No answer, nothing to indicate that he’d died. No angels of mercy descended, no bright light for him to walk into, and no brimstone and fire. Just nothing. He fell to his knees. “Parker?”
Images flashed in front of him as if appearing on a movie screen. Images he subconsciously understood. Somehow he knew this was information and knowledge from the crystal. It was the same information tucked away somewhere deep inside his body. He listened and watched in awe as powerful ancient Fae chants and knowledge were revealed to him. He now knew without question, how the fairies used their magic and why. He watched in fascination what he could only describe as a movie; the story of a man’s life unfolded before Quinn’s eyes. The stranger’s life started in childhood and moved into adulthood. He saw a marriage and more children until the young man was no longer young. Age settled into his body, into his features. What was left of his grey hair still held curl and matched the thick mustache on his face. His large stature was almost overbearing, even for an old guy. Even in old age, this guy held an air of power and a wealth of wisdom behind his blue eyes. The movie stopped. The old man turned to him and began chanting foreign words, over and over again until they were ingrained in Quinn’s mind. The phrase was like a nursery rhyme lodged forever in his memory. Ancient words filled his mind, and he instinctively knew exactly what they meant and what would happen when they were uttered. Some words were used to protect, others to harm. The man stepped out of the screen and moved toward him. The scene from a horror flick flashed in his mind.
The man lowered to his knees and took Quinn’s hand.
Quinn glanced down at the man’s wrinkled skin. His old white hand contrasted in color against his own tanned fingers. “You’ve been chosen.”
“For what?” Quinn asked.
“To carry the secrets of our people. You touched the crystal and survived. Your heart and soul are bound to the Fae.”
“You’ve got the wrong guy.”
“No…You, and you alone, are my chosen heir to the throne. You will be their king.”
Quinn shook his head, sure that a hysterical laugh left his lips. “You must be smoking crack. None of this makes sense.” He shook his head in denial. “Who the hell are you?”
The old man glanced up and pierced Quinn with his eerie, glowing ice-blue gaze. “The chant…” He poked Quinn in the temple. “…stored forever in your brain is the chant of kings. The inner power you will need to rule. You will be a god among men. A leader to all, more powerful than any king before you. You are the last in the line of kings. Our chosen one, handpicked by all of the kings before you. You will rule.”
Quinn swatted the man’s hand away. “I don’t want this. I never—”
Quinn screamed as he felt his body caving in on itself. He was pulled by a strong force off his knees. His body went flying backward through the air. His feet no longer touched the ground. He felt as though someone had tied a rope around his waist and was pulling him back into the abyss.
He blinked his eyes open, momentarily blinded by light. Parker leaned over him. She looked like an angel with the light shining behind her. “Am I dead?”
She dropped the phone to the floor. “Oh thank god.” She cupped his cheek and closed her eyes. “I thought I’d lost you.” A tear escaped her lids. “I didn’t know how to bring you back.”
She cupped her face and sobbed into her hands. He slowly pushed himself up and fought against the dizziness. He pulled her into his arms and held her. She clutched his shirt and cried into the cotton as he stroked her back and whispered soothing words into her ear. “Parker, I’m fine, albeit a little tripped out. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.” She cried harder into his chest. “Parker.”
He lifted her in his arms as he stood. He waited until he steadied on his feet before carrying her upstairs and into his room. He laid her on the bed and climbed in beside her. There was nothing sexual about it. She needed him, and he needed her. He needed her to anchor him, to keep him grounded. He needed her like he’d never needed anyone before.
He pulled her against his chest and soothed her hair with his hand. “I’m fine.”
She nodded against his chest. The first verbal acknowledgement she’d given him.
“I need you to stop crying.”
Her body shook more.
“Parker, please.”
She sniffled and leaned out of his hold. Her mouth was pulled into a fine line, and she didn’t look upset… She looked pissed.
“How could you do that to me!” she screamed and scooted off the bed. Her hands were balled into fist. “You scared the life out of me. I thought you were dying.” She paced from one end of his room to the other. She threw her hands up. “I didn’t know what to do.” She stopped in mid stride and turned to him. “I had to call Zander. He was the one who brought you back. I couldn’t.”
“The demon?”
“He’s one of the highest demons I know. He gave me a spell and stayed on the phone, chanting it with me until you came back. You don’t even want to know what I had to promise him for helping me. What the hell happened?”
“What the hell did you promise him?”
Parker lowered her head. “A favor. I owe him a personal favor, no questions asked. No complaining. I’m indebted to him now.”
“Oh, Parker, no.” Quinn shook his head. “I’ll fix it. I swear.”
She glanced up, her lips pulled into a frown. “What the hell happened to you?”
He slid to the end of the bed, and his gaze lowered to the floor. “It’s still jumbled. I blacked out into a dark room. Images flashed. Words I’ve never heard…” He clutched his head. “And then there was this man, and his life flashed before me.” He looked up to find Parker on her knees in front of him. “He stepped off the movie screen like a character from a horror flick, only he wasn’t a chick or remotely scary.”
