“I can’t wait to see how she interacts with the other Prodigies.” A smile lifted Queen Cooper’s lips, showing a bit of the evil I knew lurked in her because of her history through the war. “The dynamics are going to be…” She trailed off, her eyes glowing golden, doing what Mages do as she stared at nothing. All the Rulers stayed quiet as she gradually blinked, watching her avidly as her eyes eventually turned back to normal gold. She blinked again, eyes now on me. “Oh.” Her mouth twitched as if she found something humorous, but she said nothing else as she continued watching me, her eyes evaluating.
“Seriously?” King Collins asked, sounding exasperated. “That’s all you’re going to say?”
She shrugged gracefully as she glanced away from everyone, her golden hair hiding her expression.
“Fine,” he muttered, peering back at me. “And you can’t tell me shit about Spirits, can you?”
That, I could answer honestly. “No.” Not unless I wanted my powers ripped away. Even if that got me out of this Prodigy bullshit, that was the last thing I wanted. Death was a better outcome than losing my powers, since they were my defense as much as my offense.
He sighed. “So at least some of what I’ve read is right.” He waved a hand at the bookcases. “Half of those are about accounts of Spirits. As soon as the die told me a spirit was going to be Queen — a first ever, by the way — I started studying, since all I had ever heard was rumor.” He paused. “And that’s pretty much all I got from the books: rumors.” He shook his head, sitting down on the edge of the coffee table, eyes steadfast on mine. “I’ve got to tell you, Caroline—”
“Caro,” I muttered, stopping him, the correction second nature.
“All right, Caro. I’ve got to tell you honestly, I have no fucking clue how to train you.” He ran his hands through his hair, showing his stress for this clearly. “‘I’ve only got rumors, so I don’t even know what a spirit’s talent is.” He clenched both hands in his hair, staring at the ground. “All I have to go off are the reports of how you killed those men.”
I stiffened, turning my attention to the window.
He didn’t seem to notice my apprehension, continuing, “Those men…they were…dematerialized.”
I sucked in a harsh breath, unable to speak of how I had killed them. Fear swamped me as I worried he would pressure me to reveal my secrets, and I breathed, “King Collins, please…stop.” A flutter of wind flickered through my hair, lifting it. It was a gentle touch, caressing in its caring nature, but I shouted in frightened fury. My pulse raced at the unwanted trace. I jerked away from the wall, standing on the balls of my feet and staring where I had stood before, waiting for the inevitable.
King Zeller blurred past me, shoving me behind him and staring where I had been, growling, “What the fuck was that?”
The rest of the Rulers were there a second later. I peered around King Zeller’s arm, watching as King Collins swiped a silver knife I hadn’t known he had on him through the air where I had been standing. It went through smoothly, not catching on anything, but that didn’t help my fear, my emotions high and my heartbeat pounding in my ears.
Again the whispering breeze wavered around me, wrapping a cloaking tendril around me from behind. I screamed, grabbing at King Zeller’s hooded robe, but the breeze turned more forceful, dragging me away from them as they all spun in my direction. All four pairs of eyes instantly glowed as I fought against the breeze fluttering my clothes, breathing kisses through my hair, lifting it. “Stop it!” I screamed, jerking inside the hold that was beginning to lift me off the ground, “Fucking stop it!”
All the Rulers were instantly surrounding me, trying to pull me from an embrace they couldn’t see. Queen Cooper began mumbling under her breath, glowing such a bright gold I squinted, and suddenly the uninvited, clutching warmth breezed over my neck, making me shudder as it released me. I started to fall from the air but King Zeller caught me, throwing me over his shoulder as all four of them raced from the room, turned down a well-appointed hallway, and slammed through another door. I was promptly set on my feet behind them as all four turned in a flurry to the door they had just come through, guns drawn, eyes glowing fiercely.
There was a moment of silence as I bent over, hands on my knees, to catch my breath and regulate my emotions, focusing on nothing. Then a masculine voice rumbled from directly behind me in a lazy intonation, “Care to share what’s going on, Queen Ruckler?”
