King Tomb (Forever Evermore) (8 page)

He shook my hand firmly, his palm warm. “Queen Ruckler.” His grip tightened on my hand. “And unlike you, I will say it’s a,” glacial green eyes held mine, “pleasure to see you.”

Lie.

Damn man. “Oh, rest assured, King Zeller,”
asshole
, “the pleasure is all mine.”

Lie.

And, a bit pathetically — I’m not even sure who started it — we were suddenly battling in a Mystical macho handshake of strength and will. Our powers crashed into each other where our palms connected, neither of us going easy on the other. Instantly, my wolf growled quietly as his power, feeling like dark and seductive whispers, made contact with my animal’s wildness, and I was pleased to hear his Vampire growl at the same time, both of us going completely still in an effort to hang on and not be the first person to blow us apart in an invisible, magical detonation.

“Huh,” Elder Jacobs leaned against the table, “I haven’t seen a decent showdown in forever.”

“King Zeller…” Elder Zeller sighed, the tone half-exasperated and half-warning.

The air vibrated around me, and I instantly pushed more power down my arm, countering the influx he threw at me. His grip turned bruising in an effort to hold on, even though I could have told him that if either one of us popped the explosion…well, my grip was tight enough that his hand would be coming with me and not with him…Lawfully. Which, I believe, he was just starting to figure out as his glowing gaze stared down at our hands.

And for the second time in so long, I chuckled, the sound just as gravelly as before. “I would suggest you relent, King Zeller,”
asshole
, “unless you would enjoy a surgery to reattach your hand.” Shifter strength did come in…handy.

Again the air vibrated, and I grinned evilly, my curling lips matching his as I threw even more power down my palm just in time to meet his assault. We both grunted, our bodies beginning to tremble while our predators growled intermittently.

Antonio bent, pressing his lips to my ear and whispering softly, “Lil, there’s no shame in yielding first,” my wolf growled at him, “because you’re not thinking clearly.” He paused, barely breathing loud enough for me to even hear, meaning no one else could either — even the Vamps. “
Isa
.”

I stilled and, instantly, overpowering fear crippled me. I had thought Antonio would protect her if an explosion occurred, and I still knew he would, but his pseudo threat was enough for all thoughts to hone in completely on my daughter. My power abruptly cut off, and I was consumed by King Zeller’s power. My knees buckled and air escaped me, and all I saw was a mist of spring green, a direct contrast to the dark, seductive power bombarding me.

Abruptly as it hit, the power attack ended.

I blinked, shaking my head hard past the fuzziness. “Goddammit, Antonio.” And I stilled, realizing King Zeller must have caught me instead of letting me drop to my knees in front of him, since I was wrapped in his arms against his heated, hard muscles, his scent engulfed in his warmth. I shoved at his chest, throwing myself out of his strong embrace, wobbling only for a moment. I met his hard green gaze. “Why?”

Why hadn’t he taken the victory?

King Zeller’s head tilted as he brushed back his floor-length, dark silver robe to place his hands in the pockets of his designer holey jeans, his gaze not leaving mine for a second as he slowly and quietly drawled, “Queen Ruckler, when you do,” a cruel, sensual curve of his lips, “fall to your knees before me, it will be because you can’t stop yourself, not because you tripped at a distraction.”

A few ticks of silence went by as our unforgiving gazes held.

“Well,” my eyes lowered to his crotch, then up to his icy gaze, “if that impossible day ever happens, King Zeller,”
asshole
, “just remember you’re not the only one with sharp teeth.” I mimicked his deliberately forbidding carnal smile.

If anything, that cruel smile of his only increased as he cocked his head the other way. “Yes, I do believe having you here will be interesting.” Gradually, his gaze touched my hair, my face, my throat, slowly moving down my body from head to toe, scrutinizing me. “I never would have guessed you to be the Queen of the Shifters.” Green eyes lifted to mine. “You’re fortunate you told me when you did last week, otherwise…well, you know where you would still be hanging.” My nostrils flared in angered irritation, and he smirked at my expression before his gaze traveled to Isa. “And I never would have imagined a Ruler to adopt a child of another faction, especially with this war we’re in.”

