The golden protection wavered.
The Mages behind the wall slammed both hands on it in surprise.
I ignored the shouts called toward me and grabbed one of my swords, letting my power pulse through it. I glowed brightly before I ran straight at the golden wall. My sword arced down to stab through the protection directly in front of Elder Jacobs. I grunted as I pulled down hard, my sword of pure power cutting through it as I tried to slice it fully…and stopped.
I growled in the face of my King. His eyes glowed fiercely as he stood in front of the Elder I wanted to tear apart. He whispered softly, “Caro, fight it. Whatever it is…fight it.”
I inhaled, shaking my head hard, and stumbled back from the wall. My sword was deeply imbedded in the golden protection as I stared into glowing brown eyes. I screamed as I dropped to my knees, a bit of sanity returning. I fought against the whispering, lulling, coaxing demands, shaking hard and sweat coating my body as a flash of white light erupted in the room around me.
There was a beat of silence, and a few gasped murmurs behind the wall, and suddenly the room shook as Leric’s voice boomed, “Jesus fucking Christ! I’m gone for a few hours and you two let her get in this state! Goddamn it!” A few more interesting curses flew through the room, the entire place shaking in his fury. I rocked back and forth on my knees, hands fisted in my hair, growling quietly. His bare, tanned feet stalked toward me, white silk pants flowing over the tops of them as he barked, “Elder Jacobs, let my damn father down.”
I closed my eyes—the venomous, taunting whispers had taken over again, my control shot—and I pounced on Leric as soon as he was close enough, taking his legs out from under him. I chuckled, full of evil, as I heard him grunt, his back slamming against the ground. I was instantly on him, my legs on either side of his hips and my glowing hands around his neck. I sent my power down through my hands, the power of the stars’ fire. I blinked as he only raised a white eyebrow. He was not disintegrating as the evil told me he would do, not even glowing except for his eyes shining up at me.
Leric’s lips only tilted up at the edges. “Don’t feel too bad, Sprite. At least you took me down.” He snickered quietly, brushing a piece of my sweaty hair from my forehead. “Fuck, you really are cute when you’re trying to threaten me.” His head tilted on the floor, my hands falling to either side of his head. “But how about I get rid of the evil? Though I don’t mind you straddling me, I’d much rather have you do this with a very different intent in your beautiful eyes.”
He threaded his right hand through my hair, his grip bruising as he yanked my face down to his and connected our mouths, inhaling heavily. I groaned in appreciation against his lips, glowing brightly. All the evil I had consumed was being ripped out of me, my Core flaring as he stole it in one extremely long inhale. My body went limp on top of his, my face sliding to the ground as his hand relaxed in my hair. His lungs filled with air and, sounding like he was holding in a lungful of marijuana smoke, he muttered on a grunt, “Jesus Christ, Sprite. That was way too fucking much for someone your age.” I blinked, barely able to open my eyes as his chest deflated with his exhale. He was slowly blowing out what appeared to be sparkling stars. He had no damn problem processing the evil into purity in a matter of only moments.
“Show-off,” I whispered breathlessly against his jaw as my eyes shut in exhaustion. I was not really able to move yet. “I killed them all.”
“Yes, you did,” he drawled as he stood, still holding me easily. He propped one of his hands conveniently on my ass to balance me since my legs weren’t gripping very tightly around his waist. My arms were like limp noodles over his shoulders while my head rested in the crook of his neck. My eyes were not about to open anytime soon. “And I did notice my dad floating in the air, and that very lovely sword in their protective wall.”
“It’s my sword,” I griped. “You know, Leric, one of those fuckers actually stole it while I was fighting. I didn’t even know they could do that.” I yawned. “It was trying to slaughter that deer up on the wall.”
Leric’s chest started shaking. “They’re not all the brightest.”
I growled on a slur, “So I chopped his head off instead.” I snorted. “Got my damn sword back.”
