The Queen's Flight (Emerging Queens) (16 page)

Absolute silence filled the room. Sergei almost shifted to his dragon form as the fury hit him. He had trusted Merrick with Viola, would have gladly left her with him at one point. He observed Marisol crumpled on the floor in a pool of her own blood, and a red haze filled his vision.

It could have been Viola.

“Die,” Cassandra ordered.

Studs ducked out of the way as Merrick shifted to dragon to fight Justice, who was coming for him. Justice’s form flickered, and the great white dragon dwarfed the Chimera.

“Teeth and claws it is,” he bellowed and exhaled a long stream of fog on Merrick.

Ice engulfed the Chimera. Every inch of him was covered in frost. It cracked as his tail broke free and dared to sting Justice.

“I don’t have a poisoned tail,” Viola murmured.

Sergei looked down at his Queen in his arms. She looked woozy, but her eyes were open. “Thank Nidhogg, you’re all right. We’re getting out of here.”

“A poison tail would be useful. All mine does is bash things. Bye Marisol!” Viola’s head lolled back and she waved half-heartedly.

“Snap out of this.” Sergei leaped into the seats as Justice tossed Merrick their way. The Chimera had no chance against the bigger, more experienced dragon. He was a fashion model and Justice was a millennia-old warrior. Sergei had only gotten the best of the arrogant old fool before because Justice didn’t think anyone would dare attack the court.

Sergei would dare a lot for his Queen—even if they only had a few weeks at most before Kira told Mei Hua who killed her.

Balancing on the top of the chairs, Sergei sprinted for the door, holding Viola as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Justice stopped playing with Merrick. He had him cornered. Inhaling a deep breath, Justice froze Merrick into an ice sculpture with his exhale. Then, he charged into him, shattering the Chimera into a thousand ice fragments.

The remaining nine Queens ran screaming for the door as the Embassy team walked in: Niall, Reed, Caroline, Jack, and Arianna.

“What is the meaning of this?” Niall boomed out, shimmering into his dragon form. He was as big as Justice and was probably as old. The two behemoths circled each other. “I demand to know how such a thing could have happened.”

Apparently, they heard it all through the doors. Or maybe Caroline had told them. She was pale and shaking, clutching Reed’s arm for support.

“Do not come into my Queen’s court and make demands,” Justice squared off on him.

“Or what?” Niall asked. “You’ll allow another Queen to die?”

Arianna stepped forward to usher the nine Queens out of the ballroom. “Come with me, quickly.”

Sergei went to follow, but Viola’s shriek of agony stopped him in his tracks and every dragon’s head turned toward her.

Sergei felt Viola’s pulse. “Talk to me, honey. What’s the matter?”

“So much pain,” she muttered. “The land, the weave here. Something is draining the weave.” She was frigid and stiff in his arms. “It doesn’t want me to go. It has something to tell me.”

Reed pulled Carolyn closer. “Are you sensing anything?”

“Hell yeah, the weave is all a flutter,” she gasped.

He had to get Viola out of here, but he was afraid of moving her. “Tell me who’s hurting you. I’ll make it stop.”

“The stitches dropped. It’s a mess. The new Queens are all in there. They talk to me. They want to be found. I see them. It hurts. It hurts so badly. I can’t leave them all alone.” Viola shrank back against him as if invisible hands were reaching for her.

That was good enough for him. She needed distance.

“Get out of my way,” Sergei snarled as he pushed though the delegates. “The weave connection in this room is killing her.”

Nidhogg knew what the weave was telling her about him.

“Niall, I think there’s another spell blocking the missing Queens,” Carolyn said, her hand reaching out like Viola’s had.

“Don’t open yourself up to it,” Reed warned the other Queens. “Everyone into the courtyard.”

“You do not give orders in my court,” Cassandra snarled. “Justice, stop them!”

Sergei wanted to savor the fall of Cassandra’s court. And even though her wails of anguish and frustration were music to his ears, he wouldn’t linger and risk his mate.

His mate.

He held her tighter as she began to sob when they reached the courtyard. “Stay out of the weave until someone trains you,” he said, trying to sound kind and reassuring.

“I’m trying,” Viola choked out.

Carolyn flinched and ducked. Each of the nine Queens and Viola shuddered as if being hit with a great force. As in one voice they wailed, their bodies convulsed. Bleeding from their eyes and ears, they crumpled to the ground.

