels as she shifted her weight in the saddle. I would have dearly loved a thinner English-style saddle rather than the heavy Western-style roping saddle they’d used. Bareback would be even better.

I’d had her bareback and bare-ass naked. Once. Having my queen’s bare pussy on my back had been a life-altering experience, to say the least.

“The stirrups are a bit too short,” Itztli said. “Let’s drop them down a notch.”

His brother stepped closer on my other side, their eagerness to touch our queen, even for something so minor as fixing her stirrups, painfully obvious. I watched Rik, his gaze merciless. He didn’t care one whit how desperate they were to be taken by our queen. He’d make them wait as long as possible.

“Stand on the balls of your feet,” Tlacel said, smoothing the leather straps into place. “Let’s test that.”

She shifted her weight to her feet, rising up in the saddle a bit. I could feel the rightness of her balance now. The stirrups had definitely been too short for her.

“Much better. Alright, you can sit back down. Keep your heels down as much as you can, and your… um… seat yourself deeply in the saddle.”

She wriggled her delightful ass deeper into the saddle, and it was all I could do not to nicker with encouragement. She felt my appreciation and laughed, her voice husky. “I didn’t realize that riding a horse had so many similarities to making love.”

:Wait until I canter for you.:

“Pick up the reins,” Itztli said, his voice deeper than before. “Tighten up a little until you can feel the bit in his mouth. That’s how you tell a horse where you want to go, along with shifting your weight or tightening your thighs. It depends on how well the horse is trained, but you can often direct a horse by pushing against his side with the opposite knee. Like you’re pushing him in the direction you want to go.”

She slid the reins through her fingers until she felt the contact with my mouth. By instinct, I arched my neck, ears flickering back and forth, waiting for her command.

“Watch his ears,” Tlacel noted. “He’s listening to you. Ready for you to tell him where and when and how fast.”

She laughed again and stroked my neck. “Yes. Very much like the bedroom. But sometimes a girl just wants the guy to take over.”

If I wasn’t a horse, I would have laughed at Tlacel’s labored breathing, let alone the way he stumbled over his words.

“There are times you’ll want to trust your horse’s instincts rather than your own. For example, picking a path down steep terrain, or at night. They have better night vision than humans, and a horse has an instinctual ability to plant his hooves on the safest path.”

“Horses don’t see well behind them,” Itztli added in a voice so deep and raw that I flicked my tail at him. “They spook easily and whirl to check behind them. Or they balk at something they’ve seen a thousand times. If you feel as though he’s out of control, just pull his head around to either side. Force him in a circle. Eventually he’ll come to a stop, no matter how spooked he is.”

Enough was enough. :Will you allow me to show off?: I asked her through the bond, keeping my focus narrow, though I made sure Rik knew what I was up to.

She laughed in my mind, her magic sparkling like starlight through our bond. :Without question.:

:Tighten your thighs and stay deep in the saddle. I’ll take care of you.:

I pivoted on my rear left hoof, shoving both twins out of my way, and more importantly, away from our queen. I did it quickly, but so smoothly that she didn’t have a problem keeping her seat.

Clear of the twins, I started an old dressage drill I’d used as a young stud to warm up. Back before Desideria had gotten her claws into me. When I’d been young and idealistic. When I hadn’t known how heavy my honor would weigh upon me.

I trotted slowly in a large circle, neck arched, picking up each hoof like the ground was hot lava, but so smoothly that she never once lost contact with the saddle. She had no need to post or rise up in the stirrups. Then to really show off, I changed leads, back and forth, giving her a good rocking motion in the saddle, before I leaped, all four hooves leaving the ground. I landed so softly she didn’t even jar her teeth.

Rik, Daire, and Ezra rode after us while the twins scrambled to get on their mounts and follow. Mehen and Nevarre circled in the air above us. Xin was his ghostly wolf, and though my eyes couldn’t see him, my hell horse was fully aware of a predator quietly scouting ahead. I could smell him, even if I couldn’t see him without our queen’s bond to point the way.