“There’s a tail of old lore that explains you experience. It only happens when the owner of the Fae powers’ reveal himself to you.” She covered her mouth with her hand. “Quinn, I’m soo sorry. The transfer has already started. You’re running out of time.”
He stood, knocking Parker out of the way. “No. I don’t want to be king. I refuse to be king.”
Parker moved to sit on the bed. At the mention of the word king, her mouth parted. “King?”
He nodded and sat down beside her. “That man said I’m his chosen heir, I had the heart and soul of the Fae, and that I’d be stronger than any king before me.”
“Oh shit.” She leapt to her feet and started pacing again. “No wonder someone wanted to steal the crystal.” She stopped and turned to him. “King? Really?”
“Yes, king as in ruler, as in now I have this god-forsaken nursery rhyme stuck in my head. I’m in some jacked-up crap.”
She nodded. “Whoever hired Sully to steal it wanted the power inside.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. You said that Sully or his employer had arranged for both you and I to be in that alley. He dropped it on purpose; he could have just teleported it—” His hand flew up to cover his mouth.
He talked behind his hand, and he shook his head. “I shouldn’t know that. That wasn’t in a lesson.” His eyes widened. “How do I know that?”
Parker took a deep breath and let it out. “All Fae know what demons are capable of. The knowledge and powers are starting to come to you.”
He glanced at his watch. “No, no, no, I still have forty-nine hours.” He pointed at her. “You told me I have time to get this crap out of me.”
Parker stepped to him and squeezed his hand. “Quinn, listen to me. Being appointed king is a huge deal. I won’t dissuade you from the throne or governing our people, the old guy obviously thinks you’re the right man for the job but we haven’t had a king in over a hundred years.”
He shook his head. “And you won’t have one ever again. We. Are. All. Created. Equal. I won’t be a dictator. I won’t do it.”
She nodded. “Then I’ll help yo
u get rid of it, but once we do, we have to destroy whichever crystal we transfer the powers into so that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.” She squeezed his hand again. “You can’t mention this to anyone. No one. Do you understand?”
He nodded. “I’m not sure anyone would believe me.”
“The answer lies in your lineage.”
“Yep. I have to agree. I wonder why the kings didn’t pick dear old dad for the honor.” Quinn shivered. “Could you imagine?”
“No, but I’m even more convinced daddy dearest was after the same crystal, and because of what Sully said, someone foiled his plan and must have known your connection. Someone did this to you on purpose to keep it away from your dad.” She reasoned out loud. “I’m sure of it.”
“We need to figure out the players and remove the powers. You know what really sucks?”
“What?”
“I didn’t even get to sleep with you, and since I’m starting to retain the knowledge that means my time was bumped up. How unfair is that?”
She chuckled. “I’m thinking you have less than two days left, and if we can’t get the powers out of your body, then I’m afraid that you’re going to be our king, whether you want the job or not.”
Chapter 9
“Does your mom have any old photo albums or papers? I think we need to start looking tonight.”
He nodded, tossed his arm over her shoulder, and walked with her out of the room. “Down in the basement. But, let me warn you, it hasn’t been dusted in a while.”
“Oh yay, I’m looking forward to it.”
When they stepped into the basement, Parker’s heart almost stopped. Boxes were lined against the wall from the floor to the ceiling, and not a one of them was labeled. Whoever had packed this room lacked the proper OCD tendencies required for a job of this magnitude. “Maybe we should start with her room?”
He shook his head. “This is everything.”
She let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed her hands together. “Let’s get to work.”
They spent an entire hour just sorting the boxes. Quinn pulled each one down and moved them to the appropriate piles. When he lifted the last one filled with clothes, he glanced down at it. “Explosanti.”
Parker glanced up right as the box lifted into the air, spun in place in the middle of the room, and exploded in mid-air, shooting the clothes all around the room. “Why did you do that?”
Quinn picked up the bright, flowered Hawaiian shirt nearest him. “You needed to know the Fae command that will destroy the stone, and I wanted to make sure it would work.”
“Why?”
He grabbed another handful of clothes. “In case I’m in capacitated or hurt. You need to know how to get rid of it, so that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”
She grabbed a pair of pants and a blouse. “Oh, I get it. You’re one of those worst-case scenario guys, right?”
“Isn’t everyone?” he asked. “My mother taught me to be as prepared as possible for every situation.”
She moved to him, took the clothes out of his hands, and dumped them on top of another box. “How is that working out for you, Your Highness?”
He shrugged and let out a sigh. “Not too well.” He gestured around the room. “As you can see.”
They disregarded the still intact boxes filled with clothes, moving them to the other side of the room. Only a few boxes remained for them to dig through. Thank god for small miracles. Two boxes of personal items, two large trunks of papers and miscellaneous stuff, and a couple boxes of books were the only ones that looked interesting. Quinn had wanted to shift the boxes of books to the other side of the room, but Parker stopped him. Even Parker was known to put little keepsakes between the pages of her favorite books. She’d even gone so far as to write notes in the margins and highlight passages. If his mother was any kind of reader and lover of the written word, then it was possible she would have done the same thing. They started with the obvious choice; the two trunks filled to the top with papers and albums. They sifted through the documents of his mom’s life. Papers from Carlos Atkinson, his mother’s attorney, made Parker pause. She scanned the documents, a receipt for some video work caught her attention. Parker glanced around and made a mental note to keep any eye out for anything electronic. She was a bit quicker at it than Quinn was. He’d stop, and his eyes would glaze over while he remembered things from his past.
