King Tomb (Forever Evermore) (11 page)

My nostrils flared, and I barely kept my eyes from glowing, the ice in my veins cracking the barest smidge. This was fucking bullshit. It wasn’t hard to see where this was coming from now that I listened more closely to his tone. “Just because we
might
have had a child together that gives you no damn rights over me.” I flicked a finger between the two of us. “We don’t even like each other now, we have no relationship other than business together, and quite frankly, I’m beginning to wish I had never stepped foot into this damn camp and was still blind to the truth.”

“
Might
have had a child?” he asked instantly, sounding incredulous. “Are you fucking blind, as well as sloppy?” He paused, head cocked. “Oh, that’s right,” again with that rough chuckle, his lips curving cruelly, “you thought I was a cat Shifter when we met, so I guess you are blind.”

“Sloppy?” I growled. “I’m not sloppy.” I pointed a sharp finger at him. “I’ll have you know that was the first night I had ever done drugs,” my finger slashed through the air, even though my defense sucked, “unlike you, and it’s just fucking perfect that Isa has a damn druggie dad.” My voice was rising. “And I’m certainly not blind.” My finger waggled up and down his body. “You’re big enough to be a Shifter and you move like a damn cat. It was a decent assessment, since you were masking.”

Elder Merrick’s jaw was beginning to gape, his head twisting back and forth between us. His hands lifted, and he stepped between our lines of vision to one another. Much like Antonio, he made a few gurgling sounds in his throat. Stopped. His wolf growled furiously as he stared off at nothing. Then he pointed a finger straight at me, ordering, “You’re getting off topic!”

My lips thinned, and I took a calming breath, not looking anywhere near the asshole King. “You’re right.” I pulled my cell phone out. “I’m going to have a DNA test done on him and Isa.”

“What?” King Zeller asked quietly.

“DNA…science,” I muttered, glaring at my phone as I hit Bindi’s number. “You’re intelligent enough to have heard of it, right?” My lips lifted when I heard his Vampire growl in irritation. I put the cell to my ear. “And don’t worry. Bindi, my nurse, is in the know as much as these four since she goes into those gurgling spells like they do.”

“If she talks, I’ll kill her and anyone she tells.” King Zeller shrugged.
Truth.
His gaze flicked to everyone in the room. “Same goes for everyone here.” His eyes landed on his dad. “Including you.”

“That’s the point, genius. They can’t tell,” I muttered quietly, listening to the phone ring. Ignoring his Vampire growling again, I heard Bindi answer, and I sighed, placing six wine glasses on the bar. “Bindi, I need you to come over. ASAP.” She agreed, keeping the conversation short as I poured the wine into the glasses, making sure mine was filled to practically the rim.

She arrived before I had even distributed the glasses to everyone. And like clockwork, as soon as she saw King Zeller holding Isa, she went completely still, her face going to that emotional void they were all wearing.

King Zeller cursed quietly. “Fucking hell, we must have been damn reckless if a Mage physician knows.” He shook his head, rubbing Isa’s back, and stared at Bindi. “You were stationed mainly in the fighting arena at King Cave, weren’t you?”

She sighed heavily and nodded, her attention moving to me. “What did you need, Queen Ruckler?”

“Paternity test.” I flicked a finger at King Zeller around my wine glass…then downed half of it. “On
him
compared to Isa.” She stood motionless, not showing a damn thing, then hastily went to their sides and opened the medical kit she had brought with her. I finished the rest of my drink and grabbed the bottle before sitting on the couch. “I want the results tonight.”

She snapped on latex gloves. “You’ll have the results in less than an hour. I’ll put a special rush on it.” Her hands glowed as she smirked.

“Perfect,” I murmured, staring between my empty glass and the bottle, debating drinking straight from the source instead of doing this civilly…but Antonio took that decision away from me, yanking the bottle out of my hand to pour me a half glass before moving across the room, carting the bottle with him. “I hate you.”

His lips twisted in an evil daddy smile before he took a sip straight from the bottle himself. “And I love you.” He stared pointedly at me. “Like Merrick said, you’re getting off track.”

Sighing, I leaned back on the couch, lifting my legs onto it and bending one of them to dangle my arm and glass over my knee as I watched Bindi use a swab on the inside of Isa’s mouth. Isa made a choking noise, and I tensed, but Bindi was quick with the work, and as soon as the swab left Isa’s mouth, King Zeller’s eyes instantly flashed, and Isa’s chin stopped trembling and she cooed quietly, snuggling back under King Zeller’s sharp jaw. The asshole King had just used his power to soothe her, which wasn’t such an asshole thing to do, but still… “Bindi, make sure you jab his extra deep.”
Oh!
“Or maybe I could do it?”

