14. Karmen

14

KARMEN

I hoped to never see him again. Let alone smell him. His wolf scent was rank with a sharp, brittle acidity that burned the back of my throat. There was still a visceral tug between us, but it wasn't the same as what I felt with my Blood. Not even the same as when I first managed to find Eivind sitting in his car outside the hospital.

This time, the pull between us felt like a trap.

Deep down, I'd feared I might have an involuntary attraction to Eivind despite my Blood who'd been so loyal to me. At least now I knew better. I wasn't attracted to the wolf king. His blood still drew my gaze, but not my hunger. My fangs didn't drop. I didn't want to press my face to his throat and drink.

Just thinking about it made my stomach churn on all the delicious food and wine I'd enjoyed. Icy chills raced down my spine, and my face froze into the blank, empty stare I'd worn when Ra called for me. I hated turning into an empty, emotionless statue again.

A low, rumbling boom like distant thunder rolled through Sunzi's bond. :This isn't Heliopolis. The wolf king certainly isn't Ra. Our queen doesn't have to go anywhere or do anything you don't want to do. With your permission, we'll ensure he never troubles you again.:

:I don't want him dead.: Though relief made my shoulders quiver, pulling both Vlad and Marcus closer to me.

They felt so good and strong and fierce beside me. Protectors, yes, but it went deeper than that. Feeling their energy sparking against my skin made my power flare and pulse in answer. Stirring something instinctual inside me that had laid dormant my entire life. These were my men. Their blood was mine to taste and smell and revel in as my power grew.

Sunfire energy pulsed around us, driving away the cold pit of dread in my stomach. While they were here with me, nothing else mattered. No one would ever force me to do anything against my will ever again.

The more I touched them, the more secure I felt, both in my own body and in my power. It felt right and natural to wrap my arms around their waists on either side of me. To hook my fingers in the waistbands of their jeans, anchoring us together. The faint tremors stopped, and I could look at Eivind without feeling like I might throw up.

Though I focused on Detective Harris instead. "You were going to Arkansas?"

Not that I knew where that was or why it might be significant. I simply wanted to shift my focus away from the wolf king, and that was the first question that popped into my head.

"I was, actually," Harris replied, one corner of his mouth quirking. "But I got a call this morning about the samples I took from here, and I wanted to make sure word got back to you." His eyes flared wide and he swallowed hard. "Your Majesty."

None of my Blood had moved a muscle, so I wasn't sure why he'd paled. "What samples?"

"When Hart brought me here last time, there were several piles of dust outside that he said had been soldiers. I took a couple of samples from them and found a large platter-looking thing. I wasn't sure what it was then but thought maybe it was a shield of some kind from the other warriors, even though it wasn't shiny."

It took me a second to remember that Hart was the name Eivind used with the humans.

"Then it wasn't from Heliopolis," Marcus said.

Harris nodded in agreement. "The dust samples were laced with human DNA and bits of bone. The lab said the composition was similar to the remains left after a human's been cremated. Though she said the carbon dating didn't make any sense. The remains were far older than anything she's ever seen before, and they certainly wouldn't be found on this continent, especially out in the open. The melted bit of metal was also impossibly old for this region. Like third or fourth century."

Eivind huffed out a disgusted sigh. "Not a surprise. I told you they looked like Roman soldiers."

"They were," Sunzi whispered in a soft, silky voice more menacing than any shout or curse I'd ever heard. "Commander Aurelian brought his most trusted companions from the Sol Invictus Legion in order to find Her Imperial Majesty before even her Blood could locate her."

Images flickered through my mind. The way Aurelian had gone down on one knee, ready to swear an oath to protect me. I despised him for all the horrible things he'd done to me, but an oath would have meant something to him. He would have kept his word because his honor as a soldier and commander demanded it.

He'd been eager to swear to me.

He could have been my first Blood.

Rocked by the realization, I could only stare at the two men before me and hope my mouth wasn't hanging open with shock. First Eivind. Then Aurelian. They'd been set into my path as possible protectors. In some ways, they both would have been formidable Blood, though I couldn't imagine anyone but Sunzi at my back now.

Eivind would have hated me if I forced him to feed me against his will, even though I was near death, and I had no doubt in my mind that Aurelian would have been an absolute nightmare. His sunfire had already abandoned him, so feeding on it rather than his skeleton wouldn't have even been possible. Besides, I never could have endured his touch. Not after he'd tortured me—gleefully—at Ra's command.

As Sól had promised, it was my choice. I'd unconsciously rejected the others—because somehow I'd known the great Sun Tzu was on his way to me. From the first moment he touched me, he was different. He would never call me names, insult my intelligence, doubt my word, or reject my feelings, let alone hurt me.