“I can do this alone if it would be easier. I didn’t even think about how this might affect you.”
He shook his head. “No. I think we’ll have a better chance if I help.”
He tossed aside a stack papers. “This is going to take forever.” He moved to sit down in front of her to help with the box she’d been working in.
She lifted two photo albums out of the box and handed him one. They were filled with all kinds of pictures of Quinn at different ages in his childhood. He looked happy and healthy and loved. Some pictures showed his friends. There were also a lot with his mom and even a picture that every mother took of their child in the tub. She’d guessed it was a new-mom thing. Parker surmised they were mere early blackmail pictures for the teen and dating years. She ran her finger over the face in the photograph. “You were very handsome, even as a baby.”
“I know. It’s a curse.”
She chuckled and continued to look through the album. There was nothing, no one she recognized or noticed as out of the ordinary in the pictures. She had no clue who belonged and who didn’t. How would she know? She handed him the album. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to do the pictures by yourself. I’m not sure I’d notice if something or someone didn’t belong.”
He nodded and took the album. She moved to the box of books and started pulling them out. She tipped them upside down and shook and then double checked by flipping through the pages. It wasn’t until the second box of books that stuff began to fall in her lap. First, a dead rose that had been smashed between the pages. Two books later, a postcard from overseas. The last book held the enchilada of clues. A folded, well-read, fading yellow letter that looked extremely delicate fell into her lap. She opened the delicate letter and started to read.
V,
I never meant to hurt you. You have to know that if I could do it all over again, I’d do it right. Candlelight dinner, down on one knee, a sincere proposal, and a ring for your hand. I didn’t mean what I said. I know you would never do anything as devious as try and trap me with a pregnancy. Please forgive me. I love you and can’t imagine my life without you in it. I don’t know what came over me. I panicked and ran like a fool, not the man you needed, not the man you deserve. I’m begging you for just one more chance, one more chance to prove that I won’t let you down. I know it scared you when I told you of my royal heritage. Our child will be a half-breed. An outcast in my society, but he does deserves a chance to know his Fae roots. Please don’t deny him or me the chance because of your anger. I’m sorry you had to find out about Madeline the way you did. It was an arranged engagement by our parents, but you have to know that I would have never married her, not if you’d have given me another chance.
Forever yours,
B
Parker blushed like a voyeur, reading the heart-felt emotions of a man who had to be Quinn’s father. This letter was life-changing. Quinn’s father had wanted him and Quinn’s mother too. Parker covered her mouth. “Oh god.”
Quinn glanced up and set down the album he’d been looking through. “What?”
He moved to her side, and she handed him the letter. Quinn started shaking his head. “No, I don’t believe this.”
He flipped the letter over to see if anything was on the back before turning it over once more. “She wouldn’t have kept this from me.” His arms dropped to his side. His mouth parted as he held Parker’s gaze. “Not her.”
Quinn crinkled the note in his hand.
Parker lowered beside him. “I’m sure she had her reasons. This doesn’t change who your mother was. She loved you.�
�� Parker pointed to the albums. “You have pictures as proof.”
Parker gestured to the letter. “The creep left her when she found out about you. And, to top it off, he was engaged to marry someone else. If the father of my child called him a half breed and an outcast, I wouldn’t have taken his sorry ass back either. No apology in the world could have made that right.”
Quinn pushed to his feet and kept his back to her. “You want to know the difference between you and my mother, Parker?”
“Quinn, don’t.”
“You would have tried to make it right. You wouldn’t have kept me from my father and lied about it.”
Quinn walked out, leaving Parker to deal with Quinn’s past. Just because he was mad and giving up didn’t mean she was. She’d see this through, even if she did it by herself. She finished looking through the books and then looked once more to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. Nothing fell from the pages, there were no notes left in the margin that said…hey, this is the guy you’re looking for. Nothing. King Quinn had learned some important facts. His father’s name started with a B. He’d been engaged to a woman named Madeline, and the man had wanted to know his son even if he’d be an outcast and called a half breed. The mystery man not only knew he was royal, but he’d also managed to say his son would never be accepted.
Parker leapt to her feet. Her heart raced. “I know how to find him.”
She took the basement steps two at a time and yelled as she ran through the house. Quinn didn’t respond. She found him in the kitchen sipping a beer, holding a picture of his mother. He’d smoothed the wrinkles from the letter.
“I think I know how to find him. A book at the Crystal Ball. It will list the ancestry of all the kings. It should have your father or, at the very least, the dude you met when you blacked out.” She glanced down at her watch. “But we’ll have to wait until Carrie opens in the morning. It’s too late to do anything tonight.”
He lifted his beer. “Have fun figuring it out. I’m throwing in the towel. I’m done.”
Not My Shifter/ Sinfully Cursed (Shifter Paradise) (Volume 1) Page 19