“Sounds like a fair trade to me,” Leric murmured on a dry chuckle, still gripping my ass with one hand while petting my hair with his other. He eventually began walking somewhere when I was quiet for a minute, almost dozing. “King Collins, you can let the shield down now.”
I heard King Collins hum just as quietly, and then he spoke softly. “I do appreciate you bringing my Prodigy back from the brink of what appeared to be insanity, but I think we’ll keep the wall up if you think you’re going to take our memories of this.”
I groaned, “King Zeller tattled.”
King Collins muttered, “I still didn’t understand a damn thing she just said.”
“She’s tired,” Leric growled quietly. “Leave her alone. After all, she did just save all of you.” He gripped the back of my neck, gently massaging. “Moreover, she stated unmistakably that King Zeller apparently spilled the news, which I would imagine he overheard with those fucking ears of his.”
“Your dad,” I muttered, my words more of a yawn.
Leric snorted.
I blinked. “Have you talked to Lissa recently?”
“No,” he whispered softly. “Quiet now.”
“It still stands: we won’t allow you to take our memories, however we found out,” King Collins explained. “We’re not really fond of that method.”
“Jesus,” Leric muttered, growling quietly under his breath. “God, I hate the overly sensitive sometimes.” He was walking again, and he growled quietly when he stopped, “Dad, you’re taking care of this crowd and their issues since you apparently forewarned them.” Then he was instantly moving again, muttering over his shoulder and away from my head, “Don’t give me that look, and make sure you get her swords. She seems attached to them. I’ll get Sprite into bed, and perhaps next time you’ll keep your mouth shut.”
Chapter Fourteen
I glared at Leric inside Elder Farrar’s spelled privacy suite the next morning, where everyone was congregating for a meeting. I didn’t see my property anywhere. “Where are my swords?”
Brann answered my question. “I have them. I’ll give them back when we have a free minute.”
I nodded in agreement. “Thank you.” They were mine.
Leric muttered a curse, his eyes jerking to his dad. “You couldn’t have picked them up as I asked?”
“Don’t take that tone with me, young man,” Mr Damon griped. “I was a little busy, seeing as you ordered me to fucking take care of them. By the time I was done, the swords were gone. I thought they had been stolen.”
I blinked at their candor in front of everyone. I stared at Mr Damon. “You were supposed to…you know…” My finger twirled about, since I wasn’t able to speak of it. “What the hell happened? Did they take you down or something?”
Leric growled quietly, “My father informed me that Elder Farrar apparently put a memory spell on all the Elders, Kings and Queens, and Prodigies before my dad could break through the protection spell.” A white brow lifted. “They still know, and I’m fairly sure the spell can’t be broken if my dad couldn’t push past it.”
I blinked at him. “Okay.” That was weird…and not technically against any spirit Law.
King Zeller cleared his throat. “About that. We should probably thank you for killing all of those…” He stalled in his speech, glancing at King Collins. “What did you call them?”
King Collins answered evenly, “Shadows is what the book accounted for.”
My gaze was huge on their faces. Where the hell did he get this book?
Actually, I didn’t want to know. Some things were better left to the unknown.
I shrugged, keeping it cool. “No problem.”
Mr Damon and Mrs Damon nodded their heads respectfully.
; But not another thank you was said. Everyone was silent.
Really, King Zeller’s gratitude wasn’t even a real thank you.
Leric muttered a foul curse quietly then stood abruptly. “One day, you will all understand the importance of a spirit Elemental, and you will show the proper respect due. Until then, I feel bad for all of you. Your ignorance is hindering your growth as a community.”
I blinked repeatedly as he and the rest of the spirit Elementals left the room.
Shocked to my bones, I eyed the Mysticals inside this room. All leaders. All powerful. And not one showed any remorse for their rudeness. “I know you have better manners than what you’ve been expressing so far to him and his family.” I brushed hair out of my face, peering up to the faces that appeared carefully blank. Becoming plenty irked, I asked heatedly, “Why the hell aren’t you thanking us for saving your asses?”
