Dark Queen’s Knight Read online

  Dark Queen’s Knight

  THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS BOOK 33

  I. T. Lucas

  Also by I. T. Lucas

  THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS ORIGINS

  1: Goddess’s Choice

  2: Goddess’s Hope

  THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS

  Dark Stranger

  1: Dark Stranger The Dream

  2: Dark Stranger Revealed

  3: Dark Stranger Immortal

  Dark Enemy

  4: Dark Enemy Taken

  5: Dark Enemy Captive

  6: Dark Enemy Redeemed

  Kri & Michael’s Story

  6.5: My Dark Amazon

  Dark Warrior

  7: Dark Warrior Mine

  8: Dark Warrior’s Promise

  9: Dark Warrior’s Destiny

  10: Dark Warrior’s Legacy

  Dark Guardian

  11: Dark Guardian Found

  12: Dark Guardian Craved

  13: Dark Guardian’s Mate

  Dark Angel

  14: Dark Angel's Obsession

  15: Dark Angel's Seduction

  16: Dark Angel's Surrender

  Dark Operative

  17: Dark Operative: A Shadow of Death

  18: Dark Operative: A Glimmer of Hope

  19: Dark Operative: The Dawn of Love

  Dark Survivor

  20: Dark Survivor Awakened

  21: Dark Survivor Echoes of Love

  22: Dark Survivor Reunited

  Dark Widow

  23: Dark Widow’s Secret

  24: Dark Widow’s Curse

  25: Dark Widow’s Blessing

  Dark Dream

  26: Dark Dream’s Temptation

  27: Dark Dream’s Unraveling

  28: Dark Dream’s Trap

  Dark Prince

  29: Dark Prince’s Enigma

  30: Dark Prince’s Dilemma

  31: Dark Prince’s Agenda

  Dark Queen

  32: Dark Queen’s Quest

  33: Dark Queen’s Knight

  34: Dark Queen’s Army

  PERFECT MATCH

  Perfect Match 1: Vampire’s Consort

  Perfect Match 2: King’s Chosen

  Perfect Match 3: Captain’s Conquest

  BOXSETS

  The Children of the Gods books 1-3: Dark Stranger trilogy

  Includes a bonus short story:

  The Fates take a Vacation

  The Children of the Gods Mega Boxset 1: Books 1-6

  includes character lists

  The Children of the Gods Mega Boxset 2: Books 6.5-10

  includes character lists

  TRY THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS SERIES ON

  AUDIBLE

  2 FREE audiobooks with your new Audible subscription!

  Copyright © 2019 by I. T. Lucas

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

  Dark Queen’s Knight is a work of fiction!

  Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any similarity to actual persons, organizations and/or events is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  1. Mey

  2. Yamanu

  3. Kian

  4. Ella

  5. Mey

  6. Yamanu

  7. Lokan

  8. Carol

  9. Yamanu

  10. Mey

  11. Kian

  12. Syssi

  13. Mey

  14. Yamanu

  15. Mey

  16. Yamanu

  17. Yamanu

  18. Kian

  19. Yamanu

  20. Mey

  21. Yamanu

  22. Lokan

  23. Yamanu

  24. Kian

  25. Mey

  26. Yamanu

  27. Lokan

  28. Kian

  29. Mey

  30. Yamanu

  31. Anandur

  32. Mey

  33. Brundar

  34. Yamanu

  35. Mey

  36. Kian

  37. Yamanu

  38. Mey

  39. Yamanu

  40. Annani

  41. Yamanu

  42. Losham

  43. Mey

  44. Yamanu

  45. Mey

  46. Yamanu

  47. Mey

  48. Lokan

  49. Mey

  50. Kian

  51. Annani

  52. Yamanu

  53. Mey

  54. Yamanu

  55. Mey

  56. Yamanu

  57. Mey

  58. Yamanu

  59. Mey

  60. Yamanu

  61. Kian

  62. Mey

  63. Yamanu

  The Children of the Gods Series

  The Perfect Match Series

  FOR EXCLUSIVE PEEKS

  1

  Mey

  Could life be more full of surprises?

  As Mey finished getting dressed and glanced at the mirror, the same old face that had been staring back at her for years suddenly seemed different.

  Except, nothing had changed about her. Not physically.

  Not yet.

  That would come later when she transitioned, provided that she did. There were no assurances of that, and the only indicator that she was a possible Dormant was her bizarre ability to retrieve echoes of conversations from the walls. Except, regular humans could have special talents as well, so that wasn’t a guarantee.

  But if she turned, would anything change about her appearance or the kind of person she was?

  Hopefully not.