Don’t go.

All the hair on his body stood up at the ghostly order.

“What the hell was that?” Sergei and Reed exchanged confused glances.

“Someone noticed us looking in the weave,” Viola gasped out.

“Get them out of here,” Reed bellowed.

Shifting in an instant to his dragon form, Sergei cradled Viola close to his chest with his front legs and used his back legs to gain enough altitude so they were soon lost in the clouds.

Chapter Seventeen

Viola woke to a blistering headache in a cozy bed in a farmhouse completely unfamiliar to her. She wasn’t in chains, so she was going to go out on a limb thinking that she wasn’t in the Cult of Humanity’s clutches. But she was completely naked and under a thick homey quilt.

“Sergei?”

No one answered her except the call of nature, so she got up, wincing at the cold draft. The bathroom was in the room next door, and she took advantage of the large shower stall to get the dust and grime off her. She wasn’t sure what had happened to her after the weave attacked them. Letting the hot spray beat on her neck and back, Viola needed to remember.

Damn, her head hurt.

Marisol is dead.

A small hole in her essence bled raw. Was this how the elder Queens felt when their contemporaries all died out? Did they shield themselves from the weave to stop the pain? As the water rained down on her, Viola used the shampoo and soap. It smelled faintly of Sergei.

Her gut eased.

She hadn’t been 100% sure and after Merrick’s betrayal, she was gun shy of any of the other studs. Getting out of the shower and toweling off, Viola probed that small hole Marisol made like she would a wiggly tooth.

A flash of insight flooded her, causing her to gasp and marvel as the hole spiraled out and connected to hundreds of others. The red yang weave roiled and twisted. Studs. She dismissed them. She couldn’t decipher anything in that mess. The blue weave, however, was full of yin energy. Some of it familiar. Some of it not. Concentrating more, Viola found she could identify the nine Queens she’d met and Cassandra. But Cassandra shone so bright that Viola had to stagger back to bed until the pounding in her head stopped.

“Sergei?” she called. But no one answered. He had to be around here somewhere; the bed she was in smelled just like him. Maybe he went out to get coffee and donuts. Donuts would go a long way to making her feel better.

An hour later of blissful quiet with the comforting scent of burning wood, she thought she could move again without dry heaving. After a few aspirin kicked in, she realized how hungry and thirsty she was.

Of course there weren’t any girl clothes, but she found a thick pair of woolen socks and a chamois shirt in lumberjack colors. It hung to mid-thigh and Viola deemed it good enough. Downstairs, she pulled an apple out of the bowl on the thick butcher-block table and munched on it while she searched for signs of life. Outside the window over the sink was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

“So I’ve died and this is dragon heaven,” she said, rushing outside.

In a large penned area were four alpacas, six sheep, and two goats. They shied away from her when the wind shifted and bawled out distressing noises.

“I’m not going to eat you, sillies,” she cooed at them.

As Viola initiated making nice with the panicked sheep, a beat up pickup truck pulled up the long driveway, tucking up dust and gravel. “You should be in bed,” Sergei told her as he eased out of the driver’s seat.

“Don’t ruin my nice dream. Let’s make love in the pasture.”

“Is there something wrong with the bed upstairs?” He swung her up into his arms and carried her into the house.

This is too perfect.
Something was going to shit all over this.

Imagining her goat head had said this, Viola told it mentally to shush and kissed Sergei.

“Your new spinning wheel is in the bed of the truck. And later, we can go get some yarn and supplies.”

Too good to be true.

“Sergei?” she asked. “This is a dream, isn’t it?”

He bit her neck, hard.

“Ow!” She punched him on the side of the head. “That hurt.”

He climbed the stairs up to the bedroom. “Still feel like you’re dreaming?”

“Well, just in case, let’s roll around in carnal delight and then go for ice cream. I want to make sure we hit all the bases.”

“Chocolate ice cream?”

“Duh,” she said, sliding down his body as he released her.

“Damn, I like you in my clothes,” he said as he unbuttoned the lumberjack shirt she wore.

“If this isn’t a dream, I think we need to talk.”

His hands cupped her breasts. “Oh, this is definitely a dream.”

Who was she to argue? Her hands went to his belt buckle as his mouth came crashing down on hers, making her toes curl inside her warm socks. While his thumbs swirled around her nipples, his tongue plundered her mouth. After unbuttoning his pants, Viola slid the zipper down.

