Page 46 of Queens Will Play

A second later, his voice blasted through my mind.

Camille! Where are you? We’re looking for you.

I’m in a cave—I don’t know where but I’m stuck on the ground with some sort of webbing. I’m still on the astral, as far as I can tell.

Keep talking, it helps me focus on your energy, he said.

So I kept talking. So far they haven’t seemed to hurt me more than before. I am hurt, though. The venom is terribly painful and I think it’s paralyzed me. I can’t seem to move anything.

And, because I didn’t know what else to say, I began to ramble.

I’m so sorry about Aeval. I won’t give up my friendship with you, not even with her threatening me. She’s in the wrong. You have a right to see your daughter. I never pegged you for the fatherly-type, but apparently I was wrong. Thank you, for caring about Lahi. She loves you, you know.

I know, he thought back. Thank you for having my back on this. Aeval—it could have been a match, but I guess class outweighs everything to some people.

She’s afraid of Desanguas—that much I can tell you. That’s why she wants someone on the throne beside her. Remember, she and Titania were dethroned once before, and Titania was cast out while Aeval was imprisoned. Basically, the equivalent of being frozen in Carbonite.

Carbo—oh, that’s right. You’re a sci-fi geek. I always seem to forget that about you. Smart and sexy…

We’d better not go any farther along that route, dude.

Vanzir was a natural flirt, and charming as hell. And even though he didn’t mean anything by it, I didn’t want to chance anything untoward happening…not again. Smoky’s temper was no better than it had been before, and there were other topics we could cover.

So, how do you think you’ll like living with Roz again?

Good enough. I guess we were all fated to come together as a unit. After a little while, he said, You’re signal is getting stronger. Send me a loud thought—very loud.

I had no clue how long we’d been talking—out on the astral it could be minutes or days—but I shouted at him as loud as I could in my mind.

Geez woman, my ears…but good. Okay, stay right there—I think we’re heading to you. We’ve found the opening to a cavern.

I was about to respond when my stomach cramped again and, instead, I let out a scream and opened my eyes, breaking contact with Vanzir. There, above me, hovered one of the creatures. It had plastered one of its suction cups to my waist and I could feel it draining energy.

I tried to fight back, tried to conjure up a spell, but the pain was so intense that I couldn’t think. It wasn’t like Marion not being able to breathe, but—like her—I couldn’t move, couldn’t break free from it. I tried to roll away but the tendrils of web holding me to the floor were too strong and I couldn’t do a thing.

As I felt like I was starting to pass out from the pain, I heard voices. I struggled to keep consciousness, hoping it wasn’t my imagination, and then I saw them—Vanzir leading everyone into the cavern. They began to fight.

I couldn’t see much from where I was at, but the creature who was siphoning energy off of me broke contact and turned. The relief was instantaneous, though I still felt exhausted from the pain. I shouted to let them know I was here and then fell silent. I didn’t want to distract them while they were fighting.

As I listened to the fight—the creatures seemed to make a weird guttural sound when they were hit, or at least I thought it was when they were hit—and a screech echoed through the cavern. It wasn’t a voice that I recognized, so I assumed it was one of the shandigoes.

Another moment and Menolly shouted, “Fucking parasite!”

“Watch out!” Morio shouted.

Anxious about what was going on, I wanted nothing more than to shout out, asking who was okay and who wasn’t, but that was a good way to get someone killed. I forced myself to keep silent. But, as I was lying there, I suddenly felt a rise in power.

Confused, I focused on it, and realized it was the energy of the Moon Mother. We must be nearing morning, and the new moon was coming on early. I grabbed for the energy—that dark, hidden shadow—and drank it in, letting it fill me to the ends of my fingers and toes. It raced through me, like slivers of dark silver, eating away at the pain, eating away at the exhaustion.

The new moon wasn’t like the Hunt, when I would jump onto the astral and go riding with the Moon Mother, but it had its own powers and strengths, and these were personal. They belonged to each priestess on her own. I coaxed as much of the Moon Mother’s energy in as I could, luring the power to seep through my blood and soul.

The Keraastar diamond began to stir. Somehow, in the past couple of years, I had connected it to my own magic with the Moon Mother, and it caught her power up, spinning it round to strengthen it.

I became aware of the bonds holding me down—I could feel my legs and hands again. And so I focused on them, ignoring the fighting going on around me as my aura began to sparkle. I absorbed my Lady’s power, whispering to her now that I could talk again.

“Moon Mother, hear me, let me use your power to strengthen me. Teach me your magic, invest in me your strength. Help me to protect myself and my friends…”

And—in a flash that felt quicksilver and brilliant—the bonds holding me down vanished in a flurry of dust, and I sat up, looking around.