Chosen Fool (Forever Evermore #5) (28 page)

“I do not agree with this,” the One stated fluidly. “She’s prejudiced against me, influenced by the previous actions of Jacob Angel. She has my property in her possession, and all I am asking for is that it be returned while giving you all benefit of protection for your Prodigies. I do not see how this cannot be beneficial for all of us.”

“Get out of the Temple more often, into the real world, then you may see the point she’s making,” Elder Jacobs countered steadily before his dark eyes turned to King Collins. “I retract my previous decision and stand behind Ms Jules’s counteroffer.”

My lips wanted to lift but I held them steady. I had won this battle. Not only was it two against one between King Collins, and Elder Jacobs and myself, but it was an Elder telling my King—politely—to agree with me. The Rulers were the heads of the people, but many times they were persuaded by the more experienced Elders when making decisions.

King Collins’s gaze ran over my face, and his lips twitched the barest bit so that no one else could see him. He turned his solemn attention to the One. “The counteroffer my Prodigy offered is our treaty. If you would like to continue staying here as our guests, and also be a part of the investigation into Philip Masterson and Jacob Angel, then we would like the use of your Guardians for the protection of our Prodigies. This is non-negotiable, and if you do not agree, then we would humbly ask you to leave within the next hour so that we may get back to business as scheduled.” A pause. “And we do thank you for your assistance thus far in the investigation.”

The One eyed him steadily. “Even if we choose to leave, she currently has my property, which I would like returned promptly.”

Blue eyebrows rose slowly. “I saw her steal nothing.”

“And if I press charges?”

“One, she technically already handed over any goods she may have stolen from your bedchambers five years ago. Today I believe she found an item, not stole it, unless you have proof of purchase.” He shrugged a nonchalant shoulder. “Two, I’ve gotten her off death row before. It won’t be difficult to clear her of a minor theft charge even if she was found guilty. In that case, you still wouldn’t have the Primal Diamond since she said even you can’t pluck it from her, and she would be free of jail time. Any charge would be a waste of time.”

Silver eyes stared calmly at King Collins for very long moments. The time seemed to stretch, a silent tension filling the air as we waited to see what he would say, or more importantly, do, because he was more powerful than every single person in this room combined. The truth was he could kill all of us with barely blinking an eye, and Elder Jacobs, King Collins, and I knew this. Time slowly ticked onward, dragging almost painfully. Until in a soft drawl—surprising us all—he murmured, “It’s about time you backed your Prodigy.” Fingers tapped on his mouth. “All I had to do was argue a decent case yesterday and you gave me the diamond without hesitating.” He dropped his hand and stretched his legs out in front of him, slouching his bulky frame more comfortably on his chair. “Moreover, I respect the counteroffer even if the bias behind it is unflattering, and I will agree to it.” Silver eyes flicked to mine, holding steadily as I sat frozen in place. “But, so you know, Ms Jules, I will have my diamond back eventually.”

I gave an instant reply, even if I was more than shocked. “My diamond.”

His lips twitched. “I believe this is what they call a stalemate.” Silver eyes returned their gaze to King Collins. “The Guardians will be here by morning, which should satisfy your demands.”

There was no hesitation on King Collins’s part. “That will work for us.”

“I should think so,” the One stated before he stood fluidly, showing no signs of his earlier injuries. He glanced to Reese and Roselle. “Watch over them while I’m gone.”

In a blink, he had left, going to the Temple in search of Guardians.

Chapter Twenty-Five

More than dead tired and doused with bad dreams for at least half the night, I did not appreciate King Collins knocking on my door early in the morning. I was still in my damn towel as two Guardians entered the room behind him. I was not expecting them, and my eyes popped wide. I quickly held up a hand and scurried into my bedroom, leaving them in the retiring room. “Give me two minutes.”

Fifteen minutes later, I hurried outside the bedroom. King Collins was glancing at his watch with an exasperated expression, stuck entertaining the Guardians. From the sound of it through my bedroom door, his entertainment had been more of an interrogation. When I entered he stood and gestured to the Guardian on the right. “Caro, this is Farley.” A gesture to the left. “And Frost. Your new additional guards.” Both of them were wearing probably more clothing than they were used to, being dressed in white leather pants and simple white cotton button-ups. “Gentlemen, this is Caro Jules, the Prodigy Elemental.”

