1. Karmen

1

KARMEN

I thought I was okay.

I survived. I escaped. For the first time since I was a child, I was free.

My greatest torturers were dead. I'd killed Aurelian Sol Invictus and his faction of the Soldiers of Light. I'd killed Sepdet and freed the sunfires he and Ra, his father, had trapped.

Even the god of light himself was dead, killed by a Triune queen.

But I would never be free of him.

Clammy with sweat, I woke up panting and shaking, his rank smell in my nostrils. The fragrance of incense made from frankincense and myrrh would always be tainted by him. Every inch of my skin burned from the memory of his excruciating touch. His heavy grunts as he rutted on me. Droplets of sweat that turned to gold on my skin. His molten cum burning, melting my insides. Damaging me for all time, or so I feared.

My stomach churned, and I scrambled toward the edge of the bed. Heaving, I tried to empty the taste of him from my body. Clear away every trace of him.

He was dead. Yet his essence still lingered inside me.

I carried his heir. A solar queen of his royal line, inheriting the immense power he'd stolen by rape, torture, and murder from all the other solar houses.

Aima queens were dwindling in this world at an alarming rate—and not only due to his efforts at murdering us. Yet I didn't think I could deliver this heir, bearing all his power—and his hate—without losing my sanity.

Gentle hands cupped my face, wiping my mouth. A warm, steady palm moved on my back in soothing circles. My Blood. Sunzi, or more widely known as Sun Tzu, crouched beside me in the bed. His second in command, Marcus Antonius, cradled my cheek. They didn't say anything, but I read their concern, both in their furrowed brows and their bonds.

Former Soldiers of Light, they were legendary, formidable warriors resurrected by Ra to serve as his guards in Heliopolis. They had witnessed my life in that blazing hell of never-ending sun for hundreds of years. Sunzi had been the one to get me out—when he sensed the spark of life in my womb.

His jaw tightened, his eyes flashing like bared steel. "I did not smuggle you out of Heliopolis for the spark you carry, but for your very life. I knew all too well what would happen once Ra discovered he'd finally been successful."

"He would have kept you under lock and key until you delivered," Marcus said in a flat, cold tone. "Then he would have fed you to the sunfires so you couldn't interfere with his foul plans."

Ironic, since the sunfires were mine to command now. Born in the volatile energy of a collapsing star, they burned with otherworldly solar energy. They, too, had been trapped by Ra. Starved and drained, chained to serve against their will, they'd been corrupted and manipulated by his dark lusts for millennia. I couldn't blame them for the crimes I'd seen them commit at his command.

Yet I also couldn't forget watching them devour queens who'd fallen out of his favor. Especially my mother.

What a complicated snarl of regret, guilt, shame, and power I now hold.

Thankfully, the nightmare was already fading—leaving only fragments and flashes to torment me. Mostly his smell and the burn of his touch, as if ghostly flaming fingers of gold still gripped my bare skin. Weary despite sleeping at least for a while, I pushed upright and scooted back to lean against the pillows. Sunzi shifted to sit before me, legs criss-crossed, hands folded in his lap. Present—but also reserved and careful. Never touching me more than necessary or what I specifically asked for. Fully dressed. Even in my bed.

This place didn't exist anywhere in the world. My childhood home had been destroyed hundreds of years ago when I'd been taken captive. Yet here, in my place of power, it existed once more. Everything here existed because I willed it to be so. I could wish a golden gown so heavy with gems and crystals that I wouldn't be able to move, and it would appear on my body in a heartbeat. Or I could strip us bare naked with a thought.

They could be fully mine. As they wished to be. As I wished them to be.

I'd only been a true Aima queen for what felt like minutes. Time didn't pass the same way here, separated from the rest of the world in a different dimension. I couldn't count the number of days I might have been outside of Heliopolis. I'd awoken in the hospital what seemed like two or three nights ago. I'd slept a few hours the first day in a hotel room with the wolf king who'd driven me out of Chicago. Then a few hours with his sister, Helayna, in her nest in Minnesota. The sundogs had come with the dawn.

I hadn't known that my future Blood held their leashes.