His erection poked out. She grabbed her greedy fingers around it.

“Yeah,” he said, “You like that?”

“Wow,” Viola whispered. “Don’t wake me until it’s over.”

He vanished their clothes and backed her toward the bed. “You worried me back there.”

“I worried myself.” Viola reached up and pulled him on top of her as they tumbled to the bed.

“I’m not going to be able to go slow this time.”

Viola wrapped her legs around his hips. “Good.”

He thrust inside her, hard and deep. She tightened around him to keep him there.

“So wet and tight.” He used the headboard for leverage and rotated his hips.

Arching against him, Viola bit her lip as the sweet friction of their bodies built a rhythm that matched her harsh breaths.

“You all right?” he drawled, moving in and out in a rolling motion that choked the soft moans in her throat.

All she could do was nod as he made love to her, never for a moment taking his eyes of hers.

“This is what it feels like to be mine.”

She met him thrust for thrust, fast and hard. “Yes,” she gritted out, her hair falling into her face with the intensity of their movements.

With a quick whirl, he flipped her until she was on top. Viola steadied herself on his massive chest. She curled her fingers over the powerful muscles.

“I want you to bounce on me until you come.” He rubbed possessively over her breasts.

“I like you deep like this.” Viola raised herself up and slammed back down.

“Yes,” he grunted, his eyes flashing dragon and feral. A roaring in her ears deafened her, and she realized she’d screamed out loud.

She took him, rubbing her pleasure all over the both of them. Everything dimmed but the beat of her body against him. His hands never left her breasts. His fingers tugged at her nipples until she was moaning and trembling.

“Take me. So I can feel what it’s like to be yours,” he drawled.

Leaning in, Viola gripped his shoulders. Her breasts dangled in his face as he moved his hands to pump her faster. She wanted to claw and bite.

“More,” she commanded.

He filled her with each thrust. She kissed him with wild passion that she never had in her grip before. Sergei’s hot kisses brought her over the edge and she lost it. Viola might have bitten him. Might have clawed him. Pleasure cascaded over her and nothing existed but her and her mate. Tossing her off, Sergei left her briefly to position himself behind her and then the play took on another level. She gripped the bedcovers on all fours and looked over her shoulder at him.

“Come,” Viola ordered.

The sound his body entering hers was loud and utterly satisfying. Soon they were both growling and when Sergei came, his roar shook the windows. Her nipples rasped against the covers and the abrasive touch had her shuddering and clenching around him.

Sergei rolled her over on her back and tucked her into his arms.

This. She could get used to this.

“Mine,” Sergei said, with a sleepy growl.

“Mine,” Viola repeated.

She might have dozed off to the comforting buzz of his light snore. But a voice
pinged
at her.

What about the lost Queens?

Viola broke free from him and rolled away, staggering to her feet.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, sounding more confused than angry.

They are scared and in danger.

She held her head. “I know where the missing Queens are. I know where all the Queens are.”

“Get out of the weave,” he snarled, coming off the bed after her.

“I can’t. I am the weave. We all are.” Viola put her hand to her forehead. She felt them there, waiting for her. “It’s with me always now. Ever since Ireland.”

“I didn’t pull you out of Cassandra’s castle to lose you in my lair.” Sergei whirled her around to face him.

“I’m okay,” she said.

“You’re white as a sheet.”

“The voices. They’re a shock.”

He hugged her and rubbed sensation back into her body until she relaxed.

“So this is your lair?” Viola surveyed the area after she came back to herself. It was a bedroom straight out of Eddie Bauer. “I pictured something edgier and more modern. Where’s your hoard?”

He cleared his throat and reddened slightly. “The bikes are in a warehouse behind the house.”

She smiled. “Are we talking the type with motors than go
vroom
?”

“Can we get back to what we were doing? I think your hand was about to go around my cock again.” He guided it there.

“Yeah…I mean no.” Viola couldn’t allow herself to be distracted now. As much as she’d like to tumble all over the flannel sheets with him again, they had work to do. “I can find the newbie Queens that were stolen.”

“How?”

“I haven’t quite figured that out yet.” She tapped a finger on her lip. “I concentrate and I feel the connection.”