All I heard was the sound of people walking outside the suite.
Everyone was mute, looking anywhere but at me.
“What?” I finally asked. “I know Leric is a bit of an ass…” Almost everyone he had once threatened glanced at me with frosty gazes, so I paused, altering my speech, “All right, he’s an asshole, but his parents—and I—saved you last night.”
More silence.
“Seriously?” I stared at everyone wide-eyed. “You aren’t going to say anything?”
Aria cleared her throat, earning everyone’s attention. She stared at the floor and stated softly, “We’re trying to be respectful to you and the spirit Elementals.” She finally peered up at me with apologetic blue eyes.
I blinked at her, more than confused. But it slowly, ever so gradually, dawned on me as they stayed quiet. No one seriously liked, or approved of, Leric. “Ah, I understand.” And Leric was the leader of the spirits.
Abruptly, Brann pushed off the wall, his wolf growling in his chest. He stalked toward me and sat down on the coffee table to stare into my now carefully blank face, placing his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together. His vibrant amber eyes stared straight into my frosty gaze, his wolf riding his voice hard. “I’m going to be your friend right now and tell you what everyone else here won’t say, because I believe that’s what a true friend does—even if it pisses the other person off.” His nostrils flared. “We do appreciate what he and his family have done to protect us.” He shook his head a bit, staring at his hands, and was quiet for a moment in apparent thought before looking back into my eyes. “But there’s something wrong about him and all of the other spirit Elementals we’ve met.” His gaze never wavered. “The way they all stare at you when you’re not watching, eyeing everything you do, it’s just wrong.”
My eyebrows furrowed, almost touching I was that deeply confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Their eyes,” Aria murmured quietly, interrupting. I glanced at her, seeing her flicking her finger between her own blue eyes. “They…aren’t right sometimes.” She shook her head. “I’ve never seen you do what they do.” Her lips thinned as she dropped her hand. “And their emotions are so faint, I can barely smell them.” Her brows pinched. “Like they’re muted, or something. Or just that unfeeling.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I stated slowly. “The Shifters would know if they were being deceitful.”
Brann shook his head slowly, rubbing his chin while staring me in the eyes. “Emotions are very different to the scent of truth and lie.”
I blinked slowly, resting back onto the couch and crossing my arms. I was a bit hurt, feeling more than ganged up on, even if I had asked for it. “None of you like them because they’re different.” It wasn’t a question. It was a definite fact.
King Collins sighed heavily, running a hand through his blue, choppy hair, then he murmured, “Caro, how we feel about him, or any of them, should have no bearing on how you feel for them.” He dropped his hand. “And you are right, just because we don’t personally like them, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be more polite to them, especially when they are saving our lives.”
Brann snorted, even as a few people sighed as if chastised. “With all due respect, King Collins, fuck that. I’ve had enough of being quiet and respectful.” Amber eyes swung back to me, utterly serious and piercing my own gaze. I sat frozen under his regard, only having seen this expression once before on him. And that had been when I was fighting, saving their lives. “Look, Felon, I have a feeling I’m going to get reamed by Queen Ruckler for this, but I have to say it.” He shook his curls, inhaling heavily, before he clasped his hands together again. “I seriously hate Leric. There is something about him that just makes my wolf want to rip his head off and—”
I interrupted, “That’s a bit much.”
His wolf huffed quietly. “Caro, just shut up and listen to me.”
My eyes widened a bit, but my mouth eventually closed.
“Like I was saying, my wolf wants to tear him apart practically all the damn time, which I don’t even fucking understand. It’s not just the way they all eye you when you’re not watching, it’s…” His nose crinkled. “They fucking reek.” A shake of his head. “They smell nothing like you do. I don’t know if it’s a product of living at the Temple, but it’s just not right.”
“I…” Confused. I was definitely confused, and I was starting to worry about Brann a little, so I spoke carefully, “I don’t smell anything when they’re near me.” I evaluated his face closely. “What exactly do they smell like?”