So much had changed in such a short amount of time. I'd gone from shut down and withdrawn so deeply into myself to escape Ra's torment that I appeared as dead—to claiming ten of the former Soldiers of Light as my Blood. When I'd never even heard words like Blood, Aima, or queen in my very long captivity. I'd only seen glimpses of how a queen interacted with her Blood these past few days through Helayna and Shara, the Triune queen who'd come to save the Ironheart nest.

I'd never fed before. I hadn't even known I had fangs.

I'd never had power in any way, shape, or form.

For centuries, I'd never felt anything but agonizing pain, and my Blood offered so much more. I enjoyed sinking my newly discovered fangs into them, feeling the pressure of their flesh on those sharp teeth. Knowing I was inside them. Tasting them. Breathing their scents from their skin while their fresh, hot blood poured into me.

But it only made me want more .

Touch. Comfort. Emotion. Tenderness.

Which would inevitably lead to more and more intimacies.

These men had been alive—if that's what you could call enduring Heliopolis—for even longer than me. Trapped in skeletons without any skin or flesh or blood. They had real bodies now. Strong, muscular bodies. Arms that held me while I slept. Hearts that beat against my cheek. They deserved the chance to feel alive. To enjoy their new physical bodies.

Centuries of torture in Heliopolis had made me a realist. I was under no illusion that they had only the purest and highest regard for their queen. They were men, after all, and while they were mine, I'd never forget what Ra had done to me.

They'd even witnessed it. They'd stood a few feet away and watched while the god ravaged me for literally centuries. Unable to do anything to help me without all of us dying.

I understood. Fully. But it made it even more difficult for me to turn the page and take the next step with them. Even when I wanted to know them. I wanted to be with them. I wanted their touch and comfort. I'd never known pleasure or safety. I deserved to feel safe. To feel good.

Yet I waited, afraid and unsure to take that next step of physical intimacy. Especially after dreams like this one that had me trembling and sick. They didn't say anything or pressure me in any way. But I felt the weight in their attentive gazes.

Sunzi crossed his arms over his chest and bowed his head. "Forgive me, Your Majesty. If I stare at you intently, it's only to ensure that I can react as quickly as possible to your slightest command before you must voice your wishes. If you never want more from me than my arms as you sleep or your hand in mine, then I will smile happily and do exactly as you wish without a single complaint."

Marcus also bowed his head, pressing his forehead against the bed itself, on his knees beside the bed. "I'll gladly hold your hand for a thousand years if you'll let me and never wish for more as long as you're happy and safe."

It was still incredibly hard for me to be honest. Even with myself. To allow myself to feel. To acknowledge my innermost thoughts and fears. I'd been locked down, crushed to a minuscule shell of myself for so long… I didn't want to be that distant, cold, unseeing person any longer.

Even though it was terrifying to allow those emotions to flow through me. Let alone voice them.

"You don't desire me that way?" I asked hesitantly, my cheeks burning.

Sunzi lifted his gaze to mine, his face grave. "We desire your happiness and comfort above all. Touch my bond, Your Majesty. Explore my deepest thoughts at your convenience. I am open to you at all times. I assure you none of us are secretly harboring lust or plotting how we may stir your need in order to maneuver deeper into your heart or bed. We are your guards and nothing else unless and until you want and need us to be more. Then, absolutely, we are yours as no one else can ever be."

I made myself voice the next part. The secret, ugly part. Even though it might hurt him. "In some ways, it would be easier for me if you'd never seen what he did to me. If we had no history prior to coming here."

He nodded, dropping his gaze to his hands resting in his lap. "Someone like the wolf king, for instance. We can fetch him for you, Your Majesty. It will be done immediately, and we will give you all the privacy you wish."

I tried to imagine what it would be like to take Eivind as my Blood. To bring him here to my childhood home. He should have been my first Blood. In fact, I believed my goddess arranged for someone like him to be close to help me.

Someone who knew what I was. Who could have fed me back to full strength quickly and taught me all the things I needed to know about how to be a vampire queen. Who would have protected me from Sol Invictus and the sunfires until I understood what they needed.

Someone who'd simply believe me.

Eivind had done none of those things. He'd left me barefoot in a hospital gown, weak and scared with a complete stranger, and then fled without a backward glance.

