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Goddess. What strength. Not just in her blood but in her heart and mind and soul. The kind of queen entire armies would kill each other to the man in order to get one step closer to kneel at her feet and beg for her glorious fangs.

I had nothing but disdain for the man beneath the other Blood’s boot. He had the chance to serve this queen…

And walked away. Voluntarily.

Let him die in a million painful ways for all I cared.

I tightened my arm around my queen’s neck, silently willing her to keep feeding. As long as she wished. I could take it. Eagerly. She had no need of this inferior man whining about his fear of feeding her. :I will be your cup for all time, Shara, my queen.:

She removed her nails from the other man and jammed them into me. Both hands. One in my flank, one in my back. My breath sighed out in bliss. Now she fed on me in three ways at once.

“Start talking,” the man with the knife said.

The blubbering fool began stuttering out his tale. “Houska is a gateway to another dimension. A sort of hell, as they say in the legends, though without the religious connotation. A place of Nosoi. They brew and breed like demons in the depths. Illnesses and spite, cancer and disease, fear and horror, blisters, pus, accidental death, rancor, ill luck, curses. All the evils of Pandora’s box, though they’ve worsened and grown in power over millennia. Fed by suffering. Our suffering. The knights Damiana compelled to her side.”

The tip of the blade jabbed deeper into his throat. “How did they infect you with Nosoi?”

“A cup. With a snake wrapped around it. The snake bit me.” The man shuddered, his eyes rolling white. “My cheek. Inside the cup, instead of liquid, was a… creature. Wrapped in blood. Pestilence made into physical form. Damiana’s blood held it captive. It slithered up the snake and into the bite wound. I could feel it melting inside me, breaking apart into millions of tiny snakes that began feasting. Breeding. Spreading inside me.”

The man let go of the whimpering fool’s hair, and he slumped back to the floor, his voice muffled against his arms but still audible.

“Damiana thought her blood would make her immune since it was her own creation. But she sickened immediately and died screaming. I still hear her wailing when I close my eyes.”

“Then never close your eyes,” I retorted.

Shara lifted her head, withdrawing her nails, ceasing her feeding. A silent admonishment I took to heart. I had no tenderness or mercy in me. It’d been forged out of me eons ago. But she cared about those in her court more than her own life. Even this man who’d surrendered the chance to serve her. I had best mind the sharpness of my tongue if not my blade.

“Was it the snake cup that made you a grail of blood?”

“No. I was already a bleeder by then. She borrowed the cup from Queen Panega. It was part of her legacy.” He lifted his head despite the blade in his throat, his eyes wet with emotion yet intent, willing her to listen and believe his words. “The other three knights drank from the cup too, ingesting their own form of demon, but they weren’t bleeders like me. The four of us were meant to be the lock holding Houska’s portal closed until we were freed—to create the feared apocalypse with the Nosoi’s release. I wasn’t supposed to be removed for fear of weakening the lock before the destined timing. If the others are still alive, and your sibling tries to remove them... She will loose the bowels of Nosoi on the world.”

45

SHARA

Irelayed the information to Gwen, and her response was no surprise whatsoever.

:I’ll be careful, my queen. But I will free my knights or die trying.:

I sent her a hard hug and fierce smile. :I expected nothing less from the Queen of Camelot. Call me if I can help in any way. If I learn anything else from Warwick, I’ll send you the details.:

I returned my focus to the knight lying on the floor before me. My heart ached for him, but I didn’t take my Bloods’ indignation and frustration with Warwick lightly. I understood he’d been through a great deal of trauma, but hadn’t we all? Even though I was considered a shockingly young queen, I knew grief and sadness from the time I was a child. I saw both of my parents killed by relentless monsters who hunted me everywhere I went. Forcing me to flee night after night, town after town, never able to escape.

Warwick’s inner demons were just as relentless. Worse, he’d been trapped with them, alone, for centuries.

I believed I could help him, but only if he truly wanted my help. It would take time, and patience, as he’d said. Which might cause friction among my Blood. Exactly what I did not want. I’d always feared bringing in someone who might disrupt the love, camaraderie, and harmony we’d come to enjoy in my court.

:If you want him, we’ll make it work, my queen.: Though Rik’s bond rumbled like a massive mudslide laced with boulders and giant trees, swept before a flood.

:A bleeder could be useful,: Sekh added. :Though I am still the biggest, baddest stone-cold bleeder of all.:

Which made my lips quirk, and I reached up to loop my free arm around his waist, bringing him close. I knew exactly how stone cold my tender-hearted general could be. Especially with regards to me. My other arm I kept around Durandal, who remained mostly draped against me, his head on my chest. As the new man, he didn’t feel the need to share his opinion. Though as I listened to his bond, he felt no hesitation at all in that regard. He was too old to give a damn how long he’d been in my court, though he’d read my withdrawal as a rebuke. In his opinion, I should have him toss the other man out with the garbage.

Guillaume said nothing in his bond. I met his gaze, waiting for his opinion. Instead of voicing anything, he jammed the blade deeper into Warwick’s throat.

Then picked him up by the scruff and tossed him closer to me in a heap.

Shaking hands wrapped around my calves. When I didn’t rebuke him, Warwick pulled himself up enough to press his face against my knees.