King Hall (Forever Evermore, #1)(44)
I sputtered, nothing real coming out until, finally, my vocal chords allowed me to say, “That’s so sweet of you guys to offer to kill him for me,” I guess I really did think that was true, my vocals still pulling the thoughts from my head, “but I don’t want him dead.” I felt compelled to offer, “I’d kill for you guys, too. I love you all.” I choked, my mouth firmly shut.
Pearl chuckled below. “I love you, too.” She sighed heavily before blurting, “I love all of you.”
Ezra divulged like he had a hairball caught in his throat that he couldn’t expel. “I love the three of you, too.” He instantly glared at Pearl.
Jack kept his mouth pinched shut, making noises like a Harley gunning its engine until he gasped hard and muttered, “I love you all, too.” His gaze snapped to Pearl. “Turn it off!”
There was a flash of gold, and a snap, and the spell was gone. Pearl instantly kicked my foot again, saying, “Okay, spill. Since we all know Dominic was bloody in love with you, your claim it was magic is entirely ridiculous, and I want the details. How drunk was he? Was it drunk enough for kinky shit? Or so drunk he could barely get it up?” Her golden gaze was angelic.
I snorted, laughing so hard I almost fell off the branch. These were my true friends. There for me not only when bullets were flying at my head, but also when I was having a pity party. No issue was too big or small; it appeared we were stuck with each other.
Chapter Ten
The Kings and Antonio got a wake-up call to technology not two hours later.
Welcome to the world of iPhones, nooks, camera phones, and video cameras.
The four of us were raiding King Nelson’s fridge when we heard the bellows coming from down the hall. Pearl stopped chewing her mouthful of chips. Ezra paused, his sandwich halfway to his mouth. Jack had a slice of pizza, which he left hanging half in, half out of his mouth. I paused in sucking on the straw of my milkshake.
“Get them in here now!” King Nelson hollered. “They’re probably in the kitchen, eating all my damn food, anyway!”
Said food was quickly tossed back in the cabinets or rapidly snarfed, and the glass thrown in the sink, so when one of the guards came into the kitchen, it appeared as if we had just been talking, our expressions innocent.
“The King requests your appearance,” the Mage guard told us.
We nodded, as if this was news to us, and quickly scuttled after the guard to the living room, which was odd in itself. The room was gold, from the couches to the coffee table, the recliners, and the chandelier, right along with the carpet and walls. There was even a piano in the corner continually playing soft music, the keys sparkling gold with magic.
This room had always wigged me out, and not due to the color scheme or the piano.
There were sparkles of magic dusting it in various locations. Like it was spelled. To maybe eat you if you sat where you weren’t supposed to. Definitely not my first pick of King Nelson’s rooms. A huge, 52” flat screen TV hung above the gold marble of the fireplace — the TV’s frame gold — and was turned on to a national news station.
The Kings and Antonio stood below it, watching avidly, not paying attention to us even though they had “called” for our presence, so we stood at the back of the room — careful not to rest against the bizarre wall — and watched what they were.
A Com anchor woman with animated facial expressions stated, “First, with the breaking news, we have video footage of Prodigy Ezra Zeller and Prodigy Lily Ruckler, the designated King Vampire and Queen Shifter, under attack today. As you will see, they were not provoking their assailants. From all accounts of the video, it appears they tried to run, and in self-defense, with the help of Prodigy Pearl Cooper and Prodigy Jack Collins, the designated Queen Mage and King Elemental, they took down their accosters.” A pause. “Please be aware this footage is under parental advisory,” not even a second’s pause, “and here’s the footage…”
“Oh, Jesus,” Jack muttered as the video began on the too-big, too-clear, screen.
Whoever was videoing it must have been high on a sand dune because there was grass on the outer edges of the angle. The video started with all of us sitting in one spot, talking, while the camera zoomed in to try to get a better shot. From all appearances, the person had been downwind, and far away, to keep off our radar.
“Wonderful. We now have paparazzi,” Pearl mumbled.
“Stalker, more like,” I clarified.
Ezra grunted.
The shot showed Ezra walking away with his head down, which was pretty much right after he had told us about his late mate. You could hear the wind whipping around as the video showed me running to catch up and then my bumping him into the water. I heard Antonio snicker, but it quickly cut off when King Venclaire nudged him in the ribs. For a moment, it was as if the person recording the video couldn’t choose who to film — Ezra and me, or Jack, Gideon, and Pearl — the shot flying back and forth between us.
The person’s instincts were right, and the footage trained on me laughing and running away from a soaked Ezra. We were moving closer to the camera, so the shot panned back, going wide, and caught Ezra and me racing down the beach. I was cracking up and Ezra was shouting his planned revenge. Although, from this angle, I could see Ezra was actually smiling.
Cocking my head, I observed the footage, seeing a free, joyful side to him as he sped up to torment me, and then slowed to let me get away. He seemed happy, free from his past. And so did I. I huffed, muttering, “I thought I was actually getting away from you on my own.”