I settled into a gentle canter, though I couldn’t resist putting just enough bounce in my gait to make sure her pelvis rocked up against the saddle. I circled around the waiting riders, Xochitl and her father on their mounts. The child laughed and clapped her hands. “You were teasing me. You don’t need help learning how to ride.”

Shara laughed ruefully as I settled into a walk beside them. “If this was any other horse, I would have fallen off in the first five minutes. Where are we going, Xochitl?”

“Papa said I could show you where the Fire Ceremony will be tonight.”

I drew to a halt and snorted. I could feel the outer boundary of the nest shimmering a pace ahead.

Our queen felt it too, and though she said nothing, I felt her immediate anxiety. She’d been hunted all her life and had only recently learned of the safety to be found in a nest. Rik rode closer on our left, his knee brushing my shoulder, while Daire and Ezra rode ahead to be sure it was safe. In broad daylight, there shouldn’t be any thralls about, and if Keisha Skye was half as smart as everyone thought she was, she’d wait to attack Shara on her own turf in New York City, not in another queen’s territory. Keisha couldn’t know how strong our queen was, let alone after taking her first sib.

I stepped across the invisible barrier and she shivered, though she kept her voice light. “What’s a Fire Ceremony?”

“We turn out all the lights at home and pile up big bonfires, but we don’t light them right away. There’s drums and dancing and singing, and I get to stay up all night.” She scowled. “If I can make it. I will this year.”

“I’m sure you will, butterfly.” Tepeyollotl’s voice rolled with thunder, even though he spoke to his daughter with a smile. He rode a black stallion almost as large as me, without a single rein or stirrup to control the animal. Evidently ancient Aztec gods had no need for something as trivial as tack. I had a feeling that he’d stride into war the same way: no weapon, no shield, just his formidable presence. The air around him was thick and heavy with danger, like any moment, a hurricane would explode out of him and devastate everything in his path.

“Tell her about the ceremony, Papa. What it means.”

“In the old days, we held the ceremony at the end of the fifty-two-year cycle with the hope that life would continue. All the fires were put out throughout the villages, and the priests waited for the signs to confirm the sun would rise again and life would continue. Zaniyah started the tradition of having the ceremony on the modern calendar’s New Year’s Eve. The intent is the same. Starting a new year, a new appreciation for life, our gifts of fire and sunlight and the promise of spring.”

“And death,” the little girl added. “Sacrifice.”

“We don’t sacrifice any longer, butterfly.”

“But you used to.”

He nodded and looked over at my queen, a wry smile softening the harsh planes of his face. “Our queens make the necessary sacrifice for us now.”

Shara’s thought echoed in all our bonds. :It always comes back to blood.:

Her bond tightened, not with fear, exactly, but preparation and grim acceptance. She would do whatever was needed to protect us all, without hesitation, though she didn’t look forward to whatever trial she would face. None of us did. In fact, a giant ball of dread settled in my stomach at the memory of what she’d gone through the last time the goddesses desired a sacrifice of her.

She didn’t want to suffer agony again, like when she’d grown the grove in her own nest.

When she’d died.

Shara

The burn of thorns in my flesh flashed through my memory. I didn’t want to die on a heart tree again. Though if the goddesses wanted to grow a grove for House Zaniyah…

I would do whatever they required of me.

Xin’s silent, still bond suddenly sharpened in my mind. :There’s something watching from the clump of trees by the grotto. I’ll investigate.:

Nevarre let out a loud caw and circled lower, but even his sharp eyes couldn’t see whatever Xin had sensed.

:I can blast the entire area with fire,: Mehen offered, his dragon eager to lay devastation on the land.