I yelped, not expecting anyone to be in here, my heart rate again shooting off as I jerked around…to stare at the bottom half of a massive chest. I blinked, and absurdly, I muttered, “That’s a lot of fucking cashmere. Do you have to buy it by the yard?”
A sniff. “That’s a thousand-dollar shirt you’re mocking.” I continued staring in amazement at the size of this guy’s torso, my heart rate beginning to slow again as I watched him lift a hand and point around a glass of brandy, waggling it up and down my frame. “And where did you get the pajama set? A thrift store?” Another sniff. “You smell of homelessness. Back the fuck off. I hear it can be catching.”
“I did get it at the thrift store, thank you for asking, and if you’re interested I can give you their address so you don’t have to be one of those men who makes himself feel better by wearing a thousand-dollar sweater.” I nodded when I heard him choke on his drink, and lifted a finger, poking the guy in his pec, uncaring that he stilled at the contact. All I felt was rock-solid under the layer of black cashmere. “Holy shit, I know a man who would pay big money to have you on his payroll.”
He growled quietly, “Who the fuck are you?” He chuckled derisively. “And Jesus, can you get any damn shorter? I can’t see anything but the top of your tastelessly dyed white hair.” He paused, then he said over my head, “Why are we bringing strays in from the damn street?”
“I’m not all that short, buddy. You’re just like,” I waved my hands high and wide, “like gigantic or something. Hell, forget the guy I know, you could play the next billed role as Godzilla and make major cash.” I shrugged, dropping my hands, still staring wide-eyed at the chest, utterly astonished. “And they kidnapped me. I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here.”
“Shut up!” Queen Ruckler growled. “Caro, what the hell was that?”
I shrugged again. “It’s gone. No worries.” And yeah, I was no longer scared shitless, so it was gone; this guy’s size was a great distraction.
“I’d like to know the answer to Brann’s question,” a feminine voice stated to my left, and I did better this time at hiding my surprise as I finally pulled my eyes away from the chest in front of me to the direction of the voice.
I poked the guy again, earning a growl from him as I stared at the Vampire goddess. “Maybe you should let her borrow your sweater. She seems to have forgotten clothing isn’t optional if she’s not a Shifter.”
The Vampire woman turned blue eyes on me, scowling, her luxurious red and black streaked hair brushing at her shoulders. Her bare shoulders. There was only a thin piece of shiny black leather barely covering her ample breasts, and tiny matching shorts that I was sure were smaller than underwear I owned. She also wore stiletto-heeled, thigh-high red boots, and she swung one of them in irritation over her other leg where she sat on a recliner in this living room of sorts. “These are clothes,” her finger ran over the edge of her bosom, “or maybe you need to look closer?”
I snorted. “Um…they’re already,” I popped my eyes wide, “out there, ya know? No need for closer inspection.” I cocked my head, hair dangling over my shoulder. “And unless this is Halloween or the super-secret prostitution house the Kings and Queens run, those are definitely not clothes.”
Her Vampire growled at me as she flashed a bit of fang, clearly pissed.
“I’m feeling faint,” another voice, a soft baritone, sounded to my left. “This is just too much hostility for me. If it’s safe to leave, I think I’ll go to my meditation room.”
I blinked, turning my head slowl
y in that direction, and gawked at the Mage leaning his muscular, bulky frame heavily against the wall, his bronzed face ashen as he waved his hand in front of his face, eyes fluttering open and shut repeatedly.
“Please,” I blinked again, “tell me you’re not serious.”
He stared at me with wide golden eyes, pointing a finger at the Rulers, who were holstering their weapons, and whispered rapidly, “They had their,” he waved his hand, “guns out and she,” a wave at the Vampire woman, “actually bared her fangs at you.” He stared willfully as if he had made his point. But he sighed heavily, explaining slowly like I was a dimwit, “They could have fired their weapons or she could have bit you!”
I blinked a few times at him. “I don’t even have words for you.” I shook my head, hoping that dispelled the dumbness I was gathering from him. I turned to face the Rulers, who I could tell were staring at the back of my head, and tried for distracting them so they didn’t start questioning me. “Who the hell are these three?”
