King Tomb (Forever Evermore, #3)(76)

She smiled. It was slow…and wicked. “No worries, Mr King. I won’t tell.” Truth. She waggled a red brow at him, then she flicked a finger at me. “You really should get her a book on all things Mystical. She should know the same shit as you, since she’s…yanno, the Queen of her people.” Her stare was pointed as I continued to blink, my gun slowly lowering back to my side. Eventually, she waved a bored hand when no one said anything else. “Anywho, since I need to be going, it’s time for the vials.” She started patting her cloak, in search of our redemption.

My hands started shaking, so I swiftly holstered my gun.

I watched as she continued to pat her cloak.

And still, I waited…until I finally shouted, “Did you f*cking lose them?” My salvation had better not have been lost by a Com teenage brat. My wolf growled so damn loud it shook the air around us. “I will kill you if you did.”

Her dark brown eyes peeked up at me from under her lashes. The most radiant smirk etched her beautiful features. “I’m just playing with you. Calm down.” Oh. My. God. I was going to strangle the tiny bitch. She reached into her left cloak pocket and pulled out four vials that shimmