Chosen Thief (7 page)

A deep growl sounded behind me, a bit of wolf
in the snarly tone. The muscles of the Prodigy Shifter tensed as he bent, and he spoke directly against the back of my ear. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but I can assure you that just because I have taste, unlike the classlessness standing before me, it in no way means I’m a pussy cat.”

I lifted a hand, reaching back and patting his cheek, which was warm to the touch, and again
I felt him freeze. “Don’t worry. A man as big as you is sure to have balls.” I tilted my head at the Mage and lowered my hand, eyes still evaluating the Rulers. “Unlike the brute of a Mage over there cowering.”

“Hey!” London piped up, his baritone ringing stronger. “I find your tone offensive.”

I stared at the Rulers. “Am I tripping? Seriously. Did I have some of those bad shrooms again, and
this is all Sin fooling around, using another Mage comedian to give me a spelled trip of his freaky, fantastic devising?” I tilted my head up, staring at the ceiling, eyes darting about. “Goddammit, Sin!” I hollered, “You know I like the dreams where they end wet,” I threw my arms wide, shaking my head, “not the farces.”

King Zeller started gurgling and couldn’t seem to stop, so I continued,
turning my attention back to the Rulers and glancing at each one of them, seeing their eyes squint more. “It’s like one of those bad jokes, since you’ve only got one decent Prodigy in the bunch.” I threw a thumb over my shoulder at the Shifter. “You’ve got the Mage lifting his hands in fear as he glows, singing
This Little Light of Mine,
while the textbook insecure beauty shakes her ass and tits
in front of him, baring her fangs, so he’ll stare at her body instead of the woman.”

King Zeller’s eyes actually started to water, and the rest were unobtrusively swaying where they stood rooted to the floor. But no one else seemed to notice since the Shifter behind me made an odd sound, kind of like a choke, then doubled over. He slapped a huge, heated palm on my shoulder as he laughed his ass
off, the tone kind of nice, deep and scratchy.

I patted his back, staring down at him and seeing the back of his head, realizing I didn’t even know what the man looked like yet. “It’s all right, let it out. It can’t be easy being the only talent around here.” I took my hand off his back as he laughed harder, and I lifted one of the shoulder-length black curls he had on the back of his head, analyzing
it. “And you could really cut down on the gel. I’m sure the curls are hard to tame, but man,” I crunched the curl in my hand, actually hearing it crinkle, “this is ridiculous. What do you do? Go through an entire bottle in a morning? I could run down to the thrift store and buy you something affordable that would work just as well and wouldn’t be so heavy.”

He took his free hand off his knee,
laughing it up, and knocked my hand away absently, sputtering, “You can’t mess with perfection, so don’t try to sell me on the benefits of…cheap.”

I stared at the back of his head. “You actually believe that.” I glanced at the Rulers. “He actually believes…” I trailed off, just now noticing their expressions. They were no longer on the verge of laughing, now staring at Brann with wide eyes. Not
one of them was moving to even breathe, from the looks of it. I waved a hand grandly toward Brann and in their line of sight. “It’s called laughing, people. I’m sure once upon a time you did it, too. You know, when you weren’t old and creaking.” Yeah, they appeared all of, maybe, mid-twenties, but the age insult got their attention and now their gazes caught on me. Their gazes were too intense
for me to stare at, so I glanced back down to Brann and patted his back again, his chuckling beginning to quiet. “You gonna make it down there?”

He chuckled quietly, beginning to push up on my shoulder with his hand, and tilted his face toward me, jerking his head so his curls weren’t in his face.

And we froze.

His crooked grin was full of humor, the contagious type of smile. His amber eyes
peered down at me through black hair that had a slight wave of loose curls. He unfroze, slowly finishing straightening, gently taking his hand off my shoulder.

I followed his ascent, my head tilted all the way back to continue staring him in the face, even as I felt his power leak out, his animal’s wildness skimming over my skin as he tested me, which would be fruitless.

After a moment he asked
quietly, softly, but his wolf was riding his voice a bit, “What are you?” His head cocked as his nostrils flared, and he inhaled heavily. “You’re not a Com.”

“White.”

He blinked, his power beginning to press more insistently. “White…white what?”

Stupidly, I pointed at my head.