I dipped my head to Frost. “Thank you for coming, Frost. Your protection is appreciated.”

His own head dipped, and he replied in a baritone, “You’re welcome, Ms Jules.”

That left the other one.

My eyes slowly slid to him, and I eyed him carefully. “Are you going to try to chop my head off again, Farley?”

King Collins instantly stiffened, his attention snapping to the Guardian who had stopped me from climbing the stairs to the throne the One had been sitting on at the Temple.

Farley stared over my head, at attention, but damn if his lips didn’t curve the barest bit. “Ms Jules, I was only warning you, otherwise you would be headless.”

A deep, unexpected laugh rumbled from my chest. “Now wouldn’t that suck?”

Deadpan words from the staid Guardian. “If you were headless, I don’t believe you would care.”

I continued chuckling and nudged King Collins, whispering, “I like him. Calm down.”

King Collins grunted but did not calm much, hearing that his Prodigy had been threatened.

I did ask King Collins seriously, “Did Queen Ruckler give them her scent approval?”

The Guardians didn’t even flinch at the question, and King Collins nodded once.

“All right.” I turned my attention to Farley, dipping my head toward him. “Thank you for coming, Farley. Your protection is appreciated.”

His head dipped toward me. “You’re welcome, Ms Jules.”

I clapped my hands once. “Now that’s completed, I want to do something. I was trying to figure out a way to make sure I’ll always know you two are
you
, since I can’t smell what the Shifters do. I came up with a simple but effective idea.” I pulled out the two items from my jeans I had been searching for in my bedroom, the reason I had been longer than the two minutes. “Since almost all spirit Elementals would never wear one of these, I’d like each of you to wear one.”

Both pairs of eyes flicked to what I was holding…and instantly their faces weren’t so blank, scrunching before they could hide it. They quickly stared above my head again.

My lips twitched. “It’s not that bad.” I paused. “Plus, I think it’s more humane than the other idea I had of stabbing you twice a day to make sure you are who you’re supposed to be.”

They contemplated the choice between being stabbed, and wearing the items I held.

King Collins’s eyes were even amused for a moment, glancing at me covertly.

I peered back to the items. “Or maybe you would prefer hot pink, since that’s the only other color I have available—”

“I’ll wear it,” Frost interrupted, the thought of hot pink apparently undoing him. He held out his hand, taking one of the braided black leather bracelets I held.

I nodded curtly. “Just keep your sleeve over it so that no one will see it.” I dangled the other, identical bracelet in front of Farley’s contemplative eyesight. “Black, hot pink, being stabbed…or you could always go back to the Temple if this detail is too much for you.”

His lips pinched. He hesitated, then he stated in a rush, “I’d actually like the hot pink. My daughter might like it for her dolls when I get home.”

I blinked at him in the silence. “All right.” I wasn’t going to question if that statement was the truth or not. I turned back to my bedroom. “One hot pink bracelet coming up.”

Instant. “Her name’s Chloe.”

“Didn’t ask.” I waved a hand. “No worries.”

I heard him growl quietly, but he didn’t say anything else behind me.

As luck would have it, I found a hot pink bracelet with a ‘C’ on it—her first initial and mine. I gave him that one because I believed him. “Since she likes colors, tell her the outlaw Prodigy Elemental gave that to her. She’ll probably think it’s cool.”

“Thank you,” he stated humbly and placed it on his wrist carefully. “She’s…unique.”

My lips lifted. “Her differences will liberate her.” I flicked a finger at him. “Just make sure she has at least one good friend amongst the herd.”

That night, shouts and the sounds of breaking items twirled through my mind, becoming a part of my frenzied dreams, but when the bed under me began shaking, my eyes shot wide open, staring into my dark bedroom. With my breath caught in my throat, I managed to grab my gun off the bouncing nightstand before it fell to the ground. I tumbled out of bed to the shaking ground, which stopped quaking when I heard multiple gunshots.

From my retiring room, King Zeller bellowed, “It’s Sin! Don’t kill him!”

