Chapter Twenty-Six: The War in Our Blood
The chamber became a battlefield without a single blow being struck.
Every soldier in the Legion convulsed, jerking between my command and hers. It was like tugging on the strings of a thousand marionettes while someone stronger tried to rip them from my hands. The web of threads blazed in my vision — not just white now, but streaked with red and gold, snapping, fusing, stretching to the breaking point.
The Queen's shadow loomed over me. She wasn't moving faster — she didn't have to. Her presence filled every inch of the space, choking the air, drowning thought.
—Kneel, Daughter.—
Her voice hammered through my skull, not words anymore, just command. My knees buckled without my permission. Sparks exploded in my vision. The Legion shuddered toward her, armor scraping against resin as if pulled by invisible chains.
Vire's voice sliced through the chaos. "Jess! Anchor yourself! You lose focus for one second, she'll strip the Hive right out of you!"
I wanted to answer, but the Queen was already inside my mind, dragging her claws through my memories. Images flashed and shattered — the first time I felt the Hive's hum under my skin, the night the mark appeared on my neck, the sound of his voice whispering over the link instead of hers.
She paused there.
At him.
—Ah.— The thought was slow, savoring. —The male. A fracture in the Core. Dangerous.—
I slammed a wall around the memory, but she was already tearing it open. Rage flared so hot it burned through the fear, and the threads in my hands flared brighter.
I didn't just pull this time.
I yanked.
Half the Legion snapped to attention facing her now, mandibles flaring, claws raised. The other half still staggered toward me, under her control. Soldiers turned on each other instantly, slamming together in showers of sparks and resin splinters. The sound was deafening — the grinding of armor, the snapping of limbs, the hiss of pheromone commands flooding the air.
The stranger was suddenly at my side, his voice urgent. "If you can't break her hold completely, split her link. Force the soldiers into dead zones!"
"I don't know how!" I gritted out.
"You do!" he shot back. "You've been doing it since you picked up that blade!"
The bone knife — I hadn't even realized I still had it until my fingers clenched around its ridged hilt. I plunged it into the nearest soldier still under her sway, severing the thread between us with a flash of white-hot light.
The Queen hissed, mandibles snapping. Her golden eyes narrowed, and for the first time, I felt her push.
Not a tug-of-war now.
A tidal wave.
It crashed over me, crushing my lungs, twisting my thoughts into hers. The soldiers I'd freed wavered, their antennae twitching uncertainly.
Vire dove into the fray, cutting down two that lunged for me. "You've got ten seconds before she pulls them all back!"
Ten seconds.
Not enough to win — but maybe enough to hurt.
I threw the knife. Not at her soldiers.
At her.
It spun end over end through the air, the ridges catching the chamber's light — and buried itself in the Queen's shoulder joint.
She didn't scream. She didn't even stumble. But the golden light in her eyes flickered, and for one heartbeat, the entire Hive went silent.
In that heartbeat, I tore through the threads, snapping dozens, hundreds, before the silence shattered.
Her roar wasn't sound. It was pressure, crushing every thought but one:
—You will not take what is mine.—
And then she moved.