Лори Девоти - Amazon Queen

I forced myself not to look at them, not to let any sign of my confusion show. Instead, I answered Thea. "I didn't see them, but Bern stayed behind. I can have her check it out." Thinking we were done, I bent to pick up the sugar cubes.

"That will only alert them that we know she is there. In fact, your trip and leaving Bern there may have already endangered our success. We should go tonight."

"And do what?" I'd picked up the cubes and held them in my loosely closed hand.

Thea glanced at the others and then back at me. "Attack, of course. Get the baby back and bring her here."

I shook my arm, felt the cubes rattle inside my fist like beans in a maraca. "No. Not yet." I turned toward the barn.

Thea reached out, placing a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

I stiffened. It was instinct when anyone touched me, but in this circumstance being watched by the warriors and artisan of the camp, I particularly didn't want to be touched, especially by Thea. I stepped to the side and spun, causing her hand to drop and bringing me back to facing her.

"There is no reason to wait."

I could feel eyes on us, but when I glanced at the warriors their gazes dropped.

Thea stepped closer and stage-whispered in my ear, "It was one thing to run last night, to leave those here to clean up. I understand your past, that you can't afford a second run-in with the human police so soon after your arrest last fall, but to add to the crime of losing the child by not going after her now, how can you justify that?"

Two of the warriors shifted their feet.

My fingers tightened on the treats in my hand. The cubes cut into my skin. I didn't know where to start with her outrageous claims. That I ran? That I was denying a charge?

But I was queen. I didn't have to explain.

Instead, I moved the cubes into my other hand and wiped the left-behind bits of sugar off my palm and onto my shorts. "How exactly did you learn where the baby is? How do we know she is there at all?" I used the feminine because Thea had. I didn't want to alert her I might not believe everything I had been told. . not yet.

Emotion flickered behind her eyes. Annoyance, I guessed.

"We tracked the. . son."

I had been feigning interest, really only concerned with reminding her I was in charge, but her response surprised me. "We?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it with a smile. "I hired someone. I know it isn't normal, but we needed someone with experience researching."

"A detective?" I frowned. "What did you tell this detective? What job did you give him?" I was concerned now. Amazons all had created pasts. You couldn't live to be five hundred in the human world. The fact that we did required some creative paperwork-or a complete avoidance of paperwork. Both of which a detective could easily spot.

"Not a detective. . friends."

"Friends? Amazons?"

"Friends to the Amazons." She waved her hand, as if waving away any other questions. "The point is, I know where the child is, but the son could move her. We need to go tonight."

This time I was more direct. "No."

Her eyes flickered. "No? What about the high council?"

"I'll talk to them."

"I already have."

"I'll talk to them again." My temper was slipping. I wasn't used to being challenged, and despite my concern that the Amazons were becoming sheep, I didn't like this obvious proof that Thea was not among that group-at least where following my command was concerned.

Thea pulled in a breath, a patient I can't believe I have to say this breath. "There is no reason or time to talk to them again. We have to go tonight."

Then as if that settled everything, she gestured to Areto, and my would-be lieutenant hurried over. I took a step back, surprised and for perhaps the first time in my life, unsure. Somewhere, somehow I had lost control.

It was, however, a momentary setback. I glanced down at the sugar cubes in my hand, staring at them blindly as my mind whirled. Unless the high council said otherwise, I was queen. Thea, no matter how she presented herself or what her magical abilities, wasn't.

And right now I didn't even know if the high council still existed.

I dropped the cubes on the ground. "We will do nothing until I have talked to the council." I stared at Areto, let my gaze bore into her. It took longer than it should have, seconds when it should have been immediate, but her eyes flickered and her head dropped. . she nodded.

Having made my point, I turned, paced back toward the house, and hoped to hell my call was returned soon.

It was, two hours later.

I answered on the third ring. I had the phone in my hand on the first ring, but I waited until two more peals had passed before pushing the button to connect. The call felt more important than it was, I told myself. It was just a call, like a thousand others I had participated in in the past.

The future of the Amazons wasn't riding on this; my future wasn't riding on this.

"Zery?"

"Kale?" I asked. I didn't speak with my contact enough to recognize her voice.

"Away. This is Padia. Why did you call?"

I hesitated. To question her again would be to question her authority, but to not question her. . it reeked of sheep. Still, breaking one hundred years of training was a hard thing to do in one step. "I wanted to know what we are to do with the baby."

Her tone sharpened. "Do you have the baby?"

I hesitated. "We captured her from the sons three days ago."

"Three days?" There was a pause; I could hear her thinking, judging.

"Yes, I called, but no one called back." I paused. "Where did you say Kale is?"

"Don't worry about Kale. Give the child to. . Thea. She knows what to do."

I stared at the wall. I was sitting in a small sitting room, off the dining area. A fold-out couch was crammed in one corner, a bureau in the other. It was where Bern had slept before I'd left her in Madison.

"I'm queen. I should know what the plan is for the infant."

There was silence, then. . "Give the child to Thea."

There was a spot on the wall. I hadn't noticed it before even though it looked old and had probably been there for two decades. I stood and placed my palm over it, then pulled my hand back and stared at it again.

"It's true." The stain was still there, still as obvious. How had I missed it all this time?

"What, Zery? What's true?" Padia's voice had an edge now, held a challenge.

I turned my back on the wall and the stain. "Sorry. I wasn't talking to you. Someone walked in, asked me a question."

There was tension on the other end of the line; I could feel it vibrate. "Good. So you understand what you are to do." Each word was an order: short, terse.

My fingers were tight around the phone; my wrist began to ache from my grip. "I understand." I understood way too much. "One last question. The council, have they met recently?"

Silence for a second, then. . "The council isn't your worry. Giving the infant to Thea is. Tell her to call me, after."

After. One word and it was all the answer I needed. More than I wanted to know.

"Zery, the tribe has to stay strong. Don't question what you don't understand."

Be a sheep. That was my job. Being queen had never felt so demeaning.

I knew it was a farce then. That everything, every bit of pride I'd had in my elevated position, was a lie. The son Jack was right. I was nothing. . not to him, not to anyone. I might as well have been a human in a dead-end job tightening whatever cog I'd been assigned to tighten.

"Zery?"

I snapped out of my daze, but not the fog that now seemed to engulf me. "Yes."

"I think I need to talk to Thea. Can you get her?"

Of course I could. That was what I did-follow orders. I carried the phone into the yard and handed it to our new high priestess; then I walked into the woods.