King Collins stared at me for long moments, obviously telling me we weren’t through with the conversation they wanted to have, but he answered my question. “That’s Aria Black,” a wave at the Vampire woman, “the Vampire Prodigy.”
My lips trembled…because he was serious.
A wave at the Mage. “That’s London Jetter, the Mage Prodigy.”
My nostrils flared, joining my trembling lips as I held his gaze — barely — steadily.
He waved behind me. “And that’s Brann Johnson, the Shifter Prodigy.”
Oh, fuck.
I grabbed at my stomach, a few odd sounds gurgling from my throat, but I was proud to say I didn’t laugh as I deadpanned, “You’re telling me you have a hooker, a pacifist, and a snob as the next leaders of our people?” I could have sworn all of the Rulers’ faces went carefully blank at the same time, but I was pretty sure I saw humor in their eyes, which were beginning to squint. The Vampire Prodigy growled quietly under her breath and the Mage made a half-hysterical sigh at her action, to which I barely held myself together.
A deep growl sounded behind me, a bit of wolf in the snarly tone. The muscles of the Prodigy Shifter tensed as he bent, and he spoke directly against the back of my ear. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but I can assure you that just because I have taste, unlike the classlessness standing before me, it in no way means I’m a pussy cat.”
I lifted a hand, reaching back and patting his cheek, which was warm to the touch, and again I felt him freeze. “Don’t worry. A man as big as you is sure to have balls.” I tilted my head at the Mage and lowered my hand, eyes still evaluating the Rulers. “Unlike the brute of a Mage over there cowering.”
“Hey!” London piped up, his baritone ringing stronger. “I find your tone offensive.”
I stared at the Rulers. “Am I tripping? Seriously. Did I have some of those bad shrooms again, and this is all Sin fooling around, using another Mage comedian to give me a spelled trip of his freaky, fantastic devising?” I tilted my head up, staring at the ceiling, eyes darting about. “Goddammit, Sin!” I hollered, “You know I like the dreams where they end wet,” I threw my arms wide, shaking my head, “not the farces.”
King Zeller started gurgling and couldn’t seem to stop, so I continued, turning my attention back to the Rulers and glancing at each one of them, seeing their eyes squint more. “It’s like one of those bad jokes, since you’ve only got one decent Prodigy in the bunch.” I threw a thumb over my shoulder at the Shifter. “You’ve got the Mage lifting his hands in fear as he glows, singing This Little Light of Mine, while the textbook insecure beauty shakes her ass and tits in front of him, baring her fangs, so he’ll stare at her body instead of the woman.”
King Zeller’s eyes actually started to water, and the rest were unobtrusively swaying where they stood rooted to the floor. But no one else seemed to notice since the Shifter behind me made an odd sound, kind of like a choke, then doubled over. He slapped a huge, heated palm on my shoulder as he laughed his ass off, the tone kind of nice, deep and scratchy.
I patted his back, staring down at him and seeing the back of his head, realizing I didn’t even know what the man looked like yet. “It’s all right, let it out. It can’t be easy being the only talent around here.” I took my hand off his back as he laughed harder, and I lifted one of the shoulder-length black curls he had on the back of his head, analyzing it. “And you could really cut down on the gel. I’m sure the curls are hard to tame, but man,” I crunched the curl in my hand, actually hearing it crinkle, “this is ridiculous. What do you do? Go through an entire bottle in a morning? I could run down to the thrift store and buy you something affordable that would work just as well and wouldn’t be so heavy.”
He took his free hand off his knee, laughing it up, and knocked my hand away absently, sputtering, “You can’t mess with perfection, so don’t try to sell me on the benefits of…cheap.”
I stared at the back of his head. “You actually believe that.” I glanced at the Rulers. “He actually believes…” I trailed off, just now noticing their expressions. They were no longer on the verge of laughing, now staring at Brann with wide eyes. Not one of them was moving to even breathe, from the looks of it. I waved a hand grandly toward Brann and in their line of sight. “It’s called laughing, people. I’m sure once upon a time you did it, too. You know, when you weren’t old and creaking.” Yeah, they appeared all of, maybe, mid-twenties, but the age insult got their attention and now their gazes caught on me. Their gazes were too intense for me to stare at, so I glanced back down to Brann and patted his back again, his chuckling beginning to quiet. “You gonna make it down there?”
