King Tomb (Forever Evermore, #3)(32)
Again, not a word or expression was given, and I peered at King Zeller, bewildered. “Did we have a damn orgy or something?”
He held up a finger, still staring at the screen. “I wouldn’t put it past myself since that wouldn’t exactly be a new experience for me.” His eyes flicking to mine, he shrugged at my expression before returning his gaze to the screen. “But I somehow doubt you would be involved in an orgy if that picture made you uncomfortable.” His head cocked, he continued like admitting he had sex with multiple people at once was no big deal. “Traditionally, the Prodigies are supposed to meet at King Hall to study together for a year.” His finger flicked at the screen. “I’m betting the Mage is Queen Cooper and the Elemental is King Collins since that’s who they should have paired us with.”
My gaze went back to the screen. “Now, why in hell would they take those memories from us?” I shook my head at the screen, but I watched how Pearl and Jack interacted. And it dawned on me. “Oh, well…” I chuckled quietly, shaking my head. “I’m betting we weren’t the only two to break that Law.” I flicked a finger at the screen, pointing at them. “They love each other, and they’re not hiding it well with how freaked out they are right there,” my head teetered back and forth in thought, evaluating them a bit more, “even if they weren’t exactly doing the deed at that point.”
King Zeller hummed, watching what I was, but abruptly cut off the noise as his onscreen persona appeared again, only to be bashed by King Venclaire, just in time too, because King Kincaid’s wolf almost bit a chunk out of him.
Elder Merrick whistled quietly, but King Zeller raised an absent hand, muttering, “Like I said before, shut it.”
“Aw,” Elder Merrick murmured. “You brought her a sandwich and almost died for it.”
I wasn’t really sure what Elder Zeller did, but Elder Merrick ended up on the floor groaning and growling a bit as we watched my onscreen self eat the kindly offered sandwich, and so help me if my face on screen didn’t color up a bit from the substance. I heard King Zeller grunt quietly next to me, apparently seeing what I had. I glanced at him, scowling when his green gaze met mine, appearing smug. Luckily, no one had caught on to the bitty fact that the other three Prodigies had acted defensively when I had gone down…as if they had been prepared for it. Like they had known there may be an issue, quite possibly because they knew I was a hybrid. When King Zeller’s eyes went back to the screen, my gaze caught Antonio’s and, like normal, his expression blanked, showing me nothing.
I blinked when I caught King Zeller, sneaky f*cker, staring at me again. Watching me. Well…okay…shit, not good. Maybe not all of them had missed that fact, particularly the one I didn’t want to know. I held his gaze levelly, then I turned my attention back to the screen, acting utterly normal because even if the me before the mind rape might have trusted him with the information about my hybrid state, the me in the here and now sure as hell didn’t trust him with the information.
When the first tape was done, I put in the graduation tape. We all watched as Jack, Pearl, King Zeller, and I graduated on stage. There were a few clips of us talking with Mysticals on the school grounds, our expressions ones of pained, forced politeness, and then the footage showed the four of us on the dance floor, cheerful expressions on our faces this time. There was a fire Elemental dancing with Jack and another Mage dancing with Pearl, but the camera altered and zoomed in on King Zeller and me just as he wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me in tight against his body.
I went utterly still as I watched us dancing. That…oh, holy shit. I knew my cheeks were flaming as I watched us move against each other. Our hands just kind of went wherever they wanted. Body parts rubbing sinuously together. I placed a hand over my mouth gently as I watched us…
“Jesus,” Elder Merrick muttered, sounding a bit breathless. “I think I bring sex to the dance floor, but f*ck…” A pause. “Queen Ruckler, I know I’ve offered before…and it still stands.”
Elder Jacobs grunted. “Maybe I could get a copy of this—”
And yeah, he never finished that statement, also ending up on the floor from something Antonio did to him, groaning before he stood, cursing quietly. While I kept my eyes firmly on the screen, watching as King Zeller and I moved together like we most definitely knew what the hell we were doing, our bodies connecting like old, present, and new lovers. I watched as King Zeller eventually spun me so my back was to his chest, running his hands down my sides to grip my hips…and he was most definitely staring down at my cleavage, which I hadn’t even realized I could have.
More clothes…I definitely needed more clothes.
I flat out gaped as onscreen King Zeller stuck two fingers down my cleavage, and I didn’t disagree when he started cursing next to me. How the f*ck had we thought we could get away with that move? I stared wide-eyed as he lifted a piece of paper from the depths of my cleavage, both of us reading it before he stared down at me and chucked the paper aside. And suddenly we stilled, then he spun me away to Jack and the fire Elemental, both of whom were grinning and opening their dance space to me.
But I watched, holding my breath as, onscreen, Elder Zeller came up behind me…then we started dancing, classically to the music. Amazingly, my face was carefully schooled to whatever he was saying — the recording unable to pick up the conversation — but slowly, I could see when I started to falter, my eyes frantically darting off to the side, then back to Elder Zeller, before I schooled my features again and answered whatever he had asked. Elder Zeller continued speaking to me, his expression intent as he evaluated me, and my face cracked as I glanced to the side before peering back to him. Suddenly, King Zeller was on the screen, dancing with a beautiful Vampire, saying something to his dad before the partners were switched, and King Zeller twirled me away from them. And apparently, I started chewing him out, my expression worried and irritated as I spoke quickly to him. King Zeller’s head tilted to the side before he spun me again, moving us directly next to a speaker, where it appeared he proceeded to chew me out, appearing irritated and exasperated.