I patted his boots where they rested at the end of the couch, and he lifted them so I could sit, then he plopped them back down on my lap. “I’m betting if there were, you would have to be charged on all counts, and unfortunately — or in my opinion, fortunately — King Collins expunged all of your past transgressions. Not to mention that you haven’t been caught for ninety percent of your crimes, so you wouldn’t fit the bill for a hall of crime.” I tilted my head back on the couch, running a hand over my face. “I was the idiot who got caught for the big stuff.”
Respectfully, he ignored that last bit of my ramblings. “Ah, but all of the best criminals are never found, so being charged would actually be a mark against a criminal in an upside-down, twisted version of respectability, which means I would have a decent shot,” he inhaled sharply, on a roll, “which means if there was a hall of crime, it would have to be an underground venture—”
I pinched his leg. “Don’t even think about it, Sin. We’re going clean now, remember?”
He sighed heavily, melodramatically, then peeked over his book. “Clean, you say?”
I grunted, closing my eyes.
“My lovely Caro, if I were you, and trying to have a clean, moral lifestyle, then I wouldn’t be disappearing with a Shifter all evening and morning.” I heard him flip a few pages in the book he was reading as I groaned in defeat. “You see, if you are unaware, Law Six Zero Zero Two states—”
“I know what it states,” I interrupted him grumpily. I had heard what that fucking Law said all damn morning, there was no need for any more. I leaned over, knocking the book to his chest, staring him in the eyes. “What excuse did you give for me this morning at breakfast?”
His lips twitched. “Don’t be mad.”
I stared.
“I said you were on your period and had cramps.”
I blinked. “That wasn’t so bad. My period only ended yesterday and I did have cramps.”
“I didn’t know it ended, and I knew you had cramps, so it all rang as truth on everyone’s radar.” His eyes twinkled. “Then Queen Cooper asked if she should send up a Mage physician to our bedroom to assist you.”
Again I stared. “You didn’t.” When his lips twitched again, I growled at him. “Sin, tell me you did not tell them how I relieve my cramps!”
He raised his hands in supplication. “What else was I supposed to say to keep them out of here?” He shook his head, appearing utterly amused when I glared. “It’s not all that weird that you hang over the bed to apply maximum pressure to your abdomen and wiggle every once in a while to keep the blood flowing to your head on the ground.”
I closed my eyes and thumped my head back on the couch, knowing I was going to get shit about that one later from Aria. “And Brenna said what about Brann?”
He started to speak then stopped, asking, “How did you know Brenna gave an excuse for him?”
I waved a hand. “King Collins and Queen Ruckler found where Brann and I fell asleep watching television last night.” When his eyes flew wide, I shook my head. “It’s fine. We weren’t doing anything torrid. We were literally sleeping fully clothed in our pajamas.” I didn’t feel the need to tell him about the conversation afterward. I would have if I felt the need to, since he was Sin, but Queen Ruckler and King Collins trusted us with the information they had given, so I would keep it to myself for now.
He quirked a sardonic brow. “Somehow, I don’t think you two got off that easily, but I’ll wait until you want to tell me to hear about it.” Plus there was the tiny fact Sin could read me better than anyone in the world and normally knew when I was lying. And he was usually okay with it. “Brenna’s excuse was a bit more…honest, if clever on her part, since it does fit with his lifestyle.” He cleared his throat grandly. “She stated,” he held up a hand, “her exact words, not mine: He probably overslept because he was too busy last night thinking with his dick rather than his intelligence.”
His lips twitched. “You should have seen the Kings’ and Queens’ faces. I’ve never seen four expressions turn blank faster than theirs. It was truly impressive. If they played cards even halfway decently, I’d take them on the road as their manager and make a killing off them.”
I rubbed at my temples, asking dryly, “Did anyone believe the excuses?”
“London, the unfortunate, kind soul.” Sin started snickering. “He actually wrote a list of herbal remedies for me to give you for your feminine sufferings.” He pointed at the coffee table. “They’re right there.” I raised my eyebrows at him, and he stated, “His words, not mine. Aria only stared at him as if she were imagining sticking an icepick through one of his temples, so I’m guessing she didn’t buy it.”
