“I cannot tell if she is human or not, but I do know that she is not from my family line. That is if she does, in fact, have deception in her blood.”
I looked over at the Puppeteer. Even with my lips sealed shut, I couldn’t help but give him a snarky smile.
He narrowed his eyes as if reading my mind before he sighed dramatically. “Next.”
“Amaria,” the older gentleman called. “Please, come here.”
The pretty woman who had come in with her friend after we had arrived slowly stood. She gave one glance to her hawkish friend before she walked toward us. Then she scanned the length of the Puppeteer before a pretty blush came upon her face. I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking. She was almost twice his age, but that kind of beauty could make the best of us blush.
Lions were pretty. They had a majestic, regal, fearless look to them. Even though they were loyal to none, they still commanded respect and were the kings of the jungle. But at the end of the day, could you really put your trust in the fearless beast? Now that was the perfect question.
When she got to me, she said, “Hello.”
Since I couldn’t properly greet her, I slightly bowed my head.
“May I?”
I gave her my hand and hoped that she didn’t kiss the back of it like the handsome man. This whole meeting had already been awkward enough.
She closed her eyes and, again, I felt my palm radiate warmth. Her hand shook in mine, and I wondered if anyone else noticed. After a minute, she dropped my hand.
“Sorry, like the others, I can’t tell if you are human or not, and I sense no binding. You are not from my line.”
Before she could retreat, the Puppeteer said, “Oh, surely you can do better than that. Try again.”
She stuttered, “I … I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“I think you do, and you will find that I’m not a very patient man.”
“How dare you come in here and threaten my people?” Lionel spoke up.
“Oh, I dare,” the Puppeteer said. “And it’s not a threat as much as it’s a proclamation.”
Looking at the woman, he said, “I’ll give you the next few minutes to tell the truth. After that, I can only make promises of what will happen.”
She looked around the room nervously. “I’m not getting the best read on her, but let me try again.” She positioned herself so that her back was to the room and the only ones who could see her face were me and the Puppeteer. As she grabbed up my hands, she never took her eyes from the man who was almost breathing down my neck. She was silently pleading with him, but I wasn’t sure as to why. Finally, she dropped my hands and stepped back. Still with her back to everyone but us, she said, “I don’t think she is human. My gift is the illusion to create from nothing. I can also take away illusions and turn them into nothing. I could unbind her powers.”
The Puppeteer had a stoic look on his face, not giving anything away with his lack of expression. His blue eyes flashed to me once then back to Amaria. “I would greatly appreciate that. If you should find out which house she belongs to, I would be grateful.”
“Her powers will let us know,” she said.
The Puppeteer crossed his arms. “And how long do you think it will take you to unbind her powers?” Before she could answer, he added, “Since she isn’t of your line, I’m assuming that it will take you longer to unbind her?”
Her chest heaved up and down. “Exactly.”
There was some sort of unspoken communication going back and forth between the Puppeteer and Amaria.
I felt the Puppeteer’s hold on me release.
I was licking my dry lips as the woman then turned to face the group. “I am not sure how long this will take, considering I have never attempted to unbind someone’s powers. The girl can stay in my home until I figure it out.”
No one said anything for a minute. Finally, the handsome man—Cal—said, “I think, if we can help her, we should. If I had the ability to unbind her powers, I would personally see to her.”
“I bet you would,” the Puppeteer mumbled.
Since my lips were no longer sealed shut, I asked the Puppeteer in as quiet of a voice as I could, though I was sure it didn’t accomplish much because everyone was leaning in to hear what I said, “So, I’m not human, and you are going to just leave me here?” My eyes involuntarily went to the rigid, old man—Lionel. “Do we even know who bound my powers?”
He rocked back on his heels with a smile on that damn sexy face of his. “I’m sure we will get to that sooner or later, Little Thorn.”
I could no longer stand the way Lionel was glaring at me. Why would he hate me so much? Such prejudice against me because why? I decided to ask him.
“Does it bother you that I may be part human?”
He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I just don’t see why you have to be our problem. And we are supposed to unbind your powers for another house? It’s ludicrous is what it is.”
The Puppeteer cocked his head to the side, and I watched in horror as Lionel started turning red. Lionel wrapped his hands around his neck like he was choking himself, or signaling to the rest of us that he couldn’t breathe.
I put a hand on the Puppeteer’s arm. “I get it, I really do, but I’m not closing my eyes.”
A chuckle escaped him before he released his hold on Lionel.
The poor old guy bent over at the waist, wheezing. The rest of the group looked like nervous cockroaches, just waiting to scatter.
Amaria was the only one to look unaffected by the display of force as she ignored the rude man and gave her attention to the Puppeteer. “I’m assuming you are here because you think you have found another soldier for your army of hybrids.” She cut her eyes to me before bouncing them back to the Puppeteer with suspicion. “Unless she means something to you.”
The Puppeteer looked bored. “I can assure you that it is strictly professional on my part.”
My mouth dropped open. “On your part? Yeah, my part, too, buddy. Plus, I never really agreed to be your soldier.”
I watched his eyes dance over my skin, and I looked to see if the mark had popped up.