Bindi paused in lifting a new swab to his mouth while King Zeller scowled at me.

“Not helping, Lil,” Antonio muttered.

Unrepentant, I sighed in defeat, shrugging a shoulder. “It was only a thought.” I flicked my free hand at Bindi. “Go ahead. I’ll just have to make do with my imagination.”

In the quiet, King Zeller’s lips curled deliberately. “And that’s all you’ll ever have. Your imagination.” His eyes flicked down my body. “While I, on the other hand, have actual memories of making you bleed.”

“Nor are you helping, Ezra,” Elder Zeller rumbled quietly.

Swirling the wine in my glass, I stared at it, barely hearing Elder Zeller. “There’s no fucking way you’re her father.” I shook my head, watching the maroon liquid swirl in my glass. My eyebrows puckered as I became lost in thought. “No way in hell.” My eyes lifted to him, watching as he opened his mouth wide for the swab, showing his pearly whites. His gaze didn’t stray from mine through the quick process. I shook my head again, downing my drink. “God, if I did have sex with you, I was stupid as fuck.” I pointed at Bindi as I stood, making my way to the bar. “No more than an hour.”

She nodded, quickly exiting the tent to perform her tests while I uncorked another bottle of red. Rubbing my left temple, I poured another glass of wine to the rim, growling at Antonio when he started to intercept me. “Back the fuck off, Antonio…unless you want to actually speak on this matter.” When his face went blank, I chuckled cruelly. “Yeah, the silent type is only charming to those not needing information, haven’t I told you that before?”

I lifted my glass of wine, aiming it at each of the Elders. “Come on, gentlemen.” I covered my mouth with my free hand in fake apology, my voice mocking. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Come on,
Elders
. The fiercest four ever. Please enlighten me and King Zeller,”
asshole
, “on how it could be possible for us to meet again if we’d been lovers.” I downed half the wine in my glass, instantly refilling it when they stayed mute, faces blank. I shook my head, laughing harshly. “Or better yet, tell me if King Zeller,”
asshole
, “is my baby’s daddy?”

I spoke in a pseudo whisper to King Zeller when they stayed quiet. “It sounds awfully ghetto, doesn’t it? Who’s your baby’s daddy?” Another harsh chuckle as I gulped the entire contents of my glass, slamming it into sink when I was done, the glass shattering loudly. Hard pants racking my body, I turned my back to them, rubbing my face and muttering, “Fucking pathetic, is what it is.”

After a few moments, King Zeller asked calmly, “Do you feel better now?”

“No, I don’t,” I stated simply, honestly, keeping my back to them and staring at the tent’s sparkling protection. “Not a single one of you would understand. And at the risk of sounding sexist, I’ll say it anyway.” My head dropped as I rubbed my temples. “You’re all men. You’ll never know what it’s like to be pregnant. And to top it off, I was pregnant and I didn’t know how I got that way, only having assumptions, analytical guesses at best. I had no clue who the man was I’d had sex with. No recollection of his face, his name, his touch. Nothing to make sense of the fact that I had a child growing inside me.” My hands dropped as I stared at the floor. “So, no, I’m not all right. I’m not all right with any of this. Not to mention, I still may not have my answers, because this doesn’t make any damn sense.”

King Zeller hummed quietly.

That was all.

But…that sound was enough for me to turn swiftly to stare.

His eyes captured mine. “Come here.” A pause. “Please.”

My eyebrows puckered, but I found myself moving toward him at his soft demand. “What do you know?” I sought an explanation in the depths of his eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?” I stopped, waiting for an answer.

Again, he hummed quietly. Watching me just as intently as I was him. “Closer.” Again, he asked nicely. “Please.” I hesitated. I was already close enough in my opinion. But when I opened my mouth to argue, he shook his head gently, saying softly, “Trust me.”

My jaw set, but I glanced at Isa. I already trusted him with my one light, my heart. Slowly, I took the remaining steps toward him, and I couldn’t help how I stood on the balls of my feet when I stopped directly next to his chair. And when he hummed in quiet reprimand, I sluggishly lifted my eyes from his hands — where the pain would come from — to meet his gaze.