Blindly staring at the ceiling, I asked honestly, “Am I fucking up?” I knew he would know what I meant.
He took his time in answering. “No.” Another extended pause. “I just don’t want you to get hurt, Caro. I love you too much to see you in pain, and there are so many ways this could go wrong. So please be careful.”
Biting my lip, I hesitated and quickly murmured the truth, “Sin…I think…I’m not sure, but it’s a possibility I may just be attracted to him because…he somewhat reminds me of someone else.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Someone I met once…or kind of met.” My chuckle was quiet, embarrassed, and self-conscious. “God, Sin, I took one look at this guy,” my hand fluttered about, lips flapping as I finally spewed one of my distressing skeletons to the only person I trusted wholly, “and all sane thoughts just flew out of my brain like I was a fucking moron.” I snorted, a tiny smile lifting my lips. “I reacted like a,” my nose crinkled, “girl.” A heavy sigh, full of self-loathing. “Anyway, Brann kind of reminds me of him, and my responses are similar to how I reacted to this other guy.” I shrugged. “And Brann just thinks I’m hot. It’s straightforward attraction for him. Something he could easily get over.”
I could tell Sin was thinking this through as his fingers thumped softly on the book. I kept my attention off him, utterly mortified of what he might say about the fact I had a weakness for someone other than him, or about the fact I was thinking about using Brann as a replacement for someone I had hardly even met. One was pathetic while the other was a complete bitch-tastic deed. In other words, one was surprising, the other not so much, since he knew me so well. Finally, he cleared his throat and asked delicately, “Are you talking about the Egyptian god with the silver eyes?”
I jolted, my gaze swinging to him in surprise.
His lips curled. “You tend to talk in your sleep, love.” Green eyebrows rose as my jaw dropped, unable to hide my shock. “For a few years now, periodically, you mumble about an Egyptian god and silver eyes. I always thought it was a weird spirit dream or something, so I never brought it up. But now that I know some guy made you react like a,” he grinned, his eyebrows waggling, “girl…well, now I know what plagues you while you’re sleeping…and occasionally moaning.”
He shivered, enjoying this embarrassing news, as my eyes widened. His expression turned eventually, and he slowly stilled, staring at me seriously. “Also, since I know this, I should probably change what I said before, even though I really have no right to say this with my own past, but Brann…he’s a good man, Caro. He doesn’t deserve to be hurt like the green-eyed angel.” My nostrils flared and I turned my head away as he thumped his fingers on the book again, studying me. “Plus, you have a lifetime of partnership with him now. So think before you purposely and selfishly screw up another relationship.” My gaze swung to him, scowling, and he held up his hands. “Like I said, I’m the last one to be giving this advice, but Caro, it needs to be said,” he pointed at the Law book, “because of who you are now.”
Sluggishly, I nodded once. With quiet words, I said, “I know.” Because I did. I sighed heavily again and let my head fall back to stare at the ceiling. “I know.”
“So,” he drawled gradually, his tone sly. “What was the name of this Egyptian god with the silver eyes?” When my l
ips pinched and I stayed muted, he jiggled my legs with his feet. “Oh, come on, Caro. Don’t leave me hanging with only a scant amount of info to torture you with for the rest of your life!”
Unbidden, a chuckle escaped. “Not happening.”
His thumbs tapped again on the book. “I’ll have to guess then, since I’ve never seen such a creature as you speak of.” More thumping…then his fingers stalled with hesitant words. “Was it when you disappeared for that month?”
Instantly I pushed his legs off me and stood, straightening my pajama top. “I stink. I’m going to shower.”
“Oh. Holy. Mother.” The book snapped shut. “He’s a damn spirit!”
“Shower,” I mumbled, quickly walking to our bedroom. “And shut up, Sin. You were never supposed to know who I was with.” I slammed the French doors closed behind me.
