Chosen Fool (Forever Evermore #5)(21)
And possibly some of my breakfast.
I moaned quietly, spitting the disgusting remains of my stomach’s contents. “Can this evening get any worse?”
Leric gagged, his choking making my stomach clench all over. But there was nothing left in it to come out. Dry words were spoken by the One. “I’m thinking not.” A pause as he choked on air. “What the f*ck did you eat, Sprite?”
“A little bit of everything from the looks of it,” I mumbled honestly, groaning as I spit into the trash can again. I didn’t really want to remove my head from the thing for him to see, partly because it was embarrassing and partly because I didn’t want to hold his hair while he used it next. “Can you grab a washcloth over there to cover this?”
“On it,” he rumbled, sounding more than happy to do so. Using one hand to hold my hair, he grabbed a cloth off the counter. He shook the glass off it gently, then quickly placed it over the opening of the trash can under my face. He released my hair to take the trash can from me and, yes, gagged again at the feel of it. He opened the door a bit, holding it out of the crack. “Mom, take this…away.”
“Is she all right?” His mom ask softly, actually sounding worried. She took the disgusting trash can since Leric’s hands came back inside the bathroom empty.
“Never better,” I mumbled in his stead, catching my towel as it loosened again. I took the opportunity to shove Leric out the door. I glared at everyone in my room. “Can someone get me some damn clothes?”
Wincing as Roselle pulled glass shards from my feet with bitty tweezers, I didn’t glance Leric’s way. But I was pretty sure he was either scowling or watching with amusement since that seemed to be his mood when I was making him leave the bathroom. Not to mention, I was fairly sure I was wearing clothes his mother had bought me. I truly hated the pure white silk pajama pants over a matching white silk tank top.
Gritting my teeth while Roselle plucked another shard out, I watched as Queen Cooper exited my bathroom, done using her Mage magic to fix my mirror. I really wanted to brush my teeth now, seeing as every single damn Ruler was crammed into my smallish room—and all of the spirits in attendance—leaving hardly any room to move, much less breathe on people.
Queen Cooper’s lips were pinched on her beautiful face, and she completely surprised me by placing her hands on her hips, stating bluntly, “You’ve thrown up twice recently.”
I shouted on a croak as Roselle pulled an extra-long piece of glass from my heel. I did manage to growl at Queen Cooper, “Your point being?”
“You’ve also been highly emotional.” She stared emphatically.
I shrugged a shoulder. “PMS.”
Her jaw clenched, her fingers tapping on her—fake—slim hips. “So you haven’t missed your period?”
I stared, and then my gaze darted to King Collins. “Don’t you tell her anything?”
His blue eyebrows rose slightly while he rested with his back against the wall. “I happen to agree with her line of questioning.” His brown eyes flicked over my head, his gaze darting in Leric’s direction—he scowled—then back down to mine. “I don’t know if you’re on birth control. You never stated if you were. I only guessed at the theory, and then you went mute.”
Predictably, every spirit in the room went quiet, none of us saying a thing to the credibility of his theory.
King Zeller cleared his throat, his jaw seesawing back and forth for a moment, and then he quickly coughed. “I overheard her say she was on it. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”
Queen Ruckler blinked. “When did you hear her say that? Who would she have been talking to when she can’t speak—” Her eyes widened as she cut herself off. She quickly studied her black boots, murmuring under her breath, “Ah, shit.”
There was a beat of silence, then Leric growled, “You’re f*cking kidding me, right?” And—Lord have mercy—he did not sound happy, so I was pretty content I wasn’t looking at him. The room shuddered from his anger, a definite freakishly frightening crown of the galaxies sitting atop his head right now with that tone. “You f*cking listened in on us? You couldn’t have walked the hell away from your eavesdropping when it became obvious what the f*ck we were doing?”
“Yeah.” King Zeller spread his legs to steady himself, while others gripped the shaking walls or bed or chair. “Sorry about that.” A black arched brow lifted. “You had to have known someone was listening in. It did go silent in there before you got too far along. You enacted some type of privacy spell.”
Leric muttered so quietly I barely heard him, “And apparently common decency is f*cking gone.” The room shook again. “Just keep your f*cking mouth shut about our intimate moments, and I won’t have to do anything extreme. Like gladly rip your fangs from your mouth.”
King Zeller was quiet then. But appearing unbidden, his lips twitched the barest bit. He quickly cleared his throat and peered up to the ceiling as he mumbled, “My lips are sealed about anything private I’ve heard on any nights, wherever you’ve chosen to sleep, including intimate actions, personal conversations, intrusive uninvited guests, amusing phone calls, or even interesting nicknames.”
My eyes closed in the overly long beat of silence.
Leric, sounding sickened, muttered progressively, “Fucking hell, you have got to be kidding me. You goddamn Vampire jackass with f*cking ears I would just love to—” I cleared my throat heavily since he wasn’t helping, and he stuttered to a stop behind me. But a second later he continued. “Just don’t forget, I know what your supposed masculine Vampire adores to be called.”