One side of his mouth curved, and he murmured quietly, “You’re smart to be wary of me, especially because I don’t trust you, either.” Ever so slowly, his hand rose and hovered an inch away from my right hand. “But, I believe I have the answer to the million-dollar question.” His heated palm touched mine, and I barely managed to hold still as he turned my hand until I felt the slide of his palm against mine, holding it gently as if I were made of glass. Eyebrows puckered, I peered down as something caught at my ring on my thumb.

It was…a black ring, which appeared just as unobtrusive as mine, on his thumb, his skin dark against my peaches-and-cream complexion.

My breath caught as I lifted my other hand, touching his ring gently. “Does it have an inscription?” I turned it gently, wishing to take it from his finger to inspect it myself.

“Yes.” He cleared his throat, glancing at the other occupants of the room. He took his hand back slowly. “And I’d rather not say what it is right now, but,” his gaze returned to mine and held, “what I believe our rings mean, the only option I found while skimming the Law book after dinner,” his nostrils flared, his face tomblike and severe, “is that we’re married.”

I forgot how to breathe, and honestly, I couldn’t feel my body for as long as the silence reigned over us. I could only stare at him, as Law One hit me like a whirlwind. I gripped my own ring hard, needing to feel something, as I choked, “Married couples can’t be kept apart longer than two years, a minimum of one, no matter their punishment.” I watched King Zeller nod, his spiked hair shimmering in the sparkling Mage light, and I tripped backward, falling hard onto the couch to stare at him. “What the fuck were we thinking?”

King Zeller’s smile was scornful as his eyes lowered to stare at his own ring. “You know the answer to that as well as I do.”

I shook my head, denial coursing through my veins, and covered my mouth with my hand as I turned my attention to Antonio. “Tell me this isn’t right, Antonio.” I shook my head again. “Tell me we weren’t ignorant enough to not only have sex, but also have a child together and get fucking married.” My eyes were wide. “Seriously, please say something. Gurgle. Do whatever you do to tell me no.” I shook my head harshly, dropping my hand to swing it between King Zeller and myself when Antonio stayed mute. “Please tell me the King of fucking Vampires and the Queen of the damn Shifters did not do this!” My eyes flittered to all four Elders, pleading with them with my eyes. “
Tell me we weren’t this senseless!”

Not a sound…not a blink…not even a gurgle.

The air shuddered out of me as with wide eyes I turned my attention to King Zeller, unable to hide my emotions, freaked the fuck out. “There would have to be a record of a marriage.”

He shook his head. “Not if we did it by old tradition.”

I shook my own head. “I don’t even know what that means.” Fidgeting, I tightened my ponytail. “If you knew me at all back then, you would have married me the old-fashioned way, not with some old tradition.” I nodded, knowing this was right. “There would have to be a record of this.”

King Zeller’s arched brows furrowed. He was quiet for the span of a minute, but he didn’t dispute or question my certainty on this. “If there was a marriage certificate, it more than likely would have been mailed to us, as is the normal custom after it’s processed.” He shook his head. “I don’t have any documentation like that.” His eyes caught mine. “Unless you do?”

I stared at him, realizing I was hugging my legs to my chest, and quickly dropped them, understanding how weak I had to appear. Scanning my memory gave me no new leads on legal paperwork, but it didn’t take long for me to realize where I would have sent documentation like that. I shook my head and chuckled softly. “I have a place where I send paperwork.” I held up an instant finger when his lips parted. “And don’t even ask where it’s at. It’s heavily spelled for a reason, and I sure as fuck don’t trust you to know about it.” My gaze went to Antonio. “Wanna take me on a quick trip?”

Riding in the golden emptiness that was Antonio’s fastest means of transportation, I worried that I had made the wrong decision leaving Isa with King Zeller to go to the PO Box in New York that Antonio had spelled for me years ago for all official paperwork I wanted hidden. King Zeller had argued to go along, believing I would hide information from him, but his argument hadn’t rung complete
truth
. I had pretty much gotten the gist that he wanted to snoop through my spelled PO Box, and I had firmly put my foot down, telling him to go to hell. And, although it had been somewhat amusing to see him sit back down to silently scowl — sulk — taking Isa’s sleeping form back from where he had passed her off when he had tried to intimidate me with his height, I still worried I hadn’t made the right choice leaving her with him. But damn if his Vampire growling at me when I had tried to take her hadn’t freaked me out enough to back down. Well, that, and he had given me his word — gruffly — that he, and she, would be there when I got back…as long as I came back with everything that might pertain to our mysterious relationship.