I didn't care how good his blood might taste or how nice his wolf smelled.

I reached out and took Sunzi's hand, lifting his palm to my mouth so I could breathe in his scent. Cinnabar, his spicy sunfire, smelled ever so much better. "I will never open my heart or give my bond to such a coward. Let alone my body, especially now that I'm free to do as I will."

The corner of his mouth quirked ever so slightly but his eyes gleamed with flickering flames. "And that is why we love and serve you heart and soul, Your Majesty."

VLAD

I would rather taste my own spear by first shoving it up my anus and through my entire body than allow the wolf king the barest glimmer of our queen's presence. But here's the primary difference between him and I.

I would do anything my queen desired without hesitation. Even while licking my own spearhead shoved through my intestines, I would drag the wolf king to her side and somehow resist the urge to skin his hide if she wanted him. Even if she took him to her bed and barred us from her side. Without a single question or complaint.

While he would first argue and deny our queen's own experiences, and then when pressed, snap his teeth, tuck his tail, and run.

Something buzzed in my pocket, reminding me of the tool given to my queen by the human, Harris. I pulled it out of my pocket and pressed the button he'd shown us during a quick lesson. Human technology was a marvelous thing to behold. "Hello?"

"Excellent, it works," a man said with a bright voice. "This is Kevin Isador. I have an update for Her Majesty at her convenience."

"Hold on." I made sure to hit the mute button and then rapped on the door, waiting for either her or Sun's command.

"Come in," she called.

I pushed the door open and stepped just inside. "Your Majesty, the Isador consiliarius has an update for you on the phone."

"Oh, good. Can we all hear?"

Nodding, I unmuted the phone, put it on speaker, and stepped closer to lay it on the bed between her and Sun. "Her Majesty is ready."

"Greetings, Your Majesty. This is Kevin Isador. I have some exciting updates for you regarding House Sunna."

"You found someone still alive?"

"Absolutely. Since you were still alive, the legacy never passed to the Triune. Your consiliari, Dagmar and now Dagny, her great-granddaughter several times removed, worked to keep as many of your people alive and together as possible. I've spoken to her personally, and she's eager to meet with you as soon as you're ready."

Karmen looked up at me and I immediately muted the phone. "He can't hear us now."

"Should I bring this person here? I don't know how I feel about letting anyone else come through."

"You don't have to do anything or decide now," Sun replied. "If you want to meet her first, we can immediately open a portal anywhere you wish to go."

Her shoulders shivered imperceptibly. "I don't think I'll feel safe going just anywhere."

I clenched my jaws, fighting down the urge to wrap my arms around her, Sun, and Antonius, locking her in a wall of flesh forever and ever. So she'd never feel scared again.

"Then we don't go," Sun said in a light voice, though the same urgency throbbed in his head too. "You can do your business over this phone. Or do no business at all."

Kevin cleared his throat. "I feel that I should add there's absolutely no rush, Your Majesty. She's eager, yes, but House Sunna waits upon you, not the other way around. They've waited for their queen to return for hundreds of years. Days, weeks, or even years while you acclimate to this world is perfectly fine."

She gave me a tiny nod and I unmuted the phone for her. "Would Helayna mind if we met inside her nest again? I think I might be more comfortable at a place I've already seen before."

"Unfortunately, Queen Helayna vacated her nest in Minnesota for an older family home in Iceland. Her brother might still be in residence if?—"

"No, that's fine," Karmen replied quickly. "Where is the consiliarius—Dagny?—located?"

"Currently, she resides at Il Villa Sunna near San Gimignano, Italy."

"I don't know where that is," she said softly. "Though it sounds lovely."

"Italy is in the Mediterranean," I replied. "Old world. Minnesota was in the Americas, what most consider the new world."

"If I may make a few suggestions?" Kevin offered.

"Please."

"I mean no disrespect in any way, Your Majesty, so forgive me if you already know this information. But a very powerful Triune queen lives in Rome, Italy, which would be only a short distance away from your villa if you were to meet Dagny there. Which you can certainly do. You have every right to go to your property and meet your consiliarius. I just wouldn't want you to suddenly be confronted with a Triune situation without knowing what that might entail."