He chuckled quietly, beginning to push up on my shoulder with his hand, and tilted his face toward me, jerking his head so his curls weren’t in his face.
And we froze.
His crooked grin was full of humor, the contagious type of smile. His amber eyes peered down at me through black hair that had a slight wave of loose curls. He unfroze, slowly finishing straightening, gently taking his hand off my shoulder.
I followed his ascent, my head tilted all the way back to continue staring him in the face, even as I felt his power leak out, his animal’s wildness skimming over my skin as he tested me, which would be fruitless.
After a moment he asked quietly, softly, but his wolf was riding his voice a bit, “What are you?” His head cocked as his nostrils flared, and he inhaled heavily. “You’re not a Com.”
“White.”
He blinked, his power beginning to press more insistently. “White…white what?”
Stupidly, I pointed at my head.
His gaze flew to my hair, and when we returned to staring one another in the eyes I heard his wolf growl quietly, sounding a half huff of impatience before he snapped his eyes away from me to ask the Rulers, “What the fuck is she?”
With his head tilted away, I blinked, sucking in a large breath, and took steps away from him for safety’s sake. I quickly stared at his chest when he jerked his head back to me. His wolf was growling not so nicely now as I moved, so I froze at the predator’s sound and stated, “I’m a spirit Elemental.”
His wolf cut off abruptly, and it was dead silent in the room except for a clock I heard ticking somewhere behind me. I wasn’t positive what to do since it didn’t feel non-toxic to look him in the face again and I was unsure of what the hell had just happened. I crossed my arms, suddenly feeling cold, and peered down at my socked feet, realizing I probably did appear a bit ridiculous in the middle of the day dressed in my pajamas.
He cleared his throat, the action sounding harsh, and I saw from my peripheral that he moved a few steps away to where he had set his brandy glass on a table. Picking it up gently, he asked slowly, “A spirit Elemental?”
I nodded once, then I glanced up to King Collins for some help, not letting my gaze stray anywhere else. King Collins looked like a damn mannequin as he stared back at me, but eventually he blinked after Queen Co
oper nudged him with her elbow. He inhaled sharply, his face void of all emotion as he glanced around the room. “Aria, London, Brann, this is,” he lifted his hand in my direction, “Caro Jules, and she is a spirit Elemental.” His lips quirked as he continued. “She’s also my new Prodigy, the next Queen Elemental.”
Chapter Five
I instantly glared, feeling a bit more like myself as agitation and frustration rushed me in the silence the King’s little bomb effected on the three Prodigies in the room. Holding up my hands, I stated to them, “I beg to differ, so calm down.” I motioned between the King and myself. “We have not come to that agreement. In fact, I specifically stated I didn’t care what some spell said. I am not going to be Queen.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Brann point at me around his glass and be the first to break the silence by asking incredulously, “This is the con? The person you’ve been chasing for the last three months?” He snorted. “She’s not big enough to have done everything we heard you guys gossiping about.”
I turned my scowl on his chest, not stupid enough to look further up. “Just hold it with the nicknames, Herculean, or I’m sure I could come up with something extra inspired that would last your entire reign as King.”
“Hmm.” His thumb thumped on his hip a few times as he took a small sip from his drink with his other, before he purred leisurely, “I’m sure I could come up with something inspired for you, too.”
Oh, boy.
I swallowed, again becoming tongue-tied at the promise in his tone, even if it was only hostile, but there were so many ways that comment could be construed. I glanced hurriedly at King Collins where he was staring at Brann silently, and I hastily stammered, “I am not going to be Queen.”
London actually chuckled where he stood, pushing off the wall to stand with his arms crossed. “Being a Ruler isn’t a choice you get to make. It just is.” He tilted his head to Queen Cooper. “Believe me, I’ve asked many times to be released from my duties and let someone else handle this life, since, as you so rudely stated, I am not King material.”
Chosen Thief Page 5