“As if it was that hard to figure out!” he hollered after me to be heard plainly through the barrier. “You went all mute and moody for three fucking months afterward.” A pause. “A goddamn spirit! I can’t believe it, with how much you hate them!” Another pause. “He must be a serious goddamn looker to make you act like a girl.”
“Shut up, Sin!” I shouted, then I slammed the door to the bathroom and leaned heavily against it. Because Sin was right on all counts. I did hate spirits…and their ‘secret, chosen code’. And he had been a serious looker. So much so, apparently, I was still dreaming about the man. Knocking my head against the door, I thanked God I had grown up since then…and since my fumbling attempt at…
Ugh.
Yes, that had been one of the most damn embarrassing moments of my life.
Chapter Nine
Walking in the Vampire section of the castle, dragging my feet in search of the living room, I knew it wasn’t going to be a pleasant entrance once I actually found the damn place. The Kings and Queens had asked — ordered — all four Prodigies to meet them to watch a horror movie as a group affair. Not even touching on how my last experience in a living room with Brann ended, and how hard we had been trying to be distant and aloof with one another — which, in my opinion, was going stellarly with only a few bumps here and there, especially since I was trying to make the right decision for a good man — now I was going to be stared at like all Mysticals did when they got this way. Sin had laughed his ass off before wishing me good luck as I trudged out of our bedroom in my pajamas and fuzzy slippers, since it was close to bedtime in my hazy mind.
I couldn’t back out of the Rulers’ stupid order, and really, eventually my Prodigy counterparts were going to see this, so I had thought it might as well be sooner rather than later. So now I was traveling the dark, wine-coloured velvet hallways, trying not to cringe too badly at how shadowy the damn area was this late at night. The walls were lit only with actual freaking sconces…with candles. Crazy, yes, but I guess if I was a Vampire I would hate being in the Elemental or Mage section, and now I understood why the Shifter area was the neutral ground for varying Mystical guests.
Hearing voices down the hallway to the right, I turned in that direction and, thank God, finally found them after a half-hour of searching. You would think I’d know the place by now after three weeks of being there, but I still needed a GPS system, which I didn’t have, to navigate the halls half the time. Turning into the room, I walked — labored — in silently and glanced around for a place to park my worn-out ass.
Aria noticed me instantly, her skills of quiet observation remarkable. Predictably, her jaw went slack as she stared. “Caro? Are you all right?”
Everyone instantly followed her line of sight, more than likely hearing the authentic concern in her tone, and King Collins took one look at me and marched to my side, his hair flying back in a breeze he came at me so fast. “What’s happened? Is it Sin?”
I held out my free hand and spoke, my voice about four octaves lower than normal and scratchy as hell. “Nobody died. Don’t worry.” At that instant, my nose started tickling me again, and I quickly withdrew my hand, grabbing a tissue from the box I held in the crook of my other arm. I barely got the tissue to my nose before I let off a resounding and impressive five-sneeze sequence. Sniffling hard, I tossed the used tissue in the plastic sack I carried and grabbed another tissue to blot my watering, red eyes…and dab at my red nose once more before throwing that tissue away. Then I peered up with my blotchy-as-hell face to King Collins who had frozen, and to the others who were likewise frozen, and waited for it.
King Collins blinked as he cleared his throat. He actually shuffled on his feet for a moment, which would have been amusing if I didn’t feel like shit, then he stuffed one hand in his pant pocket when he stopped moving. He pointed at my face, brought his fist to his mouth, then flicked his finger again at my face, asking in a decently controlled voice, “Do you have a germ, Caro?”
Germs.
Ah, germs. The reason why I always got this reaction every time I got sick. Germs for a Mys were not at all the same as germs for a Com. Coms got germs, meaning a cold or a virus. But the term ‘germ’ for a Mystical meant something else entirely, because the only way a Mys caught a germ was when they had sexual congress with a Commoner who had an STD and caught the strain of the Commoner disease. Mysticals couldn’t carry diseases, so that STD strain they caught flushed out of their system within a week or two, but in the interim the symptoms were like a cold or flu for a Commoner. Hence, the term ‘germ’ for a Mystical.