Not only did Brann answer, but so did Queen Ruckler.
Both said with disgust, “Death.”
As I stared back into Brann’s eyes, my brows puckered.
I crossed my arms tight against my chest.
And I froze.
Breath shakily exhaling.
Remembering.
Something I had been taught at the Temple.
Something they had only touched on.
Something unnatural.
My head swirled with the comments that had been said in this room.
With the possibility…
Hyperventilating. I started hyperventilating, grabbing at my chest, sucking in air. I stumbled to my feet, knocking into Brann in my haste to get up. I grabbed onto his shoulder to keep from completely falling on my face as a gut-wrenching revulsion filled me. I shoved his hands away when he tried to steady me, gasping, “Don’t touch me!”
I quickly pushed away from him, tripping over my own feet and hitting a spelled privacy wall hard. Grunting, I placed a steadying hand on it. And damn if King Collins didn’t try to grab my shoulders. I spun away, shouting frantically, “Goddammit, don’t touch me!”
He instantly held his hands up in the stunned silence, his worried brown eyes running over my face. I kneeled over, placing my hands on my knees, trying to get oxygen into my lungs. With a manic sob trying to escape me as I stared dizzily at my boots, I gasped, “Aria, what do their eyes do?”
“They…um…” Her voice was shaking. “Sometimes I think I see them flicker.”
“You goddamn mother-fucker!” I screamed in rage and unbelievable pain, and the entire room shook furiously as I started to glow dimly. In a flurry of hysterical energy, I instantly straightened, turned, and threw an arm out, shooting stars’ fire in a blinding white flash of flames at the bedroom wall. The wall exploded exquisitely, the explosion pausing in midair when I flicked my glowing wrist. I breathed out stars…and every little blasted piece of wall disintegrated with a small puff of white smoke. The suite was no longer really a suite since the front room and bedroom now connected.
I dropped my hand, shaking it at my side to keep from tearing up the entire fucking room. My teeth clenched and I shrieked again. I instantly started to pace in the silence that was so profound it would have unnerved me—if I was in the right frame of mind. I growled at them all, slashing my glowing hands in the air, utterly violent. But there was an agony inside my gut like I hadn’t known before—betrayal. “You all should have told me this before!”
/> King Collins’s eyes were enormous on his face as he stared where the wall used to be. His attention turned to me, his jaw hanging. He spoke in the softest tone. “Caro, you need to calm down.”
“I. Am. Pissed.” My nostrils flared, and I inhaled heavily, slashing another glowing hand through the air. “You have no clue what the fuck is going on here.” I growled quietly. “What a fucking fool I—” No, that wasn’t completely right. “We’ve all been taken for.”
Dawning comprehension resonated in the silence.
Cool, frosty words from King Collins as his lids hooded. “Please elaborate.”
“I can’t,” I hissed. I paced again, running my trembling hands through my hair, still glowing dimly as my emotions continued to spiral. “Dammit, I can’t elaborate.” My feet ate up the floor until I stopped dead in my tracks, running a hand over my face. I was trying to think past the chaos controlling my mind. “I’m going to need…fuck, what was it?”
I snarled, pissed at myself. “Dammit, think!”
I stared blankly at King Collins’s chest, zoning in to the memory of my short schooling at the Temple. Everyone stared, mercifully quiet, as I breathed in great gulps of air for an indefinite amount of time. Until it came to me. Again, a choked sob of the betrayal tried to escape, but I pushed it down and let rational thoughts reign over the fury.
With one more shaky inhale, I pulled the cool solace of white nothingness over myself, and I slowly lifted my eyes to King Collins, stating in a void voice, “The less people in here right now, the better. I want to speak only with the most powerful, and the rest need to leave the lodge immediately, but discreetly. No one can speak one word aloud of what happened in here until they are far away.” I paused. “You need to trust me on this one without questions, for everyone’s safety.”
Chapter Fifteen
King Collins had trusted me.
Chosen Fool (Forever Evermore Book 5) Page 12