  The last thing Mey wanted was to grow even taller. Yamanu, Alena, and the rest of the team were all statuesque. And now that she knew that they were immortal, she wondered if there was a connection.

  With the mountain of mind-bending information that she had yet to process, it hadn’t crossed her mind to ask Yamanu about that. The thing was, the more she thought about what he had told her, the more questions she had, and the list was growing by the minute.

  No wonder that the woman in the mirror had an uncharacteristically awed expression on her face. Her eyes, which usually seemed knowing and a little secretive, now looked shell-shocked. Uncertain.

  Who was she?

  Mey’s self-perception had been blown away by Yamanu’s revelations. Everything she’d believed about herself had been wrong.

  Was she even human?

  Even before discovering her ability to listen to walls, Mey had always felt like the odd peg that didn’t fit into any of the pre-drilled holes. But then that wasn’t unusual. Most people had some oddities about them that made them feel different. Except, the vast majority of those quirks were on the normal human spectrum, while hers were not.

  “Are you about ready?” Yamanu rapped on the bathroom door. “Alena and Arwel are waiting.”

  Mey glanced at her watch. It was lunchtime, and Alena had probably ordered room service.

  Except, who could think about food at a time like this? Her stomach was tied in such tight knots that she felt nauseous.

  “I’ll be out in a minute.”

  These people who she’d thought she knew weren’t human. They were the descendants of the freaking gods, who apparently had been real. Would knowing that change the way she talked to them? The way she regarded them?

  The friendship she’d formed with Alena had been based on lies. On both sides. They would have to sta
rt from scratch and reintroduce themselves to each other as the people they really were.

  Not only that, there were going to be questions about her talent, and talking about it with anyone other than her sister was going to feel strange, frightening and liberating at the same time.

  With a sigh, Mey pulled the brush through her hair, then twisted two strands and pinned them up. Glancing at the lipstick in her makeup pouch, she debated whether to apply it or not.

  It was funny how she suddenly felt the urge to dress up. After all, her new friends had already seen her in everything from her photo shoot fancy outfits to her plain T-shirts and yoga pants. Except, this time she was going to enter the living room as Mey the Dormant, a future member of the clan, and not Mey the human who’d been just an acquaintance.

  That’s why Mey had put on one of the new outfits she’d bought the day before, and why she’d fixed her hair.

  But perhaps putting on lipstick was a bit much.

  She wanted to look put together, not like she was going out on a date.

  It was better to play it cool and not assume an outcome for which there were no guarantees. If it turned out that she wasn’t a Dormant after all, she would look like an idiot for making premature assumptions.

  Yamanu had never heard of talents like hers or Jin’s. None of the immortals in his clan could listen to echoes embedded in walls, or touch people and create a link to them, or anything even remotely similar to that. Which could indicate that the source of her and Jin’s abilities hadn’t originated from the same godly genes as the clan’s.

  Mey chuckled. What if there were other supernatural beings hiding among the human population who were not related to the clan or to its enemies?

  Perhaps she and Jin had gotten their abilities from a different source?

  Now, that would be a big surprise, and not one Mey would be happy about. She wanted a life with Yamanu, and there was only one way she could have that—transition into immortality and become a member of his clan.

  Smoothing out a crease in her new blouse, Mey took a deep breath and headed out with her head held high and her shoulders squared.

  As soon as she opened the door, Alena jumped up from the couch and ran up to her. “I knew there was a reason I liked you so much.” She pulled Mey into a crushing hug. “It’s the affinity immortals and Dormants feel toward each other.”

  Mey hugged Alena back. “So, it has nothing to do with how amazing I am or how absolutely fabulous you are. It’s all about the genes?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say that.” Alena let go. “You are an incredible woman, and I’m happy to have you as my friend.” She kissed Mey’s cheek.

  Tears stinging her eyes, Mey glanced at Arwel. “What about you? Did you feel anything special toward me?”

  He shook his head. “I should have felt that there was something different about you. I’m starting to think that my senses are failing me.”

  Mey frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Arwel is a powerful empath,” Alena said.

  “Oh.” Mey tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is an empath?”

  Taking her by the hand, Alena led her to the dining table. “Arwel can feel other people’s emotions and intentions. Even those of immortals, which is a rare ability. Most of what we can do works only on humans.”

  “Do you have a special talent?” Mey sat down on the chair that Arwel had pulled out for her.

  When Alena made a face and shook her head, Arwel chuckled. “She has the most valued ability of us all. She can make babies.”

  That was a weird thing to say. “Aren’t most women capable of that?”

  Yamanu pulled out a chair for himself and sat next to her. “Our conception rate is minuscule compared to humans. Our females are lucky to have one child, and many don’t have any. Alena is a miracle. She has thirteen.”

