The Immortal Queen Tsubame: Ascension (24 page)

Farah, who was near the check in counter, looked at MaLeila and asked, “Tsubame? I haven’t seen her since right after we took the Magic Council into custody.”

“We’ve got to find her,” MaLeila demanded. “We have to find her right now.”

“Why?” Farah asked

MaLeila’s vision flashed before her eyes, and suddenly MaLeila realized why Tsubame’s plan didn’t add up, why the woman would seemingly out of boredom decide to conquer a world in another universe when she’d already done so in order to bring another person into power. Tsubame may have been a benevolent queen of her own world, but she’d never struck MaLeila as that generous, not without having something to gain.

“Because,” MaLeila whispered as the realization dawned on her. “Tsubame did what she does best. She made us so focused on another threat, another enemy, made us all think she was helping us get what we thought we wanted when instead she was herding us to get exactly what she wanted in the end instead.”

MaLeila remembered a conversation she had with Marcel the evening after Fathi was killed, after she figured out that he knew Tsubame and was keeping people from figuring out her identity and where she was. He’d mentioned how the powers that be made people think they had their own minds, knew what they wanted, and that they were making decisions based on that when it was actually what those powers wanted them to think. Tsubame seemed to have taken a page out their book. She didn’t manipulate people and mold their desires, but she did have an intimate knowledge of how to see into people’s heart and figure out their desires and give them their desires all for her own gain.

MaLeila let out a hollow laugh and added, “Fucking genius. She made us forget that she was still our enemy and she essentially told me her entire plan and I didn’t catch onto it.”

“MaLeila, you’re beginning to sound crazy. So I suggest you tell us what you’re talking about or we’re going to have to rethink making you ruler of the magical world,” Bastet said dryly.

“It’s chaos,” MaLeila replied. “Tsubame wants to conquer chaos.”

To Be Concluded in

The Immortal Queen Tsubame: Chaos

Spring 2017