Chosen Fool (Forever Evermore #5) (12 page)

“Shut. Up,” he hissed, planting his fist into the side of my face.

My vision dimmed again as my head lolled.

Jasper’s voice floated into my hearing while Dell fumbled with my bra. “Dell, torture or rape…you’ve only got time for one before Boss gets here.”

“Dammit, Jasper, you always fucking do this,” Dell growled. My vision slowly steadied. I grunted when he dropped me onto my back, leaving me to stare up at the ceiling. “Fine, you know I enjoy making her bleed even more.”

He straightened, moving away.

I gritted my teeth, inhaling heavily before rolling onto my side. Tiny grunting whimpers escaped me while I steadied myself. Only a second later I cried out as Bruno grabbed my arms and lifted me, smashing me against the wall next to Sin.

“Is he alive?” I gasped, leaning heavily on my good leg.

Bruno snorted. “Of course he is.” A shoulder shrugged. “You know Boss likes to take you both to the brink of death before healing you up.” A cruel smile. “Just so he can do it again.” His head tilted. “I never understood how the fuck he hasn’t earned the loyalty of the two of you by doing this over and over again.”

I choked on a heartless laugh. “Ah, Bruno, we enjoy pain.”

A tawny eyebrow cocked. “No, you don’t.” His teeth flashed. “But even I have to admit that you have a beautiful scream when you truly hate something.”

“Only to the fucking demented,” I groaned, trying to fight his hold as he started raising my arms, which was utterly futile against his Shifter strength.

He hummed quietly. “And I’m certain we’ll be hearing it very soon.” He glanced over his shoulder as I continued struggling, my arms now fully stretched. “You’d better hurry up, Dell.”

“I’ll watch for Boss,” Jasper muttered, quickly turning his back on the three of us and herding the other onlookers out of the room. He shut the door behind him and a sudden golden, shimmering glow encased the walls—a Mage privacy spell to keep my screams unheard from outside the room.

Dell stepped next to Bruno and placed a stake in front of my face. The pointy half was made of solid silver, the back half of it made of black spelled wood. I flinched as he ran it over my cheek, the silver sizzling against my skin as he crooned, “Come, Caro, squeal for us.” He grabbed my broken hand, slamming it straight on the wall and making me grunt on a choked cry…right before his arm blurred as he slammed the stake through my palm.

I grunted hard, my body jerking as I gurgled a sob.

“Now, that wasn’t good enough,” Dell hummed. “I guess I’ll have to try again.” I gritted my teeth, groaning through the shout that wanted to escape as he jerked the stake out only to slam it into another spot on my hand. My mouth opened on a silent scream and my vision dimmed for a moment before returning. My body trembled, blood pouring from my pinned hand. “Again, I guess.”

“Not enough time,” Bruno muttered.

“Fuck, between you and Jasper, my time with her is always fucking ruined,” Dell mumbled in irritation. I sobbed silently…then shouted as he blurred around Bruno and slammed a stake into my other palm, pinning my hands completely to the wall. “There, now she’s making some damn noise.” He elbowed Bruno as my sobs racked my body. Another shout escaped me as Bruno moved, all of my weight hanging from my pinned hands and good leg. Dell lifted the silver spear, which was made sadistically the same as the stakes, and placed it against my stomach right above my navel. He grinned with hilarity right before he pressed the three-inch-thick, burning silver spear into my stomach.

I screamed.

I screamed as Dell and Bruno had wanted to hear, my cry piercing through the room. Twice the memory cut out as my vision went black, my screams resuming each time it returned. Bruno and Dell were laughing merrily while Dell drew out the stabbing, sliding the spear through my body inch by slow inch until he was standing flush against the front of me, the spear’s silver half only showing out of my skin an inch. He jerked it inside my body, blood pouring from my stomach and my mouth. My head dropped, my vision going black again.

Only I was brought back to life when my head was jerked up by a rough hand in my hair. It was the Bossman staring me in the face, a tiny smile lifting his lips. “I’ve missed you, my pet. Wherever have you been?”

I spat blood on in his eyes.

His gaze narrowed as he gently wiped his face with his free hand, smearing the blood in long streaks. “Now, that wasn’t nice.” His wolf growled quietly. “Do you want me to kill Sin?”

I choked hoarsely, “Get…him…down.”