“Oh, but didn’t you?” His words held humor.
I really hated him, and if the smirk covering his face was any indication, he knew it, too.
Amaria tilted her head up. “I’ll need at least three months to unbind her.”
There were a few gasps behind her, and poor Lionel, who could finally breathe again, was back to glaring. At this point, I was pretty sure he was incapable of anything else.
The Puppeteer raked his blue eyes over her with disgust. “You think I’ll leave her here for months?”
The ground began to shake under my feet, the lights above us began to flicker, and the temperature dropped to freezing. The wallpaper on the walls began to peel back as thousands of bugs poured from the walls and onto the floor. One crawled over my high heel, and I tried to fling it off, but it wouldn’t budge.
Fingers wrapped around mine, and I looked over at the Puppeteer. He gave me a wink, which should have been more frightening than the giant bug currently crawling up my leg, but I was more worried about the beetle.
Releasing my hand, the Puppeteer said, “If you are done with the theatrics, Lionel, I actually have real things that need tending to.”
The ground stopped shaking and the bugs disappeared. My heart rate was elevated, but I did my best to not show how freaked out I was. Being around all these unrivaled was making my anxiety go up, and having a few demonstrate their powers amongst each other was enough to give me a heart attack.
Lionel’s false bravado left him as he collapsed into the chair. A bleak look crossed his face as he came to terms that he actually was stuck with me, and not only that but a member of his house would be unbinding my powers for another house.
Amaria tilted her chin up as she cleared her throat. Her voice shook with fear as she maintained her battleground. “It’s wh
at I need. I am asking you for at least two months, Puppeteer.”
Grabbing my arm, he said, “Walk with me, my Little Thorn.” Then he steered me out into the hall where two people passed us with startled looks. I heard the familiar sound of their backs slapping the wall, and without looking over my shoulder, I knew he had pinned them there.
When we were a good distance away, he said, “This is a turn of interesting events that I hadn’t prepared for, but interesting, nonetheless. I can have your powers back to you within a few minutes by forcing that woman to return them.”
I looked at him in shock. “How?”
“She was lying about how long it would take. She was also lying about you not being a part of her line.”
My eyes widened. “She’s family?”
“Yes, but how distant of family, I don’t know. What I do know is that she didn’t want Lionel to know who you are. That confirms that you are powerful. She was trying to protect you by not claiming you.” He sighed as he looked up and down the long hall before he settled his icy-blue eyes back on mine. “I’ll let you decide. You can stay and get to know these people, that woman, Amaria, or I can have you unbound in fifteen minutes and we can be on our way.”
“Why is it my call? I mean, you owe me nothing. Why do you care if I get to know a long-lost relative or not? And doesn’t this go against your goal of using me as bait?”
His brows came together. “A gun will misfire if you do not take care of it. It deserves to be maintained and protected, if you expect it to do its job. If you need time with these people, then so be it. This is me doing maintenance. Whether you admit it or not, you belong to me.”
I hated him. “No, I don’t.”
“That mark that will soon appear says otherwise. You belong to me, even if it’s for just a short time. But during that time, your powers belong to me. If you are truly powerful, whoever has the serum will try to find you. It’s just a matter of time. Now, do you want to stay or not?”
I actually did want to stay. The fact that I had a relative who was willing to stand up to the wrath of the Puppeteer had me wanting to see if there was a connection between us. I was almost certain she could give me information and stories about my mother. Maybe I would be able to learn who my father was, too. Yet, I hesitated.
I was afraid of the unknown. The older gentleman clearly didn’t like me, and even though the Puppeteer was scary, mean, and blunt, he didn’t seem to be a liar, which meant that if the older man would have known that I was a hybrid, he would have killed me as a child. Who was to say that he wouldn’t kill me now? Also, what about Raven? I couldn’t just abandon my friend.
I looked up into the icy eyes of the Puppeteer. He had leaned one solid shoulder against the wall as he watched me fight my internal battle.
He was so quiet that I almost didn’t hear him say, “They will not touch you. You will be safe here.”
I nodded.
“I could send your friend to stay with you, if you want.”
I crossed my arms. “Can you read my mind?”
He smiled. “No, just strong emotions. I picked up on fear and sorrow, so I made the conclusion.”
“If you would allow Raven to come here, I wouldn’t mind staying the two months.”
Emotions crossed his face that were too hard to read. “If that’s truly what you want.”
What did I want? To be a human scrubbing bathroom toilets or cooking for hybrids? To be an unrivaled who could possibly have a significant amount of power and cause other unrivaled to want to exterminate me? My future seemed bleak with no great options, but if I could find out where I came from, that would at least give me knowledge for the uncertainty of my future.
I stopped gnawing on my lip. “I’ll stay.” However, I wasn’t ready to walk back into where Lionel and Amaria, along with all the others, were waiting for us to return. “If the unrivaled are hoarding these vials of serum, just waiting for someone powerful, why wouldn’t they just go after you?”
“No one would be stupid enough.”
Oh, the arrogance.
“Keep in mind,” he continued, “that no unrivaled is one hundred percent blood tied to their house. They just need to have over fifty percent for their house to claim them. Most of them have around the eighty percent mark. It’s the ones that have closer to the fifty percent mark in two houses that have the most potential for surviving the serum.”
