Page 20 of Queen's Crusade
We seemed to climb forever. My lungs and thighs burned. Usually weather temperatures didn’t bother me in the slightest, but the fog crystalized into stinging ice particles.
:Almost there,: Xin whispered in my head.
Finally, he dropped to his haunches and waited for me to catch up with him. For a moment, I panted, head down, my hand braced on his shoulder. The air was so thin and cold I felt lightheaded, and my teeth started to chatter. I pressed closer to his fur, letting his body heat warm me. :Where are we?:
He gazed out over a chasm so deep I couldn’t see the bottom. There were vague, hazy shapes in the distance, fading into the horizon and the cloaking fog. They might be mountains, but they were much lower in elevation. More like foothills.
:This peak is your bond. This is how high you stand, my queen.:
Oh shit. :And those other mountains are your sibling bonds?:
His ears twitched violently, and he gave me an affronted look. :Hardly.:
:Then where are they?:
He lowered his nose to the ground and rolled a dull, rough marble over to my foot. :Here, my queen.:
A pebble compared to Mount Everest.
:If you have need of these prior bonds, the hardest part will be finding them beneath the majesty of yours.:
I opened my eyes, blinking away the haze of Xin’s bond. Goosebumps stood on my arms, and I shivered a little. Daire pressed closer, draping himself across my lap and wrapping his arms around my waist, while Rik rubbed his palms up and down my shoulders, solid against my back. Gina sipped her tea, watching the interaction with an amused quirk on her lips.
My cheeks heated. “Sorry. Xin showed me something and I got cold.”
It sounded lame to my ears, even though it was the truth. Though it wasn’t in Gina’s nature to question me. “Shall we assume that House Ketea is part of the Skolos quorum?”
I nodded, turning my attention back to Okeanos. “Remember when you took me to meet her? She asked if I’d be her ally against the Triune.”
“She often said that Skolos stands alone,” he replied.
“The division between the Triune and Skolos has definitely widened in the last few centuries,” Gina said. “According to the archives, all three courts used to meet at least once a year to conduct Aima business for all houses. I assumed the practice ended once Triskeles was lost.”
“Triskeles wasn’t lost,” Okeanos said slowly, his gaze flickering from me to Gina and back. His shoulders tensed, as if he was bracing for my reaction. “The queens were deliberately killed.”
“By Desideria, right G?”
Standing guard at the door to the living room, Guillaume made a low sound of agreement that weighed heavily in the bond. “She did.”
Though Okeanos shook his head, drawing my attention to him.
“What?” I whispered, gazing into his eyes. “Was someone else involved?”
Though I already knew the answer in my bones. Or perhaps his knowledge had already leaked into my thoughts from our bond.
“The queen of Rome.”
9
SHARA
Okeanos wasn’t braced for my reaction. Deep down, he feared retribution from Marne Ceresa.
In all the times we’d talked, I’d never heard him say her name aloud, as if he feared drawing a hint of her focus to him.
I held out my hand and he took it, coming close enough for me to wrap my arm around his waist and lean into his side. I didn’t question him, trusting him to tell me what he could in his own way.
“I saw much in my long stay inside her nest.”