Read Online The Immortal Queen Tsubame: Ascension by H.D. Strozier - Free Book Online
Authors: H.D. Strozier
Ads: Link
followed less there be dire consequences; the one who could pass on his servants to his chosen heir who wasn’t even born yet. After he was released from the seal he had tried to reverse the roles by killing MaLeila, swearing he’d never serve another master until she proved more powerful than him and he was forced to back down. Eventually he figured out that she wasn’t a master like his previous ones, but she still had unknowing control over him so long as he had been bound to her and he’d wished that he could switch the roles. At least he’d thought so anyway. Now he knew that she was as much as slave to him as he was to her with the bind. Still he had managed to quell the desire, hadn’t even thought about it again until Tsubame’s proposition.
“You do want that chance,” Tsubame stated after Devdan’s long silence.
Devdan decided to ignore her, unwilling to let the woman get into his head. “MaLeila, let’s go. The Russian Clan has funded the rebels and they’re invading the city. They’ll be here soon too and we probably don’t want to be around when they get their hands on Tsubame.”
“So that’s where Marcel ran off to,” MaLeila said.
“Marcel?” Devdan asked.
“Tsubame sent him somewhere last night, told him to be ready for today.”
Devdan turned back to Tsubame and said, “You knew about the invasion.”
“Of course I did. I know everything.”
“Yet you relieved your soldiers from protecting you?”
“I sent them to surround as much of the perimeter of the city as they could, to hold them off until the real cavalry arrived,” Tsubame replied eyes sparkling with unrestrained excitement and anticipation.
“What did you do?” Devdan asked, narrowing his eyes as the ominous feeling he’d pushed aside earlier returned. He looked at MaLeila. “What is she planning to do?”
“She asked for the Thorne’s help to defend her against the rebels,” MaLeila began and then stopped to glance at Tsubame.
“Why…?” Devdan trailed off. Tsubame didn’t need anyone to defend her. All she had to do was bring another sandstorm through or if she though it was too suspicious to do that again without alerting the greater population about magic, she could have cast a spell to confound the rebels’ army.
Tsubame, whom MaLeila was still looking at in uncertainty, gave MaLeila a small smile and said, “Go ahead. Nothing they do at this point will stop the events I’ve set into motion.”
MaLeila then turned back to Devdan, her hesitancy gone now that she had her alternate self’s approval as she said, “She wants to start a war between the U.S. and Russia.”
Devdan pushed aside the fact that as far as he saw, MaLeila had already made up her mind about whether to take Tsubame’s deal or not and turned the girl’s words over in his head. He wasn’t a diplomatic nor did he believe in political correctness, always preferring to let his honesty, magic, and gun speak for him. Diplomacy and politics was Bastet’s forte. But he didn’t need his sister to know what an all-out war between the U.S. and Russia would mean for world.
“Are you trying to start World War III?” Devdan asked.
“Yes. And I’m not really starting anything so much as pushing things along a little faster than usual to suit my ambitions. The U.S. and Russia have been at war covertly for decades. It was an inevitability,” Tsubame explained still absently inspecting the tall plant with red flowers. Then she suddenly stopped and looked out past the garden, into the city and said, “And now my help arrives.”
6
MaLeila only felt this kind of magical stillness three times in her life, each time when something significant was about to happen. The first time was right before she was attacked by a witch who had long outlived the time her magic could physically sustain her and was taking the life source of those with any affinity to magic. Bastet, who had been tracking the witch, intervened to save her and
“You do want that chance,” Tsubame stated after Devdan’s long silence.
Devdan decided to ignore her, unwilling to let the woman get into his head. “MaLeila, let’s go. The Russian Clan has funded the rebels and they’re invading the city. They’ll be here soon too and we probably don’t want to be around when they get their hands on Tsubame.”
“So that’s where Marcel ran off to,” MaLeila said.
“Marcel?” Devdan asked.
“Tsubame sent him somewhere last night, told him to be ready for today.”
Devdan turned back to Tsubame and said, “You knew about the invasion.”
“Of course I did. I know everything.”
“Yet you relieved your soldiers from protecting you?”
“I sent them to surround as much of the perimeter of the city as they could, to hold them off until the real cavalry arrived,” Tsubame replied eyes sparkling with unrestrained excitement and anticipation.
“What did you do?” Devdan asked, narrowing his eyes as the ominous feeling he’d pushed aside earlier returned. He looked at MaLeila. “What is she planning to do?”
“She asked for the Thorne’s help to defend her against the rebels,” MaLeila began and then stopped to glance at Tsubame.
“Why…?” Devdan trailed off. Tsubame didn’t need anyone to defend her. All she had to do was bring another sandstorm through or if she though it was too suspicious to do that again without alerting the greater population about magic, she could have cast a spell to confound the rebels’ army.
Tsubame, whom MaLeila was still looking at in uncertainty, gave MaLeila a small smile and said, “Go ahead. Nothing they do at this point will stop the events I’ve set into motion.”
MaLeila then turned back to Devdan, her hesitancy gone now that she had her alternate self’s approval as she said, “She wants to start a war between the U.S. and Russia.”
Devdan pushed aside the fact that as far as he saw, MaLeila had already made up her mind about whether to take Tsubame’s deal or not and turned the girl’s words over in his head. He wasn’t a diplomatic nor did he believe in political correctness, always preferring to let his honesty, magic, and gun speak for him. Diplomacy and politics was Bastet’s forte. But he didn’t need his sister to know what an all-out war between the U.S. and Russia would mean for world.
“Are you trying to start World War III?” Devdan asked.
“Yes. And I’m not really starting anything so much as pushing things along a little faster than usual to suit my ambitions. The U.S. and Russia have been at war covertly for decades. It was an inevitability,” Tsubame explained still absently inspecting the tall plant with red flowers. Then she suddenly stopped and looked out past the garden, into the city and said, “And now my help arrives.”
6
MaLeila only felt this kind of magical stillness three times in her life, each time when something significant was about to happen. The first time was right before she was attacked by a witch who had long outlived the time her magic could physically sustain her and was taking the life source of those with any affinity to magic. Bastet, who had been tracking the witch, intervened to save her and
Similar Books