His gaze flew to my hair, and when we returned to staring one another in the eyes I heard his wolf growl quietly,
sounding a half huff of impatience before he snapped his eyes away from me to ask the Rulers, “What the fuck is she?”

With his head tilted away, I blinked, sucking in a large breath, and took steps away from him for safety’s sake. I quickly stared at his chest when he jerked his head back to me. His wolf was growling not so nicely now as I moved, so I froze at the predator’s sound and stated,
“I’m a spirit Elemental.”

His wolf cut off abruptly, and it was dead silent in the room except for a clock I heard ticking somewhere behind me. I wasn’t positive what to do since it didn’t feel non-toxic to look him in the face again and I was unsure of what the hell had just happened. I crossed my arms, suddenly feeling cold, and peered down at my socked feet, realizing I probably did appear
a bit ridiculous in the middle of the day dressed in my pajamas.

He cleared his throat, the action sounding harsh, and I saw from my peripheral that he moved a few steps away to where he had set his brandy glass on a table. Picking it up gently, he asked slowly, “A spirit Elemental?”

I nodded once, then I glanced up to King Collins for some help, not letting my gaze stray anywhere else. King
Collins looked like a damn mannequin as he stared back at me, but eventually he blinked after Queen Cooper nudged him with her elbow. He inhaled sharply, his face void of all emotion as he glanced around the room. “Aria, London, Brann, this is,” he lifted his hand in my direction, “Caro Jules, and she is a spirit Elemental.” His lips quirked as he continued. “She’s also my new Prodigy, the next Queen
Elemental.”

I instantly glared, feeling a bit more like myself as agitation and frustration rushed me in the silence the King’s little bomb effected on the three Prodigies in the room. Holding up my hands, I stated to them, “I beg to differ, so calm down.” I motioned between the King and myself. “We have not come to that agreement. In fact, I specifically stated I didn’t care what some spell
said. I am not going to be Queen.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Brann point at me around his glass and be the first to break the silence by asking incredulously, “This is the con? The person you’ve been chasing for the last three months?” He snorted. “She’s not big enough to have done everything we heard you guys gossiping about.”

I turned my scowl on his chest, not stupid enough to look
further up. “Just hold it with the nicknames, Herculean, or I’m sure I could come up with something extra inspired that would last your entire reign as King.”

“Hmm.” His thumb thumped on his hip a few times as he took a small sip from his drink with his other, before he purred leisurely, “I’m sure I could come up with something inspired for you, too.”

Oh, boy
.

I swallowed, again becoming tongue-tied
at the promise in his tone, even if it was only hostile, but there were so many ways that comment could be construed. I glanced hurriedly at King Collins where he was staring at Brann silently, and I hastily stammered, “I am not going to be Queen.”

London actually chuckled where he stood, pushing off the wall to stand with his arms crossed. “Being a Ruler isn’t a choice you get to make. It just
is.” He tilted his head to Queen Cooper. “Believe me, I’ve asked many times to be released from my duties and let someone else handle this life, since, as you so rudely stated, I am not King material.”

Queen Cooper turned her head to him instantly. “Yes, you are, so quit saying that. The ruling power doesn’t make mistakes. You’re exactly where, and who, you’re supposed to be.”

He sighed heavily.
“So you keep saying, but I have yet to understand the
why
, no matter how long I meditate.”

I rubbed at my temples. “This is not happening. This is not happening.”

King Collins moved from their Rulers’ line, coming to stand directly behind me, and softly placed his hands on my shoulders. He stated calmly against my ear, “I can promise you this is happening and it’s not going to change but…if
you need a little incentive I can also give that to you to keep you from running off again.”

I stiffened, hands slowly lowering as I eyed each of the three stone-faced Rulers still in front of me. “And here comes the threat.” There was always a damn threat.

King Collins hummed softly in approval. “I can see there will be advantages to having a convicted felon as my Prodigy. Understanding each
other will help to make this process easier. And I can honestly tell you, Caro, I am a much crueler individual than you when I need to be.”

“I’m getting bored,” I muttered truthfully, having heard many of these spiels in my life. “Just get on with it.”