Protective instincts flared, stealing my breath I felt so consumed by them, as King Zeller just as slowly analyzed my daughter as he had done me. Before I knew it, I was standing directly in front of her, practically smashed between Antonio holding her and King Zeller, my wolf growling quietly and my eyes glowing brightly as I glared up at him. Wolf riding my voice harshly, I growled, “
Mine.
”

Deliberately, one cocky eyebrow rose as he stared down at me, not backing away. “I was only getting a good look at what sent you here to be tortured.” My growl lowered even more, furious, my eyes slightly narrowing as I debated the pitfalls of hitting him only once. Not to kill him, but just as a bit of retribution to feed the soul. Again he smirked, and bent so his face was inches away from mine, whispering, “You may think you know my weakness, but with certainty, I now know yours.” He rose, glancing over my head to Isa while I seethed. “And trust me, Queen Ruckler, even though your daughter is beautiful and appears sweet, I won’t ever lay a finger on her for any reason, good or bad.” He shrugged a shoulder, peering down at me. “I hate children.”

All of that had been
truth
, except for that last comment. It had rung more of confused dishonesty. As if he believed he should hate children but didn’t entirely understand why. I said nothing, my head cocking as I evaluated that little bit of information. Every morsel of weakness I knew about this man was gold, as were my weaknesses to him.

I watched his eyebrows begin to pucker just the tiniest increment as he stared over my head at Isa, but his expression quickly turned hard and cold before he asked with a voice void of emotion, “Is she cold?” His gaze flittered down to mine then back to her. “You have her wrapped up like it’s the arctic, and her cheeks are pink, but she’s not sweating. If you would like, we can have a fire Elemental warm it up a bit in here.”

Ah…in no way did he hate children.

That was all I needed to know for now. Slowly, I moved out from between them. “That’s very kind of you,” I murmured, feeling Isa’s cool, rosy cheek. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.”

He grunted, no emotion showing as he glanced back to where two Vampires stood — a male and a female, both of them very similar-looking to each other — and asked one of them to have the heat turned up. King Zeller’s green gaze then turned to Antonio. And stayed there. I watched his eyes harden even further than while he had been evaluating my daughter. His black eyebrows snapped together as he glanced over Antonio’s facial features. “Last week, I didn’t…” He trailed off, his gaze slamming back to Antonio’s. “You never caught me, Elder Farrar.”

I blinked and hid my confusion the best I could by staying silent. I had no clue what this was about, but Antonio seemed to understand by the way a small smile played at his lips.

He rested Isa more firmly on his hip, eyes never leaving King Zeller. “King Venclaire may have been the one to eventually find you,” his lips lifted further, “but who do you think helped him be in the right place at the right time?” His eyebrows lifted in question. “And believe me, I had much better things I needed to be doing, such as raising my daughter,” a head tilt in my direction, “Lil, here, but instead, I had to run after a foolhardy young man while she was sent to live with her now,” his grin was a bit evil, “deceased uncle.”

I stood still as a statue, completely understanding now. Antonio hadn’t just left me after my first Awakening, which felt like so long ago. He had been searching for a goddamn runaway Prodigy Vampire. Doing the math quickly in my head…I blinked…well, hell. I couldn’t exactly add this to my list of things to hate King Zeller about. That had been around the time he had lost his mate. Some unhinged more than others when their mate died, and as my eyes roamed King Zeller’s carefully blank face, I realized he was one of them.

“Love’s a bitch, King Zeller,” I murmured, lifting Isa from Antonio’s arms to break the growing tension between them. “We’re all much better off without it.” I kissed Isa’s forehead. “Unless it’s the love of a daughter or son.” My smile matched Isa’s, and I placed another kiss on her forehead. “Now that is worth having.”

King Zeller slowly dragged his eyes away from Antonio, his gaze meeting mine. “I’ll take your word for it.” Green eyes flicked to Isa, and his voice softened the barest bit. “Although, I can see your reasoning. She really is beautiful, Queen Ruckler.”
Truth.
My lips lifted at the honesty — there was almost kindness in his void words — before he bent, bringing his head level with hers as Elder Zeller had done earlier. Isa eyed him, her own green eyes tracking over his features, her expression reverting back to cautiousness. King Zeller’s lips lifted on one side, and if I wasn’t mistaken, it was a shadow of his real smile. He whispered, “Hello, Isa. You’re a smart one, aren’t you?”

I knew what she was going to do before she did it. She had just recently picked up a fascination with noses. And she was studying his awfully hard.

