I nodded. “The graves are a few miles away, so we’ll have some time to prepare. I can send them back but it’ll take time.”
Realization flickered in her gaze. “It’s your power, not the Dauphine’s.”
My jaw tightened. “She stole my powers when she took my nest.”
Shara sighed. “I’m sorry, Leonie. Is this something she could have done weeks or months ago? What would have triggered it?”
“She wouldn’t have to have come here physically. Human practitioners could do the work themselves using ritual and certain ingredients. The graves could have been marked days or weeks ago, depending on when the last rain fell, which tends to wash away the symbols that hold the magic. To activate the magic, a human practitioner would have to be fairly close unless they’re extremely strong.”
I didn’t understand the look that passed between her and the alpha. I felt sad resignation in her bond.
“One of my Blood noticed humans in the woods once we returned. I recognized one of them from Galveston. I hoped she was here because of curiosity. Something benign. But it appears as though she might have been involved.”
“I’ll be able to trace the magic back to its source once the dead are close enough.”
“I’d like to know for sure before we act.” She scooted to the edge of the bed but didn’t get up yet. The long tresses of her hair rippled and twisted like snakes, twining around themselves to form a massive ball at the base of her skull. “I guess Winston might get a chance to use his flamethrowers after all.”
SHARA
My emotions shifted backand forth like a seesaw. Anger, grief, disappointment, resignation. Even regret.
I didn’t want to have another human killed. Especially a seemingly young, beautiful woman with the rest of her life before her. She might be my age, though I felt positively ancient in comparison. A regular college student’s life versus all the shit I lived through in the same amount of years. All the attacks. Constant danger and threats. Not to mention the sheer load of carrying this power.
The weight could crush me if I let it.
As soon as Leonie left to dress, Nevarre stepped in with an outfit he’d already pulled together. Simple jeans and a comfortable T-shirt, nothing fancy. Though I laughed when I realized it said“Bad Ass”with a crown. Nice.
“Frank’s got eyes on the humans we tracked,” Nevarre said. “They’re in a small motel approximately seven miles away.Separate rooms. Our guys did some checking, and the male is scheduled to check out in the morning, but the female’s room is booked for a full week.”
Rik let out a low grumble of disgust. “So she can stay and watch her handiwork unfold.”
“I hope not.” Sighing, I leaned down to tie my shoes, though Nevarre was already working on the other foot. “She seemed so excited and… Well, pure. Not innocent and naive but charming and genuine. I know it could’ve all been an act, but damn. It definitely looks suspicious.”
Nevarre leaned in to give me a quick hug. “We’ve got eyes in the woods watching for the first sign of goules.”
“I’m just glad Leonie came home with us so they can’t catch us unaware this time. Though I’m not looking forward to the smell of burning a bunch of bodies.”
Rik came closer, even nudging the other Blood back out of my space so he could lean down and run his nose down my neck. Breathing deeply, he growled and gripped my throat in his teeth. Though he didn’t draw my blood.
Great. I was definitely going to start my period soon. As my hormones went into overdrive, so did my alpha’s. Though maybe I’d need the extra punch of power my period gave me. First a zombie attack, then I’d have to figure out who Morrigan wanted brought to justice.
Old blood. To me, that meant the oldest queens. Probably starting with Marne Ceresa.
If I had at least one more queen on Triskeles, we could call a quorum and deal with her legally. Though I wasn’t even sure what offense I could charge against her. Sure, she’d tried to kill me, but no one had ever held Desideria accountable for all the queens she’d slaughtered. I could try to convince Undina and Nuri to hold a Skolos quorum again, but I’d rather keep the little tidbit about completing their table a secret as long as possible.
The last thing I wanted to do was become a younger version of Desideria and start a new reign of terror. We needed as many of our queens to stay alive as possible.
“One battle at a time, my queen,” Nevarre said.
“Right. Let’s go see how many zombies might be headed our way.”
Of course Rik insisted on carrying me downstairs and holding me on his lap in our usual chair. The big guy would have a hard time keeping his hands off me once I started bleeding, but other than keeping me close, he was holding his shit together well so far.
“You’re up early, Your Majesty.” Winston brought me a tray with fresh, hot coffee, a croissant, and fruit. “If you’d rather have tea, I’ll put a pot on.”
“No, coffee’s great. What time is it?”
“Just before six. The sky is starting to lighten but sunrise won’t be for another thirty minutes or so.”
