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Her head tipped. :You need weight.:

I nodded. :That’s why we’re bringing the dragon⁠—:

:No, I mean, your power. You need a counterweight. Use us all. Pull on every sibling you’ve got. Let us help hold you.:

:I’ll Call on all my ancestors,: Leonie said. :Use the long weight of your Isador line as well. Every past queen all the way back to Isis and the Mother Herself.:

Which sparked an idea. :The Triune.:

Carys nodded vigorously. :If you have a way to do it, pull them to the table. Every queen who can respond. The weight of their power will help hold you to this dimension.:

I touched Okeanos’ bond. :Please contact Undina and ask her to go to the Skolos table. Urgently. We have a Screaming Madness issue. If she can, call Nuri too. I need them ready to help pull me back.:

:Done, my queen,: he responded immediately. :She’s going now.:

I couldn’t help but sigh. I never thought I’d miss having Marne Ceresa around… But adding the main Triune table’s weight and power would be helpful right now. Instead, all three chairs lay empty.

I’ll have to do it with the queens who are still alive.

And will respond to my Call.

60

SHARA

Isat on the cold, barren stone, my legs folded in front of me, hands clasped loosely in my lap. Eyes closed, I sank within myself, slipping like a small stone through still, deep waters. Seeking the Mother.

The carved, circular room of Triskeles firmed around me. Surrounded by a gigantic living tree with thick roots I could feel arching into rich, fertile soil. Watered by the wellspring of the Mother’s eternal love for all Her creations. Overhead, the branches parted enough to show the gleaming crescent of a moon, silvery white against the infinite velvet midnight sprinkled with diamonds.

Despite the ancient earthy scent of the tree, I could also smell the blowing sands of the desert. Night-blooming sweet jasmine and blue lotus. Fragrant smoke burning on the altar.

Hands settled on my shoulders, and I knew them without needing my eyes to see. Selena and Esetta both at my back. Queen Tiye with a hand on each of her daughters’ shoulders. I felt each queen, each ancestor, the weight of her hand pressing on me. A solid, comforting weight. They had fought to live long enough to continue the Isador line. Century after century. So I could sit here. Now.

The last of Isis’ Seven Scorpions.

All the way back to Tefen, who carried all the poison of her sisters.

Lastly, the solid weight of the Great One, She Who Is and Was and Always Will be. The might of Her pyramid settled on my shoulders.

No dread threat could sway me now.

Mixing with the incense, I smelled myrrh and burning cinnamon. Spicy, fragrant berries like pops of bright flares. Iron hot from the forge. Sandstone etched by eons of wind and storm and blazing sun. Furs and scales and feathers. I heard the whispering glide of steel and jingling chainmail. War horses pawing the ground, blowing great plumes of foggy breath, eager to charge into battle. Waves of blood rolling in from the sea. Fresh salty air and the glorious shade of the Deep Blue.

Which pulled the Triskeles room closer to the Skolos underwater table. Blurring the edges of wooden bark with clear crystal and delicate pink coral. Though the circular table in the center of the room still looked like dark, ancient wood instead of glowing with jellyfish bioluminescence.

In the center of the table, the Mother’s figurine looked back at me. Smooth, polished dark wood gleamed beneath the soft moonlight. The three spirals carved on Her abundant stomach flowed and spun like galaxies spinning through the universe. Flowing together but separate. United but individual. Just like Her tables.

The Isador ankh inside a triangle marked my chair. The other two seats at Triskeles remained empty. Though I could feel Undina and Nuri taking their seats at the Skolos table. The silent, heavy pull to join them tugged like Rik’s rock troll fist in my gut. In my mind, I rose and moved to the table.

With a deep, centering breath, I sat in my chair at Triskeles’ table for the first time. “I willingly take my seat at the Triskeles Triune and offer my blood to the Mother.”

I touched the edge of the table, looking for a sharpened spot to make my sacrifice, but my nails immediately sank into the wood as if it were clay. I gripped the edge harder, allowing my nails to sink deeper. Like straws, they worked both ways, sucking my blood to suddenly flow away. Into the table.

The instant dip in my own energy made the pit of my stomach pitch. The room wavered, bringing the two tables together. Undina. Nuri. Shara. United once more. Even though we were physically not together.

We are one. We are complete. We are whole.

We know everything Shara knows. The puddle of black essence that flowed out of Tanza. The sounds of her shrieks make us flinch, even with the Eleusinian Mysteries flowing around us. Our powers are our powers. Our siblings are our siblings. Our secrets…