“It could be nice to have something handy in case we’re ever in another situation like Rome, where I can’t use my blood to protect us.”
My eyes widened. “It sounds like you’ve had several interesting run-ins with the queen of Rome.”
Shara’s lips quirked. “You could say that. Right now, she’s terrified she’s next.”
“Speaking of which, I did hear from Byrnes again today,” Gina said. “He was much more like his civil—which is to say, pompous—self.”
“What did he want?”
“I’m honestly not even sure. He kept hinting around in a vague manner as if I would immediately understand, but I have no idea what he needed. I asked Kevin about it and he didn’t know either.”
“Hmm, what did he say?”
“His queen and Rosalind Valois exchanged more Blood to promote collaboration among their Houses. Why we needed to know, I have no idea, especially since he said it happened over a month ago. Unless he might be hinting that she wanted to exchange a Blood with you too? Though you made it very clear when we were in Rome that you weren’t interested in such an exchange.”
Shara grimaced, shaking her head. “Absolutely not. I refuse to allow a single drop of her blood to enter my nest.”
One of the other Blood—I couldn’t remember his name—stuck his head into the room. “What about the other Isador Blood in their courts?”
“My mother sent two of her Blood to House Valois and five to House Ceresa before she dissolved their bonds,” Shara explained to me. “Lew is my mother’s former alpha.” Then shecalled back to him, “I have a plan for them, Lew. They’re coming home with us.”
He didn’t question her—a testament to his trust in his young queen, despite serving his mother before her. “Where did Esetta send him?”
Shara’s jaw tightened. “House Skye.”
“Ah.” I didn’t have to ask another question to know any alpha had not fared well in Keisha Skye’s court. Let alone a former Isador Blood.
“Did you know my mother? Or did you only know her name?”
“Mostly I saw her from a distance, but she was always cordial. We were both invited to Keisha’s annual Christmas Ball, even before she started construction on Skye Tower. Though she never hesitated to brag about how tall and impressive the skyscraper would be. I think she meant to intimidate us with a bold, grand display of power, but Esetta could never be intimidated, let alone by her.”
Lew came closer to the doorway. “You’re absolutely correct, Your Majesty. Esetta refused to participate in Keisha’s not-so-subtle fuck-you competition. That’s why she built the Isador House nearby—seemingly in the shadows of the tower. Not as grand. Not as formidable, on the outside, at least. But I guarantee Keisha Skye never dared step foot inside our court.”
The ghostly whispers increased in my head, mostly murmurs too low for me to understand without fully welcoming them to speak through me. But I caught the gist. “Oh. Keisha and Tanza are both dead. I didn’t know.”
Shara’s lovely face smoothed into a grim, hard look so like her mother’s formidable visage that I could only stare, fighting the urge to slip to my knees and swear fealty again. “She tried to take my Blood from me, so she was the first queen I killed.”
17
SHARA
It wasn’t exactly a light and cheery discussion while we ate, but I filled Leonie in on all the crazy shit that had gone down in my life so far. From Rik and Daire finding me and taking me to Kansas City and Gina, where Guillaume and Xin came to me. Ra’s attack. Establishing this nest only for Keisha to attack us again. Going to Mexico to meet Mayte only to find Keisha’s geas on her blood circle.
The subsequent trip to New York City to deal with Keisha’s blood claim since I’d taken three former Skye Blood as my own.
I’m sure I missed a few details—especially the Marne challenge in Rome—but I couldn’t tell herallthe shit we’d done, or I’d be sitting here all night. While the food was delicious and took the edge off my hunger, I needed to feed. Deep. Long. And probably bloody as hell.
Leonie looked up through her lashes, her gaze sultry, hearing every single one of my thoughts in the bond.:I’m yours to use however you wish, my queen.:
:If I feed only on you as long as I need, you might not survive.:She started to shrug, but I laid my hand over hers.:I drained Keisha Skye to death. I won’t risk you, Leonie, especially after losing theability to bring you back. Maintaining my reserves has been a challenge from day one, and healing you tapped them hard. I’ll likely need to work my way through all my Blood tonight before I’ll be comfortable feeding on you again without fearing I might drain you too much.:
Her head tipped to the side, her eyes searching mine. Then widening as I allowed her to delve into some of my most intimate memories.:Your power is immense, my queen. Of course you need to feed deep and well. I will eagerly await your call to come to you when you’re ready.:
“I think we’re ready to retire for the evening,” I said out loud. “Gwen mentioned wanting to have a conversation shortly. I’m guessing she may wish to leave the tower again to find another Blood, so we may want to talk about who can step into that role while she’s gone.”
“I too would like to have some of your time for business discussions,” Gina replied. “We really need a couple more consiliari to help us get through the onslaught of transferring all of the Dauphine’s worldly possessions to House Isador through formal channels.”
Knowing Gina, she already had a list of candidates prepared—but we still needed to talk things through. “I’m thinking about heading to Mykonos tomorrow, which is awfully close to Rome. Should we give a heads up through formal channels so the queen of Rome doesn’t leap to any assumptions?”