Eyes still huge, breathing not yet normal after the furious rumbling that had awoken me, I jumped to my feet and raced through the room, falling down once as I tripped over a shoe before I got the damn door open. I rushed out with gun in hand, eyes darting across my torn up retiring room. I noticed Frost first, lying on the ground with his eyes closed and a bloody nose, a cell phone still gripped in his hand. Farley was sprawled over the crooked couch and the broken wooden coffee table. His head was bleeding, and his eyes were closed. Furniture had been tossed everywhere and bullet holes peppered one wall.

King Zeller had his hands up, his expression calm as he stood inside the opened door of my room. He spoke in a smooth tone, “They’re still alive. I’m sure he didn’t realize they were protecting her. From what I heard, they attacked him as soon as he walked into the room.” The eavesdropping Vampire had been hard at work.

I turned to where he was speaking. My gaze stalled on the other side of the room.

Terror seized my throat and froze me solid.

Because the One, wearing only a pair of white pajama bottoms, his muscled back to me, knelt on the floor with Sin lying on his stomach between his legs. The One had a fistful of Sin’s green hair to hold his limp head back. Sin’s eyes were closed. He was out cold.

The One held a wickedly curved silver knife to his throat.

The One asked slowly, his voice deadly, “This is Sin?”

Instant reply from King Zeller. “Yes.”

“Shit,” the One muttered, and he quickly yanked his blade away from Sin’s vulnerable neck. “Let’s not tell her about this, all right? Help me wake him before she sees him like this.”

“How about we have your gunshot wounds looked at first?” King Zeller murmured casually, slowly dropping his hands. But he tilted his head in my direction. “And she already knows.”

The One’s head snapped in my direction and he blinked, his silver eyes staring at me as I labored to breathe. He started cursing profusely, setting aside his silver knife and placing Sin’s head softly on the floor. “Put the gun down, Ms Jules. I’m not going to hurt him.”

My hand started trembling, and I looked down at the gun I hadn’t even realized I had aimed at him, my finger cramped on the trigger. I swayed, my arm instantly dropping to set the gun on a tossed chair, and I placed a bracing arm on the wall before I fell over.

“Go help her,” the One barked.

He fell forward, catching himself on the ground over Sin with an extended arm.

“I’m thinking the man bleeding silver needs help first,” King Zeller mumbled, instantly pulling a cell phone from his pocket, pressing a button, and placing it to his ear. He lunged forward, grabbing the One around his chest from behind—eliciting a deep grunt from the One—as he started to fall completely on top of Sin’s unconscious form. I stood there shaking like a girl, dazed from Sin almost dying and from being a trigger-pull away from killing the One. King Zeller barked into the phone, “I don’t know how the hell you slept through that, but get to your fucking Prodigy’s room now and call Bindi because she’s needed.” He tossed the phone aside, grabbing the One’s unconscious form with both hands and ordering me over his shoulder, “Shock time’s over, Caro. Get your ass over here and help me.”

“Okay,” I whispered, his demand floating through my mind for a good ten seconds before I registered what he wanted. Then I was walking on autopilot. I was not quite sure which route I took through the debris, but when I blinked, I was kneeling next to King Zeller and helping him lift the One from Sin’s body, his bulky, dead weight freaking heavy as we maneuvered him directly next to Sin. We laid him on his back…and I froze solid again, staring wide-eyed at all the blood on his chest. “There was none on his back. The bullets are still in there.”

“I know,” King Zeller muttered, tilting the One’s head back before he blurred and placed his mouth to the One’s. He breathed air into the One’s lungs, only speaking when he lifted his head for another breath. “He’s not breathing, but his heart’s still beating.” He ducked his head down, breathing into the One’s mouth again. The One’s chest rose and fell with the work King Zeller was doing.

Instantly, I asked, “Sin?”

“Just unconscious,” King Zeller murmured before blowing more air into the One’s lungs.

King Collins raced into my room. “What the hell happened in here—” He dropped next to me, his brown eyes flying wide at all the unconscious, bleeding forms. His phone was already at his ear as his eyes assessed the One’s injuries. “Bindi, hurry the fuck up! The One’s shot. And three others aren’t moving except to breathe.” His phone got tossed, then his eyes turned utterly cold and deadly and flicked to King Zeller. “Did you see who did this?”

“Sin did,” King Zeller answered between puffs of air.

“Shit.”

King Zeller grunted, still breathing for the One.