Mehen huffed a plume of smoke through our bonds.:Which makes him almost as old and crusty as the general.:
:Not even close, motherfucker.:Unbothered, Sekh only laughed.:I was ancient when Sun Tzu was still a gleam in his mother’s eye.:
40
GUILLAUME
The remaining Sunna Blood stared at me expectantly. Almost as if they were awaiting their orders.
Not from me. Surely not.
It’d been a long fucking time since I’d dealt with soldiers instead of Blood, but that’s exactly how they looked at me. As if I was part of their chain of command—or at least someone who’d explain the chain of command to them.
I’m not their fucking alpha.
The longer we silently stared at each other, the more I was afraid they didn’t even know what having an alpha meant. Usually my name alone was enough to strike terror in the heart of any Aima warrior. “Since my queen asked me to make introductions, I’m Guillaume de Payne Isador.”
The seven Sunna Blood didn’t move a muscle or blink an eyelid. Fucking great. Either they didn’t know me at all, or they simply didn’t care. The dragon stayed in the sky as ordered, but I introduced the rest of our Blood by name. Though when I pointed at Xin, the only person anyone saw was Ironheart. “You’re not Blood, so you might as well head up to the house with your friend.”
Muttering under his breath, Eivind hurried after the queens’ entourages. I couldn’t see Xin without tapping on our bond, but I had no doubt he was nipping on the wolf king’s heels.
Suppressing a smirk, I focused on Musashi. At least he was a legendary swordsman who’d created his own two-handed fighting technique. “Could you introduce the rest of your men?”
Arms crossed before him, he lightly touched the wrapped hilts of his swords. A threat? Or a nervous tick? I didn’t know him well enough to be able to tell. “Perhaps it would be best for each man to give his own name. You may call me Musashi.”
“Kuros.” At least the haughty king didn’t give his full title again. “This is Chak Ek’. He doesn’t speak.”
Itztli and Tlacel stepped forward, short knives in their right hands. Pressing the blades to their chests, they bowed to him. “When the Great Star shines in the sky before dawn, it’s a good time to go to war,” Itztli said. “House Zaniyah is honored to stand with you.”
Chak Ek’ bowed, and Kuros spoke for him. “He asks what Zaniyah means.”
“We were born to House Zaniyah near Mexico City, formerly known as Tenochtitlan,” Tlacel said. “Our mother’s line is descended from Coatlicue, Mother of the Gods, and our sister is descended from Huitzilopochtli.”
The Sunna Blood looked at each other, no doubt conversing through their bonds.
Mentally, I sighed, but I didn’t allow my face to betray any impatience. “All Aima are descended from a goddess, who in turn is a daughter of the Mother of All. We trace our lineage through our birth house’s goddess until we’re Blooded to our own queen.”
Musashi’s eyebrows rose. “You were a Templar knight. Is that not how you were selected to be Blood?”
“I served many centuries as a knight, yes, but most of myfellow Blood weren’t soldiers. They didn’t fight in any human wars.”
Kuros scoffed, shaking his head. “Then how could your queen possibly determine if you were worthy to serve?”
Oh boy. Even mild mannered Tlacel narrowed a hard look on the idiot. “Only the most worthy are called by their queen to be her Blood. We didn’t need to fight in a human skirmish to prove our willingness to die in her defense.”
Itztli merely examined the edge of his obsidian blade, lightly running his thumb over the paper-thin, nearly transparent edge of volcanic glass. As if hoping he might knick himself—so he could start a fight.
Vivian let out a disgusted growl. “You think serving as one of Ra’s motherfucking henchmen in Heliopolis made you worthy? Fuck Ra and fuck you too.”
Even Mehen—who’d hated the thought of serving as Blood—swept low overhead, an ominous shadow of death and menace.:Let me blast them with dragon fire and see how quickly they figure out what it means to be Blood.:
Kuros shook his head at Chak Ek’. “She doesn’t mean literally fucking our mothers. It’s a modern curse word.”
I held up my hands soothingly, though I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Let’s return to the matter at hand and finish the introductions. Then I think we should have an in-depth discussion of what being Blood entails.”
The tallest Sunna Blood stepped closer, gliding with the effortless, loose-jointed prowl of a predator. “I’m Vlad of Wallachia, better known as the Impaler.”
He offered his hand, staring me down as steadily as Musashi had earlier. I gripped his fingers exactly as hard as he gripped mine. Nothing more, nothing less, letting nothing flicker in my eyes. No challenge. No promise. No boasting. I didn’t need to bother, and neither did he.