:No,: I told him firmly. :It could be someone bathing who merely wants their privacy. I won’t have anyone harmed accidentally.:

:They have no scent,: Xin whispered as his wolf ghosted through the trees. :They’re almost as invisible as I am.:

Rik didn’t hesitate. :Shift. Be ready.:

Daire leaped down off his borrowed horse, shifting before he hit the ground. Rik shifted into his rock troll, and his terrified horse ran away as he took up position in front of us. Guillaume braced beneath me like he was ready to leap into war or run hard in the opposite direction to get me as far away from danger as quickly as possible. Ezra’s mighty bear and Daire’s warcat both took up defensive positions in front of me, and Tlacel’s feathered dragon surged up into the sky to join the dragon and raven on the hunt. Itztli stayed on my right to guard our flank.

Their concern for my safety made me warm and gooey on the inside… but also irritated me. I had already escaped living skeletons and survived several attempts by other queens to ensnare me, not to mention breaking the geas on Mayte’s nest. Surely—

:I have no doubt whatsoever in your ability and power to save us all,: Rik rumbled through me, an avalanche of crashing boulders. :But I won’t see you unnecessarily harmed or taxed either.:

The bushes rustled at the edge of the grotto, and a dark shape suddenly burst from the undergrowth. A dog. They were worried about a dog. The poor thing looked rather thin and scrawny, dirty and black with soot. Though it was rather large. Almost as big as Xochitl’s pony.

Xin raced after the poor creature, his teeth bared in a snarl. :It has no scent. It’s not a normal dog.:

I glanced over at Itztli, my own giant black dog. “A Blood like you?”

“He’s not my queen’s,” Tepeyollotl said. “Nor is he part of her nest. I don’t recognize him.”

Itztli’s nose tipped up into the air, his mouth slightly parted. :No, my queen. Not like me. He’s not Blood. He’s…: He glanced over at his niece’s father. :He’s more like Tepeyollotl.:

“A god? An Aztec god?”

Tepeyollotl snagged his daughter’s reins and started back toward the nest boundary. “None that I recognize. I suggest you allow your Blood to dispose of it to be safe, my queen.”

Itztli ran forward to help Xin capture the intruder. They were both mighty Blood in their own right, and powerful predators. But the other dog kept eluding them. Easily. Almost as if—

I whirled in the saddle to make sure Tepeyollotl was successful at getting the child back to safety.

The world disappeared in an intensely painful blaze of light. Tears dripped down my cheeks. My eyeballs felt scalded, my retinas seared. Only one person… god… had been able to do that before. :Ra!:

I heard the wings, though I couldn’t see anything. Rik folded his arms around me, scrunching me down against Guillaume’s withers. :He’s not here for me. He’s here for Xochitl!:

I felt Xin’s pain before I heard his yelp. I tasted blood in Itztli’s mouth as he crunched mighty jaws down on the intruder, dragging him off my wolf. Nevarre tumbled crazily toward the ground, stunned by the blaze of light. Mehen and Tlacel had been higher and out of harm’s way, but my raven…

:I have him, my queen,: Tlacel swooped down and caught Nevarre before he could crash into the ground.

I pushed up against Rik and he let me straighten, though he kept his stone body against me. I blinked away the streaming tears and searched for Xochitl. Her white pony lay lifeless on the ground. Her father’s mount struggled and flopped helplessly, at least one leg broken. The mighty god of jaguars had indeed shifted into his huge beast. But he could only stand there and roar with frustration as a large golden eagle carried his daughter kicking and screaming higher into the sky.

Away from the nest. Away from her queen mother.

Mayte screamed so loudly in the bond that I winced. All her Blood raced toward us, but they were jaguars too. They’d never be able to catch a bird of prey.

Mehen dived at the giant bird, trying to turn it back. He didn’t dare blast it with fire, for fear of hurting the child. The huge bird knew it, too, and screeched out its own warning. It was so big… With one twist of its mighty talons, it could tear the little girl apart, or disembowel her. We were helpless, forced to stand and watch as they flew away.

Helpless, my ass.

I used Rik’s shoulders to steady myself as I climbed to my feet on top of Guillaume’s broad back. I spread my arms open wide and closed my eyes.

The goddesses had given me a new shape—with wings—for a reason.

It was time for the winged jaguar to prove itself useful.