"Your queen, Shara, is Triune?"

"Queen Shara sits on one of three Triunes called Triskeles. Her Majesty of Rome has sat on a different Triune for centuries and is much older, Your Majesty. I speak truthfully when I say that my queen would hesitate before setting foot anywhere near her territory without preparation."

"What do you suggest, then?"

"Queen Shara would be pleased to welcome you to House Isador's nest, either the primary nest in Arkansas or the tower in New York City. I hesitate only because I know both of those locations are unknown to you, and New York City is an extremely large human city. You might be more comfortable at a neutral location that's more remote or at least less populated."

Outwardly, Karmen's features remained unchanged, but her bond churned with roiling confusion and anxiety. I didn't relish making her endure a single moment of discomfort, and neither did Sun.

"What about the hotel where you killed Sol Invictus, Your Majesty?" Sun asked. "It was remote yet would provide a familiar battleground where you were quite successful. It was damaged when we passed through there but certainly viable for a meeting place."

"Do you remember the name of the establishment?" Kevin asked.

"No, but Detective Harris should know," Karmen replied. "I think he went there with Eivind before they came to Helayna's nest."

"Perfect. Let me reach out to him and obtain the address. Then I'll coordinate with Dagny."

"Would you be able to be there? Just until I know that I can trust this person?"

"Of course, Your Majesty. I would be honored to attend. Would you like Detective Harris to be there as well? He's a familiar face and as a policeman, he can run some background checks if you'd like. Just to make sure you're comfortable."

"Yes, please, though only if he can promise not to tell anyone else." Her mouth tightened, her eyes flaring with flickering flames. "Just him."

"You've got it, Your Majesty. I'll text this number the details when we have all parties in agreement. In the meantime, is there anything you need? Food, provisions, supplies…?"

"I… don't know." Her mouth sagged open for a moment. "We haven't eaten anything." Her eyes widened with horror and guilt, searching each of ours. "Are you hungry? Do you need food? I'm so sorry?—"

"Not at all," Sun quickly broke in. "We haven't felt any lack or need, Your Majesty."

"Since Queen Helayna's Blood are new to our world, they found it beneficial to talk with Isador Blood about the details of serving an Aima queen," Kevin said. "I can't speak to all the details since I'm human, but I could easily have one of my queen's Blood come along to the hotel if you'd like."

I muted the phone again. "I can vouch for Smoak. She carries a sunfire, so you would know immediately if she lied or had any ill will."

Karmen nodded and I unmuted the phone so I could say, "If she's available, we'd like to talk to Smoak."

"I'll let my queen know," Kevin replied. "I'm sure that won't be an issue. If you need anything else, just call or text this number. We're happy to help."

"Please convey my appreciation to your queen for her assistance," Karmen said. "Could you also send us a reminder of the meeting when we need to be there? I know that sounds silly but time doesn't pass the same way here."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

I disconnected the call and put the phone back in my pocket. "I quite like this gadget. I wonder what other wonders we can get our hands on?"

"The human had a larger device he used at Ironheart for ordering supplies," Sun said. "I don't know what we could possibly need here, though."

Her bond pulsed inside me, a flood of heat and solar energy that almost made me grunt. Even though she was focused on Sun. "Your bond seems the same to me, but I have drained you several times. Are you sure you don't feel weaker?"

"Not that I've noticed, Your Majesty. Though with your power flowing through me with the sunfire's energy, I'm barely aware of my physical body at all."

She sighed softly. "I should probably restrain myself from feeding on you again until we know for sure that I'm not hurting you."

My jaws clenched, fighting back a quick retort. Plea. I wasn't even sure which. It wasn't my place to make any suggestions to her, but goddess damn me back to the eternal sun of Heliopolis before I'd give up the exquisite sensation of her fangs sinking into me. My blood flowing into her. Feeding her. She didn't even have to give me a taste back. Though when she claimed us as Blood and gave us our human forms, I'd never dreamed of anything more spectacular.

Ironic, given the ridiculous Dracula tales humans had created in my name. I'd never once dreamed of feasting on blood in my lifetime.

But now…

I could think of nothing else.