  Mey’s jaw dropped. “No way. How?”

  Alena laughed. “Do I need to explain about the birds and the bees?”

  “I meant that you don’t look like you have had even one. But thirteen?”

  “I’m a very old immortal. In fact, I’m the oldest in the clan.”

  It didn’t take Mey long to realize what Alena had just revealed. “You are the goddess’s daughter?”

  “I’m her firstborn.”

  Mey felt like moving her chair back to put some distance between her and Alena. The woman was the daughter of the freaking goddess? No wonder everyone was deferring to her and treating her like a princess.

  Suddenly, the puzzle pieces realigned themselves. “Oh my God. The very important person who you’ve been alluding to is the goddess, and your enemies are the Doomers. That’s who you need to hide from because they mean you harm.”

  Alena clapped her hands. “I knew you were smart. You get an A on the test.”

  “Unbelievable. A few moments ago, I thought that there could be no more surprises for me. Boy, was I wrong.”

  As the door opened and the butler rolled in the cart with their lunch, Mey remembered her strange dream.

  Leaning toward Alena, she whispered in her ear, “Is he an immortal too?”

  “You could say so. He can’t die, but that’s also because he isn’t really alive. Ovidu is a bio-mechanical entity made to resemble a human.”

  Yamanu had told her that the clan had advanced technological knowhow and that they had been dripping it to humanity at a rate that made it look like natural progress.

  It made perfect sense for them to keep some of those marvels for themselves.

  “How many of his kind do you have? Does everyone in the clan have a servant like Ovidu?”

  It was so cool that they could make such lifelike cyborgs.

  Alena shook her head. “There are only seven Odus in existence. Originally, they all belonged to my mother, but she gave one to each of her kids.”

  “Why only seven? Can’t you make more?”

  “We can’t. We don’t know how.”

  Ovidu bowed. “May I serve lunch, mistress?”

  “Please.”

  2

  Yamanu

  “Why the questions about Ovidu?” Alena asked.

  Yamanu had wondered the same thing. He’d erased the memory of the conversation Mey had overheard about Ovidu’s indestructibility, but apparently she still found him fascinating. Then again, she’d just learned that he was a marvel of engineering, far more advanced than anything current technology could produce.

  Mey shrugged then glanced at the Odu. “I had a strange dream. I’ll tell you about it some other time.” She rolled her eyes, indicating that she didn’t want to talk about it with Ovidu listening. “Just one more thing in the smorgasbord of weirdness I’ve been served in the last two days. There are so many things I don’t understand, while others make so much more sense now.”

  “Like what?” Alena prompted.

  “I get now why everyone on your team treats you with such deference.” She winked. “Other than your fabulousness, of course. But what I don’t get is what are you doing here? After giving birth to thirteen children, you decided one day that it was time for a mommy makeover and some much-deserved party time?”

  Laughing, Alena leaned and patted Mey’s shoulder. “I love how direct you are. So, first of all, I didn’t need a mommy makeover, but I got one anyway because my sister thought that I looked 'quaint'.” She shrugged. “I like long, loose dresses in pastel colors, and I don’t like fussing with my hair and think it looks awesome in a braid. But anyway, the purpose of this gig is to flush someone out. That’s the reason for the elaborate makeup Eva applies to my face. It’s to make me look like the person he misses.”

  “I told Mey about Areana,” Yamanu said.

  Alena waved a hand. “Oh, okay. Areana, who’s my mother’s sister, has a son who ran away many years ago, and she wants to find him. The makeup makes me look like her. We hope that once he sees his beloved mother’s face on the side of a bus, he will get c
urious and try to make contact.”

  Mey cast a sidelong glance at Yamanu. “Why did he run away? Maybe it’s not a good idea to flush him out?”

  “You are smart, my lady Mey. Kalugal, the guy we are looking for, is Areana’s son with the leader of our enemies. He ran away because he either feared his father or didn’t agree with his agenda. We don’t know what his exact motives were. The thing is, his mother asked her sister for a favor, and let's just say that our Clan Mother couldn’t refuse the request. The why of it is a long story for another time. Right now, we need to focus on getting you out of here without alerting your watchers. We have some logistics to figure out.”

  Alena arched a brow. “I thought that you and Kian had figured everything out and that you were taking Mey to the village?”

  Mey nodded. “I thought so too.”

  “It shouldn’t be difficult to sneak Mey out of here,” Arwel said. “Ragnar’s limo has darkened windows, and the last time I checked, the only cameras in the parking garage were ours.”

  “Check again.” Yamanu reached for a bread roll. “And also check the footage of the last couple of days. See if anyone's been doing anything suspicious down there.”