Gina had pictures of a grand old-world mansion on the television. Three stories of well-aged ivory stone and meticulous gardens on the edge of a larger park offered some privacy, though I could see buildings on either side. She swiped to another picture of a walled courtyard with a bubbling fountain. A statue of a smiling, beautiful woman stood over the edge, pouring water from her jug into a shallow pool tiled in lapis lazuli.
“Perfect.”
Gina and Kevin both sat on the sofa, while Leonie sat in a smaller chair angled toward me, though she could still see thescreen as well. Her new Blood stood at her back, outwardly calm and steady. But he grasped his queen’s fingers tightly. I wasn’t sure if he was just nervous—or if he had concerns about his queen’s involvement. Hopefully he wasn’t second guessing his decision to answer her Call.
I could ask her… But I didn’t want to interfere in any way with her relationship with her own Blood. That was her business. Not mine.
To hopefully put them both at ease, I explained why the water feature was needed. “Just like the tree portal, we can travel through any body of water, as long as I have a picture in my mind of where we’re going.”
“That’s how you traveled so quickly to Mykonos and back,” Leonie said.
“Exactly. Plus I had a little extra help because Okeanos’ mother was also there, and we were able to pull ourselves to her. There’s also a fountain outside of House Valois.”
Gina clicked a few times and brought up the same image I’d seen in Sekh’s mind when he Saw Vaughn and Mallac reporting to Rosalind.
“Do we know if the fountain is inside or outside the blood circle?”
“Outside,” Lew said. “Unless Rosalind changed it since we last visited.”
“Perfect. We’ll all travel quietly to the Isador house using the pool. Likely tonight so we arrive before dawn in Paris. I can grab Magnum and Carys if they join us in the pool.”
Gina nodded. “She’ll need a five-to-ten-minute window but she’s ready.”
Now for the part no one would like. Especially Rik. I could already feel the granite sliding beneath his skin.
“Only four of us will be going to House Valois,” I said softly. “House Isador will not be invited.”
“I guess I’m not following.” Kevin cast a sheepish glance overat Gina. “Why do you need us all to go if we’re not actually going?”
“First, let me ask a different question. Have we given the Triune formal notice that Leonie is now my sibling?”
“No,” Gina replied. “Nothing has been outlined in contracts yet, and there’s the matter of…” Her words trailed off, her eyes flaring. Then her lips quirked. “Well done, my queen.”
“So as far as House Valois and the Triune are concerned, House Delafosse is still a Valois sibling.”
Leonie stared at me, her eyes shining brighter and larger with every passing second. “That’s how we get in. As a House Valois sibling paying homage to her queen after a long absence. But what about you, my queen?”
My lips twisted with distaste. “If I go as myself, then right off the bat, they’re on the defensive. They know I’m on to their game. They can simply refuse me access to the blood circle, and short of tearing it down?—”
I paused, and on queue, Sekh growled out, “Which I absolutely can fucking do.”
“I can’t get inside to deal with either queen without wrecking the nest. Which I do plan to do, by the way, but on my own terms. Plus, I want to catch them in the act, so to speak. I want them to sweat. I want them agonizing about how much I know, and what the fuck I’m going to do to them.”
“In other words, you want them shitting their britches and wishing they’d brought extras,” Ezra said.
Laughing, I nodded. “Exactly. So if Itztli is willing to make a short run for me...”
He stepped forward immediately, hand over his heart, and bowed. “I’m ready, my queen.”
“Go back to New Orleans to the cabinet of the Dauphine’s curiosities and get me Queen Isabelle’s trophies.”
He whirled, already shifting into his dog, leaving his shredded clothes on the floor.:I’m on my way, my queen.:
I looked at Guillaume and he immediately stepped closer and dropped down to one knee. “Queen Isabelle and her knight will accompany the long-lost Valois sibling into the nest.”
“But Queen Isabelle died in 1988,” Kevin said quickly.
“I don’t think it’ll matter,” I replied. “Remember what you said before we went to free Basilia,” I said with a nod to G. “No one would expect me to be able to heal such injuries, let alone be willing to restore her. It’s the same for Leonie.”