“Wouldn’t they be hunted or cast out as hybrids?”
“Only if they are powerful. If a child was born with the blood match of fifty-one percent in House of Joy and forty-nine percent match in the House of Aerona, he would still be one hundred percent worthless. With two low-level minor houses like those, the offspring would be weak and would never survive the serum. The child would also not be considered a hybrid. He would need one of the major house’s blood pumping through him for that title.”
“Do you think someone from this house has the serum?”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t. I also don’t think that any of the heads of the major houses have the serum. I’ve caught no one lying about it. That means a low-level unrivaled from a major house or someone from the minor houses has the serum.”
“This is crazy. Why don’t you go to the different houses and mind squeeze them? Get the information you need?”
“Did you just say mind squeeze?”
I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, you don’t even need me as bait.” I let my eyes roam over the way he appeared to look relaxed, but there was a gleam in his eyes. “Wait a minute,” I said. “What are you not saying?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you drag me here, force everyone to submit to you, and then, when you have the opportunity to have my binding removed ASAP, you give me a choice to bond with a relative instead. I seriously doubt that you have ever done anything out of the goodness of your cold, black heart. And don’t try to give me that gun story again.”
He rubbed a hand over his chest. “Ouch. Is it just me, or are you biased against all unrivaled? Because, I hate to break it to you, Little Thorn, but you are one of us.”
“I will never be one of you. Now tell me the truth. Why this little chat out here in the hall? There are ten minor houses; you can’t possibly want me to waste two months here as potential bait.” I narrowed my eyes. “If you want to use me, then you need me. Mark or not, I won’t tell you crap unless you come clean right this moment.”
He sighed. “So dramatic. Fine. This house, along with the other minor houses, has a ball for others your age. Once your powers are unbound, I have a feeling that your relative is going to want you out from under old Lionel’s nose. I seriously doubt she will want you to leave with me, either. She was obviously protecting you back there so, more than likely, she’ll want to continue to do so. She will realize that sending you to this festive event will be your best option for survival.”
I narrowed my eyes. “But it won’t, will it?”
“No, but it will be the perfect bait for us to go fishing.”
“What exactly is this ball for?” I asked.
“I think we’ve stalled out here long enough.” He pushed off the wall. “So, get unbound, Thorn, and then flaunt those powers that I’m hoping won’t be a complete failure because of what a waste of time all this would be. And when you need me, your mark will appear. I will feel it like a beacon alerting me. If you don’t need me, then I’ll see you in two months.”
I silently hoped that I would, indeed, be a complete failure. I had wanted to be a human just so I could personally disappoint him. But, since that hadn’t worked out, here’s to hoping for boring, weak powers.
I looked down at my bare shoulders. “So, this mark … it’ll just appear soon? I guess you can’t tell me where it will be located, can you?”
“Still worried about it?” A smile came across his face as he stepped closer to me until all but a few scant inches separated us, causing my breath to hitch at his closeness. Then he trailed his f
ingers along my collarbone. “It starts here, then disappears under your dress.” He trailed his fingers along my ribcage. “My guess is it goes all the way down your side.”
As his fingers burned a trail along my skin, I couldn’t think. It was as if my mind was in a fog. It wasn’t until he stepped back that I felt like I could finally get oxygen to my brain.
“Why is my mark so big?” I couldn’t believe my words came out strong and not as breathless as I felt.
“My powers choose the location, but it is the wearer’s powers that determine the size of the mark.”
I scrunched my nose up. Well, I didn’t know why I would have picked something so big instead of dainty. It wasn’t like I wanted the world to know that I was marked by the Puppeteer. Ugh.
I looked down at the first dress that I had ever worn, that would probably also be my last, because I would be forced to cover the mark for the rest of my life should the Puppeteer choose to make it permanent.
The Puppeteer laughed. “Now disgust is rolling off you in waves. Should I be flattered?”
He grabbed my elbow and started steering me back toward the grand living room. “I’ll send clothes down with Raven. And remember, if you should need me, your mark will appear and I will know it.”
Yeah, but would it be before some crazy tried to inject me with serum just because I was of impure blood?
I had a feeling that I was going to be the worst bait ever.
We passed the men who were plastered against the wall. I tried to give them an apologetic look, but neither of them would make eye contact.
When we reentered the grand living room, all talk died down and Amaria stopped pacing.
“Thorn has decided she would like to stay,” the Puppeteer announced. “She has weighed her options and realizes the House of Deception is probably her best bet to get her powers unbound. I will be sending her best friend down to keep her company.”
The older gentleman started to interrupt, but the Puppeteer’s eyes held a promise of violence and the older man immediately shut his mouth.
“I’m not asking for you to be hospitable to these ladies. I’m commanding it. It goes without saying that, if harm, even if accidentally, comes to either one of these ladies while in your care, I will play with you before I dissect you. So, make sure their food is cut up into small pieces to avoid choking, and you don’t let them play with sharp objects. Their death equals your death. Do we understand each other?”
House of Deception: The Unrivaled Series Page 10