So, in simple terms, whenever I got sick, since I am a Mystical, everyone thought I had fucked a disease-ridden Commoner. Having sex with even a healthy Commoner was considered offensive, for lack of a better word, after the war. It wasn’t illegal, but after all the killing, which was still too recent in every long-living Mysticals’ mind, it was absolutely, unequivocally, and utterly looked down upon.
I started to speak, but my eyes began watering again, and I quickly grabbed a tissue and sneezed again. Sighing, I tossed the tissue away and sniffed hard, flicking my hair out of my face and peering back to King Collins. “I don’t have a germ. I’ve never had sex or done anything sexual with a Com.” I cleared my throat past the clog in it, really unable to say anything else, which fucking sucked because three out of four times I told this to someone who wasn’t a Shifter.
King Collins cleared his throat again, eyes unbelieving as he watched me dab at my nose with another tissue. “Caro…”
I sighed and pointed to the side, not looking that way since I appeared so terrible, but asking since it would help. “Brann, did I just lie?”
“No,” he stated gruffly. “She’s telling the truth.” He sniffed, his tone growly, and I could imagine he was staring down his nose at King Collins. “She’s never done anything sexual with a Com.”
“There ya go,” I muttered, waving my hand. “Now, can I sit down somewhere?” My body was aching and I had a killer headache starting. When no comment came, I started digging through the other plastic sack over my wrist, searching for the pills Sin had put together for me. Finding the first bottle, I pulled it out with a water bottle, fumbling with them until I got the tops off. I poured two pills in my hand, tossed them in my mouth, and downed them with the water.
“Are…are those aspirin?” King Collins asked in disbelief. “Do you have a headache?”
I glared up at him. “No questions, dammit.” And after dropping that pill bottle back in my bag, I pulled out the cold medicine and took two of those. Before I was able to put them back in my sack, King Collins jumped forward, grabbing them from my hand, and stared wide-eyed at the box.
His brown eyes were huge. “You’re just sick! You have an actual cold.”
I snatched the box back, tossing it in the bag. “I need to sit.” More than a bit feebly, I maneuvered around him, my yellow fuzzy slippers sliding along the black carpet as I teetered past the rest of the group, who were just standing there staring at me. “And I would appreciate it if everyone could get over their shock quickly and quit gawking at me like I’m a freak. It’s rude and
very inconsiderate. And if you don’t, when I’m feeling better, I’ll kick your ass.”
I plopped onto a loveseat, curling up with my head on the armrest, bags of used snotrags, heavenly drugs, and my box of tissues held protectively in the crook of my body on the couch. I mumbled, “Are we going to watch this mandatory movie, or what?”
Queen Cooper came to stand in front of me, a look of disquiet etching her beautiful face. “Caro, you don’t have to stay if you don’t feel up to it.”
I waved a limp hand. “I’m already here. I don’t want to get up and walk all that way again right now.” My yawn added a high scratchy noise to the room. “I’ll rest for a while.”
Golden eyes scanned my face. “You’re all flushed. Do you have a fever, too?”
I stared. How many times did I have to tell these people to quit asking damn questions?
Her lips pinched, and her right hand glowed before she stepped forward, placing it on my forehead…and her eyes popped wide. “Oh, Jesus Christ, Caro.” She took her glowing hand away, her eyes darting somewhere over the couch. “She’s got an actual fever, too! And it’s high!”
“How high?” King Collins asked instantly from behind me.
“I’m fine, goddammit!” I shouted, which sounded pathetic. “Just stop!”
Golden eyes flicked from me to King Collins, and she quickly whispered, “One hundred and four.” Which wasn’t all that high — I’d had higher — since a Mystical was naturally warmer than a Commoner.
“Shit,” King Collins sounded damn near frantic. “I…there was nothing in the books about this. What the hell do Commoners do in this situation? Anything? I mean, if it’s just a cold, it’ll run its course, but since she’s not able to say anything—”
I growled, sitting up, glaring at him over the couch. “I said I’m fine.” King Collins’s eyes were huge, and not because I was all that threatening at the moment. Taking a calming breath, I stated slowly, “Just trust me.”
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