“Do you get GPS coordinates?” Sergei cocked his head at her, the disbelief warring with concern on his face.

“No,” she snapped. “I haven’t had a chance to experiment.”

“Don’t experiment. Let me see if I can get a shaman here to help you with the weave.”

“A shaman?”

“Niall is one. Or…” Sergei coughed and muttered another name.

“Casimiro?” Viola said. “I don’t think so. He’ll probably tell me I’m too fat for the weave.” She blew up her cheeks and pretended to waddle like a penguin.

“You’re not fat,” Sergei said, yanking her back to him. “Come sit on my face and you’ll see.”

“That’s a great pick-up line,” she stroked his cheek. “Does that work for you a lot?”

“Yes,” Sergei said.

“Is that so?” Viola put her hands on her hips.

“But not anymore. I am your consort. I will not serve another Queen.” He laid a hand over his heart. Then ruined the sweet gesture by putting his other hand on her ass and squeezing.

“Will I have to serve another stud?” Viola fretted, cuddling against him.

“I can’t stop them from coming to you to petition their cause, but I can rip their heads off and stick them on pikes out front to discourage them.”

“I think that might upset the sheep.” Viola rubbed her cheek against his chest.

“You didn’t seem so worried about their nerves when you wanted to jump me in the pasture.”

Viola assessed the V opening at the top of his hips and imagined tracing her tongue down the arrow of fine hair.

Help me!

“Oh, Nidhogg!” she said. “Now I’m hearing individual voices. I just heard her crying for help. Who is Nidhogg, anyway?”

“He’s an insanely powerful dragon shackled below the earth to the world tree so he doesn’t destroy the universe. She who?” Sergei held her at arms length.

“A Queen…Margery… She’s light blue. Almost ethereal.”

“Sky dragon,” Sergei supplied. “I don’t know of any Queen named Margery.”

Viola’s eyes unfocused. The blue weave was invading her thoughts, making it hard to stay in the present. Margery was afraid and in pain. She was in the dark.

“Where is she?” Sergei’s voice was far away. He sounded so worried.

Viola went to the jagged hole and felt herself sucked toward it, but she couldn’t fit.

“Margery,” she called. It was like yodeling in an echo chamber.

“Viola!” Sergei shook her shoulders hard enough that Viola’s head bobbled.

“She’s somewhere all alone. And I’m getting whiplash. Cut it out.” The blue haze returned full force, like an ocean wave sweeping her under.

“Viola.” His voice was getting dimmer. Was that panic she heard?

Water drenched Viola for real, and she would have slipped in the tub if Sergei weren’t there.

“Too cold,” her lips chattered. “I have to help Margery.”

“You’re bleeding again, and you weren’t responding to me. You’re staying here until you come to your senses.”

“They’re going to hurt her,” Viola gripped his arms. Blinking back the freezing water from the shower stream, she realized they were both naked.

“Better her than you,” Sergei’s grim voice chilled her worse than the water.

“How can you say that?” Viola clamped down on her teeth to keep them from chattering. “If it wasn’t for you that would have been me.”

“Okay,” he sighed, resignation slumped his shoulders. “I’ll call it in to Reed.” Sergei shut off the water. “But you have to promise me not to attempt to find her until you’re stronger.”

“I can’t promise that,” she shivered, stepping out into the marble floor.

“Viola, you could die.” He wrapped her in a thick, towel.

“You won’t let me.” Viola walked ahead of him, then looked over her shoulder at him. “I need to rest. You need to come with me.”

Much later, Viola stretched and her stomach growled.

“I could make a nice steak dinner,” Sergei said. “It would tide us over until the meat delivery comes.”

“Is there wine?” she asked and then winced. “I don’t mean that in a psycho-Queen way. I just like Merlot.”

“Really? That’s a sign of a young palate.” Sergei seemed more amused than upset.

“I’m young. And starving.”

“You were unconscious for three days.”

“Three days?” Viola squirmed to sit up. “What happened at Cassandra’s castle?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care.” Sergei tried to force her back down, but she wiggled away. Adrenaline fired away the weakness, giving her the strength to move again.

“What about my dad? Did Carolyn get him out? Does he want to see me?”

“You can talk to Carolyn later.”

“With what? Everything I owned has had a house dropped on it.” Despair filled her again. All that lovely yarn.

“We can go shopping.” Sergei smoothed a hand down her back.