“No, I don’t think so. Not yet. After all, you are the reason he’s here.” Bossman chuckled quietly. “When you apparently disappeared, he naturally came looking for you here…and, well, you can see how that ended up.” Black eyes wandered over my face. “I want to know how you suddenly flashed into this room, and where the fuck you’ve been since you escaped the last time.”

I laughed, the sound choked. “Go…fuck…yourself.” I paused. “Or…Dell.”

“Yes, well, I can see this is going to be fun,” he murmured, sounding irritated and gleeful at the same time, before he glanced over his shoulder. He barked at Bruno, “Get her down and have Jasper heal her. Then I’ll do this again, since I hate missing out on the fun.”

The screen went blank.

No one moved.

No one breathed.

I wasn’t even entirely sure Mrs Damon was still conscious inside Mr Damon’s hold, as his arms were wrapped around her tightly where she had buried her face against his chest. All the Rulers still stared at the screen, unblinking. Elder Farrar flicked his wrist, the barest movement, and the screen completely disappeared. He let his head drop, staring at the ground. Roselle and Reese were both still staring where the screen used to be, keeping their attention off of me…and Leric.

Because Leric had moved at some point during that memory. He was now sitting on the edge of the bed, closer to where the screen used to be, with his back to me and his strong muscles straining his white shirt. His elbows rested on his knees, and his arms were crooked so his chin rested in his hands and his fingers steepled to cover his mouth.

And there was the bitty fact he was glowing bright white, his crown of the galaxies sitting on top of his head.

I cleared my throat, oddly feeling detached from having to watch that special event. “I think I’m going to order room service.” I pulled the menu from the end table. “I’m starving.” Which was no wonder since I had puked all the food I’d eaten earlier. “Does anybody else want anything?”

King Collins’s gaze snapped to mine, very careful to not look anywhere near Leric, but he still stared at me like I was crazy. “You can’t be serious.”

“She is.” Queen Ruckler cleared her throat, also glancing at me and keeping her gaze off Leric. “She’s telling
truth
.”

“I’m hungry,” I mumbled, staring down at the menu and reading the meals on it as I shrugged a shoulder. “Seeing that wasn’t anything new or shocking to me, it was a pretty tame experience, really.”

The room went quiet, so I guessed no one else wanted anything. It made making the phone call I placed much easier. “Maybe you guys will be hungry by the time it arrives. I got enough to share.”

That was when Leric moved—to pop his neck—before refreezing at the end of my bed.

I rubbed my lips together, watching in fascination as his crown rotated around his head for a few beats, before I peered to my silent King. “Do you want to know the bad news now?”

King Collins’s eyebrows rose, and he started to walk toward me but stopped dead in his tracks when his face suddenly reflected silver…apparently, Leric’s gaze had snapped to him. He relaxed back against the dresser, the silver light on his face disappearing after a few beats, and he asked, “That wasn’t the bad news?”

“Oh.” I shrugged a shoulder. “No. You see, even if you know who he is—”

“We do, but we thought we’d killed him. I swear my shot was true, but the damned bullet wasn’t silver…I should have
known
better than to believe he went down that easy,” King Zeller groused in heated passion, then he instantly froze. His face was reflecting silver, and his eyes—almost—flicked all the way to Leric, but they slowly came back to mine. He continued speaking, the silver light shining brightly on his face. “His name is Philip Masterson, although I’m sure he’s using a false name—”

“Alexander Kurnoc,” I interrupted.

King Zeller’s eyebrows lifted. “The obscure gambling industrialist?” When I dipped my head, he mumbled absently to himself, “Very interesting.” A nod of his head. “It makes sense then that he’s never been photographed or interviewed.” He cleared his throat and got back on track to tell me something I didn’t know. “He’s a hybrid, Shifter and Mage.” My brows rose at this, and King Zeller nodded slowly at my expression. “Yeah, and because of this, his Mage magic tends to work in reverse. Our best guess is, whereas some powerful Mages can go forward in time, he stores up enough power to go back in time.”

He popped his fingers one by one. “It didn’t work out for him so well the last time he tried it—even though we thought he was fucking
dead—
so I don’t imagine he would do it again anytime soon.” He blinked. “Oh yes, and he’s the one that initially started MCWWII, creating a large majority of the Beasts by raping Com women.”

I stared. “Alrighty then.” I tried to process all of that, and I was pretty sure it was going to take longer than a few minutes to wrap my brain around. “Well, you won’t like the bad news then.” I flicked a finger where the screen used to be. “He’s also got some type of protection surrounding him, so he can’t be found unless he wants to be.”

Leric glowed just a bit brighter, and all of us started to squint. There was a scraping sound at my door, followed by a bitty howl. Followed directly by a loud, snarling wildcat noise. I sighed and started to stand to let Isolde and Tristan inside, but Leric chose that moment to speak, his rage making the room shake furiously as he shouted a demanding order, “Caro, sit the fuck down!” When everyone froze, his voice boomed, “
Somebody else get the goddamn door!”

Roselle instantly moved. “On it, sir.”

Leric went mute again, his mouth still behind his steepled hands. The silver glow of his eyes disappeared every once in a while as he stared at the wall, apparently barely blinking while Roselle opened the door to let in Isolde and Tristan. She shut and locked the door behind them. Isolde chose to go around sniffing and growling at everyone, but Tristan instantly jumped on my bed, rolled on it a few moments, then his enormous head dropped onto my lap and he started his huffing purr instantly. Only to stop when I lifted Isolde onto the bed, placing her on my free leg and ordering her to behave. They both watched each other silently while I stroked their heads.

I yawned as I spoke. “What’s the plan to keep the big bad from getting what he wants?”

Elder Farrar flicked a finger at me, eyebrows raised. “Meaning you and Sin.”

I blinked tiredly. “Sin and I can both handle ourselves now, hence the reason I didn’t mention anything before Leric caught me in the lie.” I rested back against the headboard, my head lolling to the side. “But I’m going to go out on a limb and guess no one here believes that now, after seeing that memory, which, by the way, was before either of us had our powers.”

Elder Farrar smirked. “Your guess would be right, especially where he’s involved, since you know,” he waved a brazen hand, “the man did orchestrate MCWWII into happening.”

“Hmm.” I blinked slowly. “You almost had a point there.” Another blink. “You think my food will be here soon?”

Almost everyone blinked right back at me.

Oddly, it was Mrs Damon who snapped out of her funk, brushing Mr Damon away as she wiped at her bloodshot eyes. She stomped across the room, ignoring when Leric’s silver gaze shot across her face, making it glow, to lift the phone on my bedside table. She called room service and barked orders like a deranged military sergeant. I almost felt sorry for the poor schmuck on the other end of the line. She slammed the phone down, nodding efficiently at the mistreated phone while stating, “It’ll be here in a few minutes.”

My head lolled the other way, peering up at her. “You want some of my food?”

“No,” she clipped primly. “But thank you for the offer.” She moved back to Mr Damon, leaning heavily on him as he wrapped his arms around her.

“You know, I’m really tired.” I yawned again, moving to snuggle down on the bed. I placed Isolde above my head on the pillow and used Tristan for a body pillow, tossing my leg over his warm body. “This day has been majorly draining, so do you think maybe you can get to the plan before my food arrives and I pass out?”

King Collins ran a hand over his face before massaging at his temples. He finally stated unhelpfully, “I’d like to sleep on it then talk with the other Rulers privately and, more than likely, a few of the Elders, too, before we come up with a plan to keep you out of his sadistic fucking hands.” He blinked up at me. Stared. Blinked again. “You may want to,” another blink, “call Sin and have him come back where he can be protected.”

“I’m thinking you didn’t hear me.” I yawned again, my jaw stretching huge. “Sin and I can take care of ourselves, even if you don’t believe me.” I sniffed, snuggling against Tristan’s warmth, but my head shot up when there was a knock at the door. “My food.”

Roselle instantly moved. The golden Mage protection disappeared from the walls with a flick of Elder Farrar’s little finger. She asked clearly through the door, “Who’s there?”

The answer was clear. “Room service.”

“Can you repeat the order, please?”

He started rambling a list of my dishes.

I moaned, waving a hand at Roselle. “Let the man in before it gets cold!”

King Collins stared at me for long moments, then he cleared his throat, stating evenly, “Caro, there is going to come a time when you have your own Prodigy. I’ll forewarn you, whoever it is will never be anything like you expected.”