Home > Queen Heir (NYC Mecca #1)(7)

Queen Heir (NYC Mecca #1)(7)
Author: Jaymin Eve, Leia Stone

The blood was light in the outer corners of the room. But as we moved closer to the comfortable couches and table, which held the queen’s tea set, the spatters grew large and thick. My stomach churned. Wolf senses were already strong, but add in my heir abilities, and Selene and I were scenting twice as much as those around us. Finn gave a low growl that made the hairs on my arms stand up.

“Have you already been here?” I asked the other heir. She didn’t live in the royal home, but this was her territory and she would have gotten here a lot faster than me.

“No, they prevented any from entering while they removed the body and did the initial investigation.” It was hard to tell, she was an expert at hiding her emotions, but I sensed she was upset they had barred her entry but allowed me.

Her words drifted away as both of us took in the scene. Blood had washed the center of the room in swirls and arcs, pooling on the floor and splashing across the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, which were well over fifteen feet high. There were clear signs of a battle; I wanted to move closer. But first I needed to find a path through which wouldn’t result in me tracking the queen’s blood everywhere. Selene stayed back; Calista and the guards too. Only Finn followed me as I gingerly stepped nearer.

When I was right in the center of the main kill zone, I cataloged everything I was seeing, examining the walls, the floor, and the space where she had fallen. Closing my eyes, in my mind I had a very clear picture of what had happened. The two tea cups sitting on the table told me everything I needed to know.

Whomever killed the queen had been someone she trusted.

Chapter Two

Do or die. That’s the Summit’s motto.

Calista broke through the surge of emotions which kept me glued to the floor. “Arianna, we really need to leave.”

Ignoring my advisor I addressed Cruz. The guards were outside of the library, but would easily be able to hear me. “How did the queen die? What injuries did she sustain?”

He hesitated briefly; his face was pale, despite the deep brown of its normal color. “Her throat, thighs, and both wrists were cut … to the bone. She bled out in seconds.”

A thickness filled my throat, a sense of unease, fear and pain. She’d been slaughtered like a freakin’ animal on the floor of her library. I forced myself to focus, to push down the images assaulting my mind. I needed to be strong so I could avenge my queen.

“Who dined with the queen this morning?” I asked, my voice hard, both hands gesturing toward the shattered teapot on the floor. “Who was the last to see her alive?”

He shook his head. “As far as we know she was alone all morning. No one entered or left her building. I was on duty at the front door and can attest to the security of the grounds. Her other guards were stationed outside the library, as they are every morning when she takes tea and surrounds herself with the calming of her books.”

The Red Queen, or Rosalina Devlin, as she had been known when she was an heir, had loved to read. A trait we had in common.

I pressed the guard further. “There are two cups here and clear evidence of a second inhabitant.”

Not to mention the queen didn’t murder herself.

He had nothing more to say, but someone had let my queen down here today, and until we figured out who that betrayer was, all of us were in danger.

“Ragnar?” I didn’t see the body of her lynx. Maybe they’d removed the familiar with her body.

The guard cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. “Missing.”

I inhaled rapidly. Missing? Okay … maybe he had been out hunting like Finn and was dead somewhere. The council would hopefully have word through their contacts in the human authorities.

Finn interrupted my thoughts: I didn’t sense any of the other familiars while I was out this morning. I couldn’t even process that so I just nodded. My eyes fell to Selene.

“It wasn’t me,” she said, reading my expression. “I have plenty of witnesses who can attest to my whereabouts all night and this morning.”

I’m sure she did. Selene had a veritable male harem stashed away in her home.

“But we should investigate the other heirs,” she finished. “If anyone has motive to kill the queen, it is us.”

“There’s no time,” I said. “The Summit is starting. We’re going to be too busy trying to destroy each other.”

I didn’t believe any of the heirs had the skills to kill the Red Queen, not alone. But with help…

“I really need to sniff out this area,” I said, turning back to examine the blood again. My human nose was picking up a few variations of scent, but my wolf would be so much better.

Another guard answered this time, a female. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but there really is no time right now for you to shift. If it helps at all, we have had our best trackers in here already. They detected nothing but the queen and some flowers from the garden.”

Calista backed her up. “The council summons just came through again. We must move.”

I fought for composure, knowing my wolf wanted to be free, and I needed her; my body was already prepared to shift. But unfortunately they were both right. There was no time. The council would not even remotely deal with the queen’s death until a new queen was crowned. The vulnerability to our boroughs was too great right now.

I carefully stepped back through the blood, doing my best to catalog the various scents. I was picking up on lots of familiar smells, the guards, the queen, even Selene, but there were also a few things that were odd. Energy was filtered around the room, and it didn’t feel like that from wolfborn, or bearborn. And what was with the flowery smell?

   
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