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But the movement came from my right as one queen stood on the opposite end of the chairs.
Kevin quickly said, “I beg your pardon, Your Majesty, but Queen Shara ordered us to resolve these contract negotiations as soon as possible.”
She gave an elegant, dismissive shrug. “Frankly, I’m not interested in acquiring a tumbled down ruin on the coast of Ireland, and I’ve already taken more sibs beneath my house than any of the others. I feel as though I’ve done more than enough for Isador.”
“I see,” Gina said coolly. “I’m pulling up House Chenoweth’s contract now so I can nullify your sibling agreement immediately.”
The queen paled and sat back down so quickly she nearly slipped off the seat and to the floor. Her alpha caught and steadied her. “That’s not necessary.”
Gina lifted her gaze from her laptop screen. “Her Majesty’s orders to us were very clear, Deidre. Perhaps you heard how Queen Shara resolved the Valois debacle and hoped to make your escape before she returned to the tower to examine your intentions more closely.”
I ignored the queen’s frantic babbling protestations of innocence, shifting my focus back to the one who’d spoken to her alpha. “As in Rome” could mean a great many things. Though if it was meant to be a command or codeword, why speak it aloud where another queen might overhear?
Unless she meant for the queen beside her to overhear.
Though some petty squabbling wasn’t enough to justify killing any of them. Yet.
Several people on the opposite end of the room rose from their seats at the conference table. I didn’t look up from the queens, though I gave a nudge to Khalid that some people were on the move.
“Anyone who leaves this room while we resolve these negotiations will immediately have their sibling contract with House Isador revoked,” Kevin said.
They only hurried quicker toward the door.
:The hallway’s full of sibs,: Khalid said. :They’re on the move like rats fleeing the Titanic.:
:Let them go,: Rik said. :No sense in killing sibs as long as they’re simply leaving the tower. G will handle them if they come to the basement. Xin, your order still stands.:
:Understood,: I replied.
“I can’t be held responsible for sibs wishing to leave,” Deidre said. “Even ones associated with my house. I never required them to swear to stay indefinitely.”
Typing rapidly, Gina didn’t even look up. “You’re right, of course. Sibs can come and go as they wish unless their queen has made other stipulations. But anyone holding Queen Shara’s blood is held to a higher standard. She commands you to stay in this room until further notice.”
The queen who might have overheard the other’s whispered words sniffed loudly, drawing everyone’s attention to herself. “If anyone had asked my opinion, I could have told you Janelle was a poor choice to take on a leadership role.”
“That’s very interesting, Laura,” Gina said. “I’ll make a note for Queen Shara that you withheld information—”
“She did!” Deidre nodded vigorously. “She told me numerous times that Janelle was not to be trusted. Not after what she did with Keisha.”
“That’s a lie,” Laura retorted. “Besides, if you want to bring up things done in the dark beneath Keisha Skye’s reign, you’ll have some explaining to do yourself.”
Under cover of the rising voices, the first queen’s alpha quietly filled his palm with a blade.
I lunged up to grab his queen by the throat and dragged her out of her chair. Away from him. Blood filled my mouth, but it wasn’t Shara’s, so I didn’t swallow a single drop as I ripped the queen’s throat out before her alpha even noticed. He was too focused on whatever command she’d given him, moving not toward Gina as I feared but a queen seated in the middle of the arc.
Beside the now empty chair, Laura screamed and leaped to her feet. I slashed her throat with a swipe of my claws as I slipped around her chair. Her alpha swept her up into his arms. “ALARM! We’re under attack!”
A few other Blood rushed to his side. They surrounded her, bristling with swords. One even wielded a gun. The other queen who’d been arguing clung to her alpha’s neck as he barreled toward the door. I leaped onto his back, cracked his spine with a vicious crunching bite on his nape, and then grabbed his queen’s arm in my jaws and dragged her free of his falling body.
“Wait!” Deidre screeched. “I’ll tell everything I know!”
Though her words ended in a gurgle. I have my orders.
The Blood fired off a few random gunshots. One lucky shot caught my hind leg, high in the hip, not enough to slow me down though now they had a blood trail to help them spot my location. I blurred faster, tearing through Blood like tissue paper. Pale and gasping with pain, their queen wrapped herself in a shield that sent me flying backward as soon as I touched it.
Shaking out my slightly scorched fur, I climbed to my feet, a little dazed but not injured by the blast. A black shadow slipped into the room. Khalid’s jackal.
I crouched and snarled loudly, drawing the alpha’s focus. So Khalid could take him from behind. Without any of her Blood to sustain her, Laura quickly weakened. The shield wavered.
