Chosen Fool (Forever Evermore #5)(58)

Feeling ten kinds of nausea from that f*cking ride and unable to say a damn thing, I didn’t argue when he gently held me and sat my person on one of the conference room chairs. He placed the left side of my face on the cool marble before releasing me. I kept my eyes shut against the swirling, jumbled mess of vertigo.

But I could still hear their conversation as I inhaled shallow breaths.

“Well?” Roselle asked.

“Everything she told us is true,” the One spewed. I heard the definite menace in his tone that had been absent since I arrived here. “Every goddamn bit of it.” Something shattered in his wake, and he growled, “That mother-f*cker is dead.”

“We’ll get him.” Roselle’s voice was instantly soothing, yet clipped and affirmative. “You know we will, so you might want to sit and calm yourself.”

“Christ, Roselle,” he muttered. “I don’t need to be coddled right now. I need a f*cking knife in my hand and the bastard’s throat embedded on it.”

“How the hell did this happen?” Reese growled quietly, closer to me and pissed the hell off. “How did we have our essence stolen without any of us knowing?”

Roselle muttered, “We obviously slipped somewhere with distraction or drinking or sex or sleeping, who the f*ck knows, but the point is, we became too lax and let a psychopath take a part of us to play with in his own demented time.”

I tried blinking my eyes open, listening to Reese and Roselle argue heatedly about becoming too sloppy in their vigilance. I stared at the bookshelf, blinking repeatedly until the freaking thing stopped spinning on me and the books remained upright. My stomach settled, and I placed my hands on the table, gently pushing myself to sit upright on the chair. The book I had started to look at was in front of me, along with a glass of water. I blinked until my gaze landed on the One’s profile. He stood staring out the dark windows, not participating in the discussion between his commanders.

A hundred foul names to call him rushed through my mind. I said not one.

I sipped from my glass, glaring…but a kernel of respect for the man flared to life.

Because he kind of reminded me of…myself.

His actions were what I would have done were the situation reversed. We were not about to just blindly trust what others said, knowing when to fight dirty, and doing it.

His eyes flicked in my direction, then back to where he stared unseeingly through the window. “Are you feeling better, Ms Jules?”

“Yes.” I took another small sip of my drink.

He made a simple statement on a small growl with no apology. “I like to be prepared.”

“Yes, so you’ve said.” I sat my glass down. “But should you ever do that again, when it’s not warranted, I will hurt you.”

Roselle paused in her speech, glancing at me. “You put your hands on him.”

I tapped my fingers on the table. “I did say warranted, in case you missed that part unless, as well as that stick up your ass, you’ve also got a hearing problem I need to know about?”

She stared for a long moment, and oddly, her lips twitched. “An ass issue is enough without adding the ailment of a hearing problem, don’t you think?”

Unbidden, I huffed with a chuckle. “I’m kind of digging the hot-and-cold vibe you’ve got going on.” I nodded once. “It suits the first in command.”

“Thank you.” Prim words, then she was back to arguing with Reese. They were not really the cutesy couple their Walkers had been.

I flicked a finger at them, asking Mr Damon, “Have they always argued like this?”

His brows lifted with a slight teetering of his head. “Pretty much, yes.”

I hummed quietly then took another drink of water, my stomach completely settled now. I ran my fingers through my hair. “Do I look like I’ve been put through the wringer?”

His lips quirked. “No, although I have heard his power can be…uncontrollable.”

I snorted, placing my glass on the table. “Everyone should try it sometime.”

Dry words. “I think not.”

I did like this man, the One’s real father. “Well, it’s about time to make my call, so if you could quiet the boisterous couple I would appreciate it.”

“Quiet,” the One ordered, again with simple words. “Both of you.”

And beautifully, they both shut up.

“That works, too,” I muttered, letting my Core flare. My eyes glowed as I waved a radiant hand in front of my face. This time I tried what Reese had mentioned, just asking for King Collins. My screen flared neon blue and the sound of familiar voices in the background could be heard. I asked, “King Collins? Are you there?”

The voices instantly died down. King Collins asked, “Caro?”

“That would be me,” I mumbled. “Are you decent for viewing?”

He chuckled quietly. “Yes.”

I eyed the screen, unsure of how to bring in the video. “Hold on. I’m having technical difficulties.” I glanced around the screen to the spirits staring at me. “Reese, you didn’t tell me how to make it go regular.”

Mr Damon answered with a bit of amusement. “And that would be Reese’s biggest hang-up in life, never finishing anything.” He sighed, but with a smile. “Just finish calling.”