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I heard the flap of bird wings, but the dead Isador Blood remained silent as they came to their queen. Esetta’s blood still flowed through them. Now Shara’s, too. Tying us all together for eternity. Though it would never be the same.

:The only persons to blame for our deaths are Marne Ceresa, Rosalind Valois, and Jeanne Viennois,: Zharr’s mental voice was the same one I remembered from decades ago, as familiar to me as Thierry’s or Esetta’s. :I was honored and overjoyed to serve my queens, both Esetta and Selena as well as you, Shara Isador, last daughter of Isis.:

:The ones responsible are dead,: Lucian added. :Justice has been served. I have no regrets.:

:I would go again,: Zharr said.

:I too would go again,: Vaughn said. :Even knowing what would happen.:

:Me too,: Mallac said. :Though fuck that bitch for all eternity. The least she could’ve done was put us in the trees right side up.:

Thierry laughed. :I bet you wouldn’t stop talking. She had to do something to shut you up.

:My only regret is the terror on your face when the Dauphine’s bond forced me to attack you, Your Majesty,: Zharr said. :Her blood… rotted me. From the inside out. I couldn’t deny her order, even though every drop of Isador blood inside me of me begged me to stop.:

Lucian’s bird made a plaintive whirr. :Forgive me for bursting from the tree at the smell of your blood and causing you any distress, Your Majesty.:

Pain crushed through me. Her pain. It would have brought me to my knees if I wasn’t already lying on the floor in supplication.

“She saw I might need Gerard’s fencing skills against the Dauphine’s former Blood. What did she see for you, Khalid?”

“Anubis is the guardian of the dead and one of the few gods Set feared, or at least respected. My former House, Anpu, remained untouched by Set until our last queen died without any heirs. Of all her former Blood, I know well the ways of the desert and the Nile itself.”

“And you, Nox?”

“My goal was to get to the kraken and free him when you needed him. Forgive me for that failure, Your Majesty. The queen of Rome prevented me from fulfilling my oath to your mother, though that’s no excuse. I tried to convince Zharr and Lucian to let me go to Paris instead since I’d failed, but⁠—”

:The honor was ours,: Zharr broke in with a loud squawk. :I beat you fair and square.:

:We raced for the honor,: Lucian added. :As we always did for Esetta.:

“Say her name again,” Nox whispered. “Over and over. I can almost hear it.”

Ah fuck. I was going to fucking cry like a baby again.

At least Shara had been able to kill and resurrect me so I could remember Esetta’s name. See her. One more time.

Nox, Khalid, and Gerard might have survived…

But they couldn’t even remember her name. Without her gift of resurrection, Shara couldn’t do the same for them as she’d done for me.

“It doesn’t matter.” Gerard tipped his head back so he could gaze up at our former queen’s living daughter, her greatest dream made flesh. “Not as long as I can serve you, Your Majesty.”

10

SHARA

Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly be wounded again by something my mother had put into place decades if not centuries ago, I heard the camaraderie among her former Blood. I felt their love for each other, and her, and more, her promise she’d given them.

Me.

They loved me. Before they ever knew me. Simply because my mother loved me so much she was willing to sacrifice herself—and them—to ensure my survival.

One by one, they lifted their faces to gaze up at me like I was the first dawn breaking after being freed from centuries of darkness they feared would never end.

This had been Esetta’s bedroom. She must have made love to all of them at some point here. I thought it might be strained or weird to sleep in her bed. With her former men. Her former lovers. Her former alpha.

But gazing at them, seeing them for the men—the Blood—they were, it wasn’t weird in the slightest. I didn’t feel icky at all. Drinking in the way their eyes shone. Tears on their cheeks. Unashamed at the flood of emotion welling in their hearts. They didn’t hate my mother for what she’d put them through. They didn’t blame me. Even though ultimately I was at the heart of all their loss and pain. They didn’t hate me for not finding a way to free them quicker. To save them all.