Amazon Queen

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.

I knew Jack was watching. I knew he would find me.

* * *

If the son was watching, he didn't show himself. I wandered along the meandering path for half an hour, waiting. For what, I didn't know. If he showed, what would I do?

Tell him he was right-the council did plan to kill the baby?

I'd lied to Padia, by omission at least. She thought we had the child. Of course, after she spoke with Thea she would know differently. What was the punishment for a queen who lied to the council?

I had no idea.

Just as I had no idea what I was going to do when I returned to camp and found the Amazons, my Amazons, planning their attack on Mel.

I stopped by the obelisk. Someone had been here recently. There were leaves from a plant I didn't recognize strewn on the ground. The birders, I assumed. What they had been doing I couldn't imagine, but it wasn't important, not right now.

I placed both hands on the cold stone and closed my eyes while I prayed to Artemis. She was a moon goddess, but she didn't sleep. I had to believe she was near, near enough to guide me.

I needed guidance and I had no one else to go to to find it. At one time I would have gone to Mel, but she had moved on. Yes, she would still talk to me, but she had left the Amazons. What kind of advice could she give me, who couldn't imagine life without the tribe?

And that I realized was what this was coming down to. Go along with what I knew the council had planned, as I assumed Thea was doing, or walk away and leave my entire life behind.

A pain, worse than any I'd felt in the last few days, shot through me.

Leaving might not have been easy for Mel, but for me? It was unimaginable. It would be easier to pick up a sword and hack off my own arm. That would hurt less.

So I drew on every bit of faith I could muster and let my desperation show. . bared myself to the goddess I had taken for granted and prayed she'd look in on me now.

Something rustled in the trees. My hands still on the stone, I opened my eyes. A hound sat five feet away at the edge of the forest. Hounds were one of Artemis's animals, and we had a number of them back at camp.

While I didn't recognize this one, there were strays in the area-it was how most of the dogs at camp came to us. A year ago I would have had no reason to be wary of the creature, but the sons had changed that. In fact, the son who had killed the teens last fall had shifted into a dog. He'd been in his dog form when he learned my givnomai and used it against me.

So I had every reason not to trust this creature, or at best, to brush his appearance aside, but I didn't.

I took him as a sign, which probably showed how desperate I'd become.

He watched me from the cover of the brambles for a bit, neither nervous nor aggressive. Not even, I realized, curious-more patient. Like he was waiting for me to come to some conclusion or finish what I was doing, but since I was doing nothing, I continued standing there, waiting too.

After a second, he sat.

It was then I started to feel silly. I lowered my hands and took a step toward the creature, still half expecting him to disappear in a puff of smoke before I got too close.

Instead, he whimpered. Another step and I could see him more clearly, more of him. Enough to realize he wasn't a he at all, but a she, and she had recently given birth.

Which made sense. Pregnant dogs, or dogs in heat, are frequently dumped on rural roads by humans too weak to do what needs to be done if they are not prepared to care for the creatures. They let nature take care of the ugly tasks they lacked the guts for.

Disgusted and prepared for the worst. . to find the bitch had been starved and beaten, I kept my demeanor mild as I continued to approach. I had no food on me, but I hoped presenting a calm energy would gain her trust so I could at least assess her condition.

Before I got close enough to touch her, she stood and turned to move deeper into the woods. I followed. She went off the path. The underbrush was thick. Briars slapped against my legs and what was probably poison ivy tickled my ankles, but for whatever reason it seemed important I continue.

Maybe I just needed it to be important.

Finally, at the base of an oak, she stopped and the whining increased, but this time it wasn't coming from her. Hidden in a bed of leaves were three tiny bodies. They were white with black spots and speckles and they were squirming. At least two of them were; the third was still, heartbreakingly still.

I dropped onto my knees beside them. Ignoring the two who shoved with their feet and noses for their mother's attention, I scooped up the third, a boy. He screamed when I did, a horrible shrill peep that made my jaws tighten and my heart leap.