I allowed my mind to sink into the unfailing honor of Sunzi's bond. :I have the best first Blood any goddess could have ever sent me.:

:It's an honor to serve you in any and every way, Your Majesty.:

:I wish this chair wasn't between us. Your touch steadies me.:

His other hand immediately settled onto my shoulder. :I can lift you into my arms if you'd like.:

:Not yet, but this is better.:

"That's not even the strangest part," Harris said, drawing my attention back to him. "The platter thing we found contains snake DNA."

Eivind shook his head. "Bullshit."

"No, man. Not this time. The lab ran several tests and shipped it off to a herpetology lab, and they basically shit their pants as soon as they looked at it. They're dying to find the location so they can come hunt the monster who left such a large scale behind."

"Monster?" Sunzi asked. "How big are we talking?"

"There's no recorded scale so large," Harris replied. "The dude who called me thinks it was from a Titanoboa, a prehistoric dinosaur snake. But they've never found a scale—only fossilized bones—and they're certainly not alive any longer."

Strife whined softly and nudged my calf with his nose. In the hospital before my Blood found me, he'd smelled a snake. I met Dagny's gaze, trying to read her features. I didn't know her that well yet, but she seemed inquisitive, perhaps a tad alarmed, but not secretive. If she knew something about why a snake would be important in my lineage, she kept it well hidden.

No one but my Blood knew about the snake Strife had sensed in Chicago. I didn't know Harris well enough to trust him, and I certainly didn't need Eivind knowing my business. Whether I would tell Dagny when we were in private… Perhaps. "Helayna said she was kept by a giant snake."

Eivind raked a hand through his shaggy hair, messing it up even more. "Impossible. J?rmungandr sleeps at the base of Yggdrasil. If he's free, then we'd be at war with the ancient gods themselves. The world as we know it would be destroyed."

"So, let me get this straight," Harris drawled. "You want me to call the snake guy back and tell him a mythological snake escaped to start Ragnar?k?"

Whirling to pace back and forth beside the table, Eivind growled, "Fuck, no. I'm asking Helayna about it."

"He's called me about a hundred times today," Harris said. "He's not going to give up on this, and neither is Dr. Howard. She's damned near obsessed about pinpointing how old those remains are."

"You're not a fucking cop any longer," Eivind snapped back, his voice ragged and rough. "Tell them to fuck off. Or better yet, throw that phone under my car seat again and get yourself a new number." His mouth twisted into a sneer. "I'll deal with the humans."

:There's something wrong with him,: I whispered to Sunzi. :He acts like he can barely control himself.:

:He's rabid,: Sunzi agreed. :I don't know if it's his own conscience bothering him or the wound Goyaa?é gave him. It still burns.:

Startled, I could suddenly feel a flare of sunfire energy emitting from Eivind's shoulder. I'd forgotten that one of my Blood had wounded him when we'd gone back to Helayna's nest. It felt as if Goyaa?é had dipped his arrow in a pool of liquid sunfire before shooting it into the wolf king's shoulder.

Unobtrusively, I focused on the solar heat throbbing in Eivind's left shoulder, trying to call it to me. But it was stuck inside him, as if the sunfire essence had merged into his own cells somehow.

Before I could even think to reach for him, Quasar's hooves galloped closer in my mind, filling me with a surge of sunfire energy. :It's stuck inside him. Can you get it out?:

An image filled my mind. Red-gold droplets dividing into smaller and smaller bits, floating into the blackness of deep space. They didn't wink out, though. They still glowed against the darkness while they spread, creating more tiny droplets.

I wasn't sure what he was trying to show me. :Will they eventually flow out of him?:

The flowing spread quickened in my mind. Microscopic gold flashed briefly as it flowed ever deeper into Eivind's body. Multiplying. Spreading. Until he started to glow with sunfire energy, almost like my Blood when they transformed into Soldiers of Light.

: Is he going to carry a sunfire then?:

I didn't like that possibility. At all. They shared a consciousness. I didn't want him knowing what the rest of the sunfires knew. What my Blood knew. Felt.

How I felt.

Quasar made a low whuffing sound and black smoke plumed from his nostrils. "Watch," he seemed to say.

Burning brighter, the image in my mind began to scream. Mouth open, arms stretched out in pain. Solar flames erupted from his hands. Feet. The top of his head. A showering comet of solar energy poured out until he disappeared in a cloud of fiery sparks and bits of ash. The man was gone.

Shaken, I asked, :Is there anything we can do to stop it?:

Quasar showed my hand sweeping out in an arc, splattering Eivind with ruby droplets. My blood. My wrist cradled against his mouth. My blood flowed into him and immediately, the sunfire droplets swarmed toward my blood and melded with my power rather than spreading through Eivind.

The only way to save him…

Would earn his hatred.

And make me miserable at the same time.