Isa grabbed it, digging her tiny fingers in, and wiggled it. She grinned slowly with a giggle bubbling past her lips at her ornery action.

Quickly, I pulled her hand back, muttering, “Sorry. She thinks it’s cute.” I paused and blinked. “I mean, she thinks pinching noses is cute,” I waved a hand at his nose, “not that your nose is cute.” Well, hell. That hadn’t come out right, either. “I mean, not that your nose isn’t cute.” I choked, because that sure as hell didn’t come out right, either. “Um, what I mean is—”

King Zeller held up a quick hand to stop my idiotic ramblings. Thank God.

A smidge of the hardness was gone from his gaze, green eyes sparkling with amusement and dancing as he watched me. “I get it. And it’s all right. I can handle a baby’s playfulness.” Appearing like he wanted to laugh at me, which pissed me off — I was truthfully upset at myself for my blathering — he turned to Isa, careful to keep his distance from her hand that twitched as she stared at his nose again. “And you, little one, are not only smart, but ornery.” His lips lifted, but this time it was his cruel, hard smile as he bent forward, whispering quietly near her ear, “Give your mom hell for me.”

“That’s enough of that,” Elder Zeller muttered, slapping a hand on King Zeller’s shoulder and giving him a reprimanding look as he straightened. “Try not to corrupt the young.”

A grunt was his answer, that cruel smile still lifting King Zeller’s lips before he glanced at those silent around us. “Shall we sit down to eat? Our food’s probably getting cold.”

Elder Zeller grunted, too, much like his son. “We might as well.”

Turning to take my seat and pulling my chair out, I froze as my gaze landed on a table three over. Or, more precisely, on a Mystical sitting at the table. His eyes were on me as mine were on him. John Smith. At King Cave he had challenged me, and we had fought, but I had ended up letting him live. He was also a hybrid, which I had figured out during our fight. He pretended to be fully Shifter, as I did, but where I hid my Vampire nature, he hid his Elemental side. I hadn’t seen him since the challenge, but here he was at King Shadow. And he was one hell of a powerful being, his power damn near rivaling my own Queen’s power.

“Queen Ruckler?” King Zeller asked, standing next to me, pulling my attention back to him as he waited for me to move. His eyes were also on John Smith where I was staring. “Is there an issue?”

“No,” I stated instantly, then I glanced at him unrepentantly. “But would you excuse me for a moment? I’ve just noticed someone I would like to speak with.” And I didn’t want the man disappearing again before I had a chance to talk with him. When King Zeller’s eyebrows raised slowly, his attention turning back to John Smith, he shook his head gradually. Placing Isa in Antonio’s arms, I stated, “I’ll be back in just a moment.” Quickly, I took my jacket off, blatantly showing the weapons I had on — which was what I wanted since the man was powerful — and set it on the back of the chair I would be sitting on. I walked over to where he was already standing away from his table, waiting for me.

He stared at me, eyes roaming my face then down my frame, hands in his pockets. When he was through with his perusal, slightly faster than my scrutiny of him, he stated bluntly, “You’ve changed.” His head tilted toward mine. “Maybe I should show you my creativity, after all.”

My head tilted, ponytail slipping over my shoulder. “The last time you got creative my wrist was shattered and you almost ended up dead.” I snorted. “Again, foreplay shouldn’t include a goddamn physician on standby.” I struck, lifting a quick hand, and jerked his chin down, leveling his face with mine, getting to what I wanted. “Are you a Commander here?”

He jerked his chin away, his wolf growing quietly.

“That’s what I thought,” I muttered, running my hands over the top of my head, tightening my ponytail. “Dammit, John.” I growled, thumping his chest, frustration and complete understanding filling me at the same time. “Meet me after dinner at my tent.”

His eyes became guarded. “To take me up on my possible offer?” No, he didn’t want to talk about himself, or the power he hid from everyone, and he was hedging to find out which it was I wanted.

I growled, not giving him an answer. “Just find my tent.” When he nodded, I turned away from him and rubbed a hand over my face, trying to decide how the hell to use him in this war in a way he would allow. He was too powerful an asset not to take advantage of. Sitting on my chair, the table’s occupants quiet, I lifted Isa from Antonio’s arms and onto my lap. “Sorry for the disruption.”

“Friend of yours?” King Zeller drawled across from me, reclined on his chair.