My eyes dipped to his extended hand, and trying to make it appear as casual and inoffensive as possible, I placed my hands behind my back, gripping the tissue there. I peered back up into his mesmerizing eyes, stating steadily, and truthfully since Queen Ruckler was behind me, “Yes, I’m the Elemental Prodigy.” Simple and sweet.
Leric’s lips curled on one side, and it was a cruel gesture that went right along with his harsh features. He closed his hand, unshaken, and brought it back to his side. “So you at least know our ways.” I nodded once, then he started to move to the left, beginning to circle me. I immediately countered, not about to give this man my back. For every ounce of masculine beauty he contained, he had equal parts of punishing cruelty within in him, from everything I had heard. He flashed white teeth at me as he chuckled quietly, the sound rolling around me and threatening to derail me. He watched as I cautiously and covertly countered him, standing on the balls of my feet as we slowly circled each other. “And you…are not an ignorant little sprite…even if in need of a bath.”
I gritted my teeth — which did need a good brushing — at his words and tone. “No, I’m not. And it’s Caro, not sprite.” I gave a slight shrug, still moving in this little circling dance we were doing, and almost stumbled when I felt his power, the barest brush of the stars but still obtrusive in its touch, as he tested me. “And yes, I could use a bath. I’ve been a bit…under the weather.”
His eyebrows furrowed the barest bit, and I felt his power press harder, rubbing over me like sandpaper, but he didn’t question the fact he couldn’t feel my power. Instead he asked nonchalantly, “You chose to not stay at the Temple?”
I rolled my shoulders and stopped when he did, not completely planting my feet but staying ready on them. “Yes, I chose to leave.” Even if I hadn’t exactly been allowed.
“Curious,” he murmured distractedly, his brows slowly unfurrowing as he regarded me steadily. His power completely retracted, his eyes unflinching. “Not many choose that fate.”
I gave another light shrug. “I did.” My own eyebrows cocked. “My choice.”
He rubbed his chin as he cocked his head. His eyes dipped as they began to re-evaluate me from head to toe, the action meant to crack my composure. “You are not quite what I expected.” His arrowhead diamond ring glistened as he continued rubbing his chin. “To be blunt, Sprite, you are awfully small even for a spirit’s…variety.”
I snorted. Couldn’t help it. “This coming from you?” I waved my hand up and down his over six-and-half-foot, muscled frame, which was awfully large even for a spirit’s variety.
Slowly, his lips began to curl as he watched me, and he flashed his teeth at me, which felt more like he was baring them than smiling. “Touché.” He flicked a finger at me and began to move, and we started our circling dance again. “I won’t comment on your small stature again.” His lips twitched as he peered at me. “After all, smallness is such a misfortune — for a male or a female — as I’m sure you, and those you’ve been with, can attest to.”
My eyes narrowed, and not one damn witty comment came to me as he subtly made fun of me, blatantly trying to get a reaction. Which I wouldn’t give him. “I think we’re done here.” I cocked my head. “Unless you just want to continue getting your workout in,” my finger spun, “circling each other as we are?”
His red lips started to curl again, but he stopped abruptly.
His attention swung to the open doorway.
Sin was coming down the hallway, shouting, “Isolde! Goddammit, Isolde, get back here with that! Isolde, dammit…Caro is going to kick your ass!”
I blinked and ran a hand over my face. “It appears I need to be going, anyway.”
Leric’s head tilted, silver eyes piercing me. “Isolde?”
I nodded once. “Yeah, my Vizoac.” I stared wide-eyed as my Vizoac bounced into the room, the tiny fur ball holding the one and only piece of actual lingerie I owned: a short, light blue satin slip-thingy I had bought on a whim because it matched my eyes, and which I really liked. Instantly mortified, cheeks — fuck me — burning, flushing brightly, I rushed past Leric where he had immediately grabbed Tristan’s collar, holding him back when he started to spring at my tiny Vizoac.
Sin and I slammed into each other when he suddenly entered the room, both of us lunging at Isolde…or what she was traipsing all over the damn castle, biting one of the spaghetti straps. Sin’s arms instantly steadied me, keeping us on our feet, and breathless, he muttered, “She’s not listening to me. Tell her to stop.”
“Isolde, stop!” I barked harshly, brushing hair out of my face as I turned to find her in the center of the room. I watched as she sat calmly, and I was pretty damn sure she was grinning at me. Inhaling sharply, my jaw clenched, I knew my face was beet red from her antics. I waggled my finger as I marched over to her, grabbing the blue satin from the ground. “This is not funny, young lady.” And apparently she thought it was, because she began playing tug-of-war with my slip. “Don’t you dare rip this! Stop it! Now!” Her bitty, scrappy growl could be heard, but she stopped. “Now, drop it.”
She huffed but released the slip from her mouth, and I quickly straightened so my ass wasn’t in the air. I balled the lingerie up and chucked it at Sin, who caught it deftly and stuffed it under one of his arms where he crossed them, leaning against the doorframe and staring mutely at the people in the room. His face reflected no surprise at so many spirits in one place.
Quickly, I glanced at King Collins. “We’ll be going now. We’ll see you at dinner.”
And I swear to God, King Collins was trying not to laugh his ass off…as were the rest of the Rulers as they stared at my flushed face. Hell, Queen Cooper’s and Queen Ruckler’s shoulders were shaking as they tried to rein it in.
King Zeller cleared his throat and glanced to where King Collins was, who stood mute, eyes all squinty, then he peered back to me with a decently controlled voice when my King continued his silence. “Yes, that should do, Caro.” He waved a hand at the door. “We’ll see you later.”
Queen Ruckler made a noise in her throat, her eyes staring behind me, her shoulders quivering worse. “And you might want to take Isolde with you before Tristan eats her.”
I snapped around to see Isolde had moved, standing at attention, her bitty tail straight out as she growled at Tristan…maybe an inch from his nose. Tristan was now on his stomach, watching her. Leric was squatting next to him, holding his tiger’s collar, his white hair partially obscuring my view of his tanned face as he studied my tiny, furious Vizoac. “Oh, for the love of all that’s holy, Isolde. One of his damn claws is bigger than you.”
Leric glanced up at me, silver eyes holding me immobile for the briefest moment until I slipped back into my white solace of fortitude, even as he stated, “Half of one of his claws is bigger than her size, but it is possible her tenacity is a bit larger.” His eyes dipped down to her. “Interesting name you picked for your Vizoac.”
Sin pushed away from the door and bent picking Isolde up, holding her close to his chest as he stared down at Leric. “Thank you,” he answered for me, eyes scanning Leric’s face where he crouched, not at all hiding his largeness. “We’ve used that name since we were little.” He paused, staring down at Tristan. “And your pet’s name is…Tristan?”
I blinked, like a dumbass, just now understanding the relationship between the two names, even if just a coincidence.
“His name is Tristan.” Leric slowly stood, vivid silver eyes darting between where Sin held Isolde, and Sin’s green, analyzing gaze. He held out his hand. “I’m Leric Damon…and you would be?”
Sin started to raise his hand, and I jerked forward, grabbing it right before they touched, and tugged him back. I told Leric, “This is Sin.” But I jerked to a stop as I bumped into someone, my hold on Sin tightening as two hands gripped my arms, steadying me. My breath froze in my chest as I felt a power pulse, Sin’s hand jerking inside my grip.
Green eyes staring down at me wit
h complete adoration, Sin’s body heavy over mine as he cupped my face, whispering, “I love you, Caro. Don’t scare me like that again.”
“I won’t,” I whispered, my own hand touching his face. “I’ve made my choice. I won’t leave you.” I shook my head inside his hold. “I’ll never leave you.”
“Promise me,” he murmured softly, kissing my cheeks, the lightest touch. “Promise me, love.”
“I promise,” I breathed, my heart melting as his lips brushed mine in the gentlest of loving affection. “I love you, Sin.”
I jerked away from the power, spinning inside the galaxy of stars for a moment before my back slammed against Sin’s chest. I was squashing Isolde, but I didn’t care. I stared at Reese, my nostrils flaring, jaw clenching, as fury tore apart any control I had. Fury aimed at the person who had moved to touch me intentionally, showing them, because I had been holding Sin’s hand, one of our more intimate moments.
It apparently affected Sin, too, because he shoved me aside and stood right in Reese’s face. His eyes glowed dimly and his expression was of barely controlled wrath as he growled, “You had no goddamn right to that!” His face inched closer so they were nose to nose. Reese appeared unfazed and unrepentant, and Sin’s lips curved as he eyed him…in a way that didn’t bode well for Reese. I barely heard Sin breathe, “Don’t even think for a second you’re protected here.”
King Zeller was instantly next to them, blurring so fast he came with a breeze, and he was grabbing Sin’s shoulders and yanking him away from Reese. “Let’s go for a walk, Sin.”
Sin glanced back at me, letting King Zeller pull him away, his eyes still glowing dimly in his furiousness, and I waved a hand, stating, “I’ll be there in moment.” And God, what control I had to smile at him as if all was well. I waited in the silent, shocked room until I couldn’t hear their footfalls on the tile any longer, then I shut the door calmly and went to stand in front of Reese where he still stood stoically. “You see, asshole, I know your rules. And that was clearly breaking them.” This time I waved King Collins back when his confusion cleared and he realized something not so nice had just happened to me. I was seriously pissed, telling him, “This isn’t going to take long.” I smiled at my King, which was more a baring of teeth. “Oh, and you’ll be thrilled because you’ll get to see my powers in action.” King Collins jerked to a stop and his face went blank, even though he fairly radiated with energy. My lips twitched at him. “Watch closely or you may miss it.”
My attention returned to Reese. “I hope that information was worth it, you fuck.”
He grinned slowly, staring down at me. “I know why you chose what you did.”
“Yeah, well, fuck you. Anyone with half a damn brain would have figured that out at dinner or from the simple fact he was holding my Vizoac, but instead, you breached my privacy.” His face began to glow blue from my gaze as my power began to ramp up, a power that he apparently still couldn’t feel as his white eyebrows slightly furrowed. And I know no one else in the room could either because I hadn’t actually unleashed it yet. My breath caught as I stalled, my face blanking. Little by little, I lowered my heels back to the ground, and took in a steadying breath…because it had been obvious. Too obvious. That little stunt hadn’t been needed.
I took a step back from him, pushing my power down, eyes no longer glowing as my head slowly turned to where Leric stood. He was resting peacefully against a wall, arms crossed and watching silently, and I stated quietly, “Nicely played.” I cracked my neck, and moved toward the door. “You almost got me to use it.” I opened the door and turned back to Leric. “As the offended, I would prefer the One to enact punishment on the offender.”
Red lips curved cruelly as he stared at me, and he stated what I knew he would, “Reese, did you break our rules?”
“No, sire.” Reese ducked his head in Leric’s direction, keeping it bowed. “I did not.”
I snorted, glancing at Reese’s bowed head, and said softly, “You would have preferred the punishment of the One, your friend…because even I can’t stop Sin when he wants something badly enough.” I glanced at King Collins and shrugged. “Sorry. Maybe next time.”
Blue eyebrows rose calmly. “Oh, this has been enlightening enough for me for one meeting.” He rolled his shoulders, waggling them a bit. “I’ll see you at dinner.” A pause, and his lips twitched. “Make sure to bring Sin with you.”
“Like I said, I couldn’t stop him if I wanted to.” And with that, I glanced once more at Leric, staring him steadily in the eyes — challenge fucking given, asshole — before softly shutting the door behind me.
Walking down the long hallway, I followed the soothing tones of King Zeller’s voice until I found him and Sin near the main, great wooden front doors. Sin was pacing back and forth with Isolde at his feet, his head down, neon green hair hanging on either side of his face. King Zeller was bent forward, trying to catch Sin’s eye every time he passed, even as he continually spoke to him. Sighing quietly, I ran a hand through my tangled hair and said softly, “Sin.”
He jerked to a stop, and King Zeller went quiet. A few beats of silence went by until Sin’s gaze snapped to mine. And Lord, he was furious, his eyes still glowing dimly as he peered at me from between his hair, and he whispered furiously, “He had no fucking right to that memory.” His hand slashed through the air. “No goddamn right!”
“I know,” I stated calmly and waved a hand, trying to explain. “It was all a ploy to get me to use my power since they couldn’t figure out how powerful I am.”
He snorted, running his hands through his hair, and stared at the ceiling for a moment. “Well, you won’t be involved then. We can’t give them what they want.”
“And…that’s my cue to leave you two alone to talk,” King Zeller muttered, and passed by Sin, but he stopped to stare down at me. “No touching, huh?”
My nostrils flared, and I stared forward, still unable to say anything about spirit secrets.
“Of course no damn touching,” Sin mumbled harshly. “She stopped me from shaking the hand of,” he glanced at me, “the Egyptian-looking guy with the silver eyes.” Furious green eyes went back to King Zeller. “And that other prick pulled a fucking intimate memory of us from her while touching her arms…but she was touching me so, apparently, that let me see it, too. So unless you want your secrets aired to the goddamn spirit unknowns, I would suggest you not touch them or let them touch you.”
King Zeller instantly went still, eyes staring unfocused over my head for a long moment before he started moving down the long hallway. “Well, that’s good to know.”
I scooped up Isolde, holding her close as Sin started pacing again. “Reese, the prick who did this, is more powerful than me, Sin.” I didn’t care if King Zeller could hear me; the information was probably helpful anyway, and not a damn secret. The only reason I had even thought to use my power on him earlier was because their codes meant he wouldn’t have been able to retaliate against the offended, having broken the rules. “You need to be careful.”
Sin stopped directly in front of me and cupped my face, surprising me by placing his lips against mine. Delicately and gently he held my face as his soft lips stroked mine once. A sweet, pure, loving caress. And as he pulled his head back, I realized I was holding my breath and I had shut my eyes. Gradually, I blinked them open and stared into green an inch away from my own blue gaze, and Sin whispered, “I’ll be careful.” He shook his head slowly. “But fuck, love,” his jaw clenched, “he had no business seeing that moment between us.”
A feminine throat cleared to our right, and we jerked, peering in that direction to see Aria, Brann, and London standing only a few feet away. Honestly, I had no clue how long they had been there lurking in the shadows behind one of the grand columns. I cleared my own throat, running a hand through my hair as Sin and I stepped away from each other. I really had no clue what to say being interrupted like that, because it had probably appeared more than it actually was. But, deceptively, S
in didn’t have that problem because he glanced at me, jerking his head to the stairs and stating, “Caro, like King Zeller earlier, this is your turn to leave.”
I stared at him for a long moment, already seeing the wheels turning, then I glanced at London and Aria…and slowly Brann’s guarded face…then back to Sin. “Don’t let them get hurt.”
His lips twitched. “Go get some rest before dinner.”
Chapter Eleven
Checking one last time, I thumped the back of my black boots and watched as the silver knife slid out of the toe, the tip extra special. Perfect. The oldies were always the goodies. Leaving our bedroom, I brushed my hands down my black blouse with the curved neckline and relished wearing my black leather pants, which I hadn’t worn in some time since being here. Knowing the other spirits would be dressed all in white, it was my own way of sticking up my middle finger at them. I was running a few minutes behind, making sure I had all of my weapons hidden perfectly on my body, and a few tissues in my pocket, so I walked briskly to the Shifter section where dinner was to be held.
Entering the formal, large dining room decorated in a mixture of brown and black, a motif of old elegance with dark woods and two large crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, I took a quick inventory of those already here. Which seemed to be just about everyone, sipping on cocktails and talking amongst themselves. I first spied Sin, who I had heard rummaging around in our room briefly while I was in the shower, and he was dressed in casual black dress pants and a black shirt with a thin green tie, appearing unharmed.
And, like normal, I skimmed right over Brann, who was speaking to Aria.
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