He squeezed my shoulders once before dropping them to stand in front of me, arms crossed. His brown eyes peered down at me as he stated bluntly,
“I told you your criminal background has been expunged, which is the truth.” His lips curved cruelly, the staid King before me showing a bit of the man who had been so vicious during the war. The expression was good on him. “But not your brother’s.”

I felt my face turn to stone. Another damn person to threaten me with him. “This is not the way to start a relationship with me.”

His eyes scanned
my face, then he shrugged an unconcerned shoulder. “I’m not here to be your friend. I am here to make sure you do what you’re told. And if that means we make a Lawful deal — not an underhanded illegal one, since there are plenty of eyewitnesses who saw him help you break out of jail and shoot armed guards — then so be it.” Another shrug. “Technically, it’s not even blackmail, since he should be
behind bars.”

Cracking my neck, I asked point-blank, “You’ll get rid of any transgressions he has on file if I promise to stay and be a good little Prodigy for you?”

He nodded once. “As long as he stays here with us where we can watch over him, since I have a feeling if he walked a foot outside this door he would have another charge placed on him.”

I had no choice. They didn’t know Sin’s real
name, so they didn’t know all the felonies he had committed and escaped from. If they put him under a spelled trial, he would be put on death row in a heartbeat, possibly even killed instantly. Sin had committed many more heinous acts than I had. Running a hand over my face in the quiet surrounding me, I let my head fall to stare at the ground. I stated softly, “I want your word.”

Instant. “You
have it.”

I nodded once after a moment, then I peered back up to his brown eyes. “And you have mine. I’ll stay and be your Prodigy.” I held his gaze steadily as he nodded in silent agreement. “But you have to know, I’ll be useless to you. I won’t use my powers.”

He crossed his arms, evaluating my expression. “Can’t, or won’t?”

“I said I won’t, and that’s what I meant.” I tilted my head to him.
“And I’ve already been trained—”

He cut me off. “By whom?”

I gritted my teeth, ignoring his question. “So there won’t be any need for you to attempt to teach me something you will never know anything about.” I stared, knowing he was intelligent enough to understand. “Or asking questions you shouldn’t be pressuring me with.”

His jaw clenched as he gazed back. “Is that what caused…whatever that
was in there? Me asking questions?”

I breathed shallowly, unable to answer him.

He muttered a curse, glancing to the other Rulers, who were watching us intently, then back to me. “I guess all I have are my books then, and to go on the best assumptions I have.” His gaze darted to the Prodigies, his eyes turning furious. “For her safety, and your own, you are never to question her about her abilities.
Is that understood?”

All three of them eventually nodded once the other Rulers ordered it.

I ran a hand through my slightly ruffled hair. “I want to see Sin now.”

King Zeller grunted. “He’s standing outside the doorway, eavesdropping.”

“What?” Queen Cooper muttered as everyone’s eyes swung to the opened doorway. “How the fuck did he get out?”

King Zeller shrugged, moving to sit on one of
the plush leather couches. “No clue, but he’s been there almost the entire time.”

I heard Sin chuckle quietly in the hallway, the sound purely sinful, but when he entered the room, wearing only the pair of gray and green pajama pants he had gone to sleep in, his expression was serious. He ran a hand through his hair, his chiseled, muscled chest flexing with the motion. He brushed right past the
Rulers, ignoring them to stand in front of me, hands instantly cupping my cheeks as he asked softly, “Are you sure about this, Caro? You don’t need to be a martyr for me, and this is a huge responsibility.” Gently, he pressed his forehead down on mine, staring me in the eyes. “I don’t need your protection, and you know it.”

My lips tilted softly. “I know.” I shook my head slightly inside his
hold, our foreheads rubbing. “But it’s too good a deal to pass up. A clean slate for both of us.” I stared at him hard, whispering, “No more running. Not while we’re living here.”

Vivid green eyes stared back for long moments until he sighed. “All right, Caro. It’s your choice. And we’ll live with it.”

A beat of silence went by, then King Collins interrupted our sanctuary of unity, asking slowly,
“Are you sure you two are brother and sister?”

Sin’s lips curved and he chuckled quietly, lifting his forehead from mine. He placed a soft kiss there before tucking me against his side, keeping me close as he peered at King Collins. “Not by blood, if that’s what you’re asking.”