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“Did my mother love all of you?”
“She did, some more than others, but aye, love us she did.”
“She loved her monsters,” she murmured with a slight nod. “Will it be a problem for you to be with me now?”
I tried to control my facial expression, though from the consternation flickering across her face, I must have failed at hiding my confusion. “There will be no problems from me, Your Majesty.”
“I only take Blood that I love.” The muscle across her delicate jaw flexed. “I just wish I’d been able to save the others too.”
Pain sliced through me at all we’d lost. “You would have loved them, Your Majesty, the same as your mother.”
“I’m so sorry, Gerard. I wish I’d known you were in Rome when Marne Ceresa called me to her court.”
Guilt shredded my heart as if Lew’s fierce gryphon reached into my chest with his talons and squeezed. “It was agony to know you would be inside her court alone—” Rik made a low warning rumble, forcing me to amend what I’d been trying to say. “Not alone, of course, but we’d been sent to Rome so you’d have inside assistance. Yet the queen of Rome had us moved to another manor outside of her primary court to prevent us from signaling you or Lew in any way. I think she feared your mother’s blood might somehow alert him or you to our presence if we were too close.”
Shara nodded. “I did feel you approaching in House Valois, though not until you were twenty or so feet away.”
She stepped into the next room and inhaled sharply, looking about her with wonder.
It’d been decades since I’d last stood in my former queen’s bedchamber.
Floor-to-ceiling windows let in plenty of natural light and air when opened, though they could also be completely shuttered, turning the room into a snug, dark cave for the queen’s deep rest. The walls and furnishings looked like the inside of an ancient pyramid’s temple with sumptuous white, gold, and blood-red silk coverings on the bed and windows. A thick soft black rug cushioned the area around the massive bed framed by Egyptian columns at each corner. Diaphanous white cloth draped the columns and hung over the bed, pulled aside like curtains by gold cords.
Travertine tiles covered the walls and floor, inlaid with golden ankhs, turquoise scarabs, and red tyets, the knot of Isis. The high ceiling was inlaid with swirling mosaics in Egyptian turquoise and lapis lazuli.
“Goddess,” Shara breathed out with wonder. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. Not even the Park Avenue house has such a beautiful bedroom.”
“Palais de Isador was commissioned by your grandmother, Queen Tiye,” Khalid said. “Built to pass on to her daughters after they stepped into power.”
“Where was her primary nest?”
“Aswan, Egypt.”
“I’ll have to ask Gina if it’s still there. I’d love to see where my mothers grew up.”
Khalid glanced at me, his face echoing the same sentiment. Sadness. Regret. Realization. Our young queen knew so very little about her family’s history. “I’m terribly sorry, Your Majesty, but the nest in Aswan is no more.”
“What? Why?”
“The Great One’s daughters have always been the primary target of Set, Lord of the Red Land and Protector of Ra. Isador is the last House descended from the Seven Scorpions, finally driven out of Egypt with the death of Queen Tiye.”
Her shoulders sank, her mood deflating with disappointment. “I guess I need to ask Gina for the legacy again. There’s a journal inside with the entire history, but I’ve only glanced through it to glean the nuggets I needed to defeat Ra. Is Set still a problem?”
“Like the rain come thrashin’ down in spring,” I muttered. The alpha gave me a mental punch in the bond that jolted me with surprise. :I speak only truth, alpha.:
:I’m not telling you to lie,: Rik growled in his deep rumble. :But you don’t have to upset her, either. She just came off the battlefield, which she’s faced one after the other since the very first day she Called me to her side.:
Letting out a soft sigh, Shara lay her head against the big man’s chest. “I suppose you’re going to tell me he also wants me dead.”
“Not on our watch,” Khalid said. “We kept the last daughters of Isis safe for hundreds of years. Though I would recommend we avoid Egypt if possible. For the most part, Set stays to the sands of the homeland.”
“I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t stay long in Cairo.”
My jaws ached from holding back a dozen questions—accusations—especially for Lew. As our former alpha, he knew well indeed the dangers inherent in spending time in the Red Lands.
:She had enough on her plate to worry about then,: Lew said. :I had my orders.:
Her head lifted, her eyes narrowed. She gave a hard enough tug on his bond that even I felt it. “We’re going to have a discussion. Now.”
