King Hall (Forever Evermore, #1)(64)

The force of the blow busted her nose and her lying mouth. Decent trade, I thought.

Ignoring how Mrs. Jonas and Viper jumped at the crunch of bone, I grabbed a handful of auburn hair and yanked her face up, letting the violence of my power cut off, but kept my eyes glowing as I growled in her bloody face, “You lie to harm a King or Queen again, or our Mys community as a whole, and I’ll personally rip out your throat. Do you understand me?”

That, I was allowed to do, too. I would do it if she tried to harm my friends again. The death penalty was an option as a punishment for lying to damage a King or a Queen. She was really getting off easy, but she was still young, and I really wanted her out there shaking in fear as she spoke of me. Plus, the fact that I had offered her kindness. She was still breathing, after all, and not behind bars.

She whimpered, and nodded as much as she could with the grip I had on her hair.

I dropped her head in disgust, standing and wiping my hands off. She really was a sniveling, materialistic idiot who would probably only cause more problems. Maybe I should just put her behind bars for the Shifters’ sake. I cocked my head, rolling my shoulders, but after a few seconds of thought, I realized even if I wanted to, I couldn’t, since I had already given my ruling.

“Shit,” I muttered. Live and learn, I guess. I seriously hoped I didn’t regret letting her walk out of here free and clear. “I’m done.”

Everyone was left blinking, except for King Kincaid. He had seen me use my powers before, since he felt I needed to learn to control them, making me practice on any boarders who volunteered to help with my training. None of my friends had seen me use it, much less felt it, like they had today.

They probably didn’t even expect me to know what the hell I was doing, since they never saw the meetings in the study that King Kincaid would drag me into when I wasn’t studying. I knew the Law; it was a reading I actually didn’t mind. Hell, King Kincaid had even tasked me with deciding a few of the Shifters’ fates before. This wasn’t new to me, but it was new to them, seeing this side of me.

King Kincaid said, “I agree with the punishment.” He wasn’t going to rebuke me in front of everyone. Or even later. I could tell by his eyes he did agree, even if I hadn’t scented his truth.

King Venclaire recovered the fastest from his only slightly stunned expression, turning to face Mrs. Jonas. “Get the cuffs off him now.”

Mrs. Jonas nodded, but she still stood motionless, her eyes darting from me to the bleeding Shifter who was still sniveling at my feet.

I figured she would get moving faster if I moved, so I stepped over the bloody mess on the floor, and went to stand by Jack and Pearl, both of them not glancing in my direction, but were fairly bouncing where they stood.

We watched Mrs. Jonas release Ezra, and he sucked in a sharp breath as the cuffs came off. I had never been silvered before, but I had heard the horror stories. It was like the cuffs sapped your strength and burned you all at once. He flexed and rotated his wrists and squatted once, working out his ankles, then stalked over to Viper, completely ignoring Mrs. Jonas who had been in the process of apologizing.

He bent over her where she sat, his hands on the arms of the plush chair, and his eyes flashed so deeply they were like lasers aimed straight into hers. She stilled instantly, and he asked, “Were you incoherent after the drinking or did you lie to Mrs. Jonas?”

“I lied,” she murmured, her voice monotone, sounding like a robot.

“Why?”

“You’ve ignored me since our last time together, and when you wanted to drink from me again, you brought a Shifter in with us,” she replied, tone the same. “It pissed me off.”

“Hmm,” Ezra hummed low as his eyes stopped glowing. “I believe you need an introduction to just how pissed off I am you lied, an illegal action.” He paused, watching her come back to herself, her expression instantly of fright. “I can make it pleasant, as you know, but I can also make it,” a quiet, deadly purr, “not so pleasant.”

He struck, his sentence on a Vampire charged with lying. Their rules were the same with sending her to prison if he wanted, but he chose an old form of Vampire justice.

Her feet didn’t touch the ground as she was held in Ezra’s arms, his fangs in her throat, screaming.

God, I had never heard anyone screech quite like that before. Not even the Com men who died on the beach shrieked in such terror. He wasn’t pulling hard, more like gently suckling to make it last longer, not trying to drain her, and honestly, I didn’t know how he did it with her mouth so close to his ear.

Temptation called, inviting me to cover my ears, but I didn’t. I held out, like Jack and Pearl did. Christ, did we hold out. This went on for at least ten minutes.

When he finally released her, dumping her on top of the shivering and crying Shifter, he grabbed the handcuffs from Mrs. Jonas and bent over her, slapping them on her wrists and ankles.

Oh yes, he was most definitely pissed.

She started shaking as soon as they were on, and her eyes flew open, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Ezra jerked her chin toward him, stating harshly, “I’ll drain you next time you’re so senseless.” He stood, and faced the visibly shaken Mrs. Jonas. “Keep her in those for as long as you had me in them.”

She looked at King Venclaire, her question silent.

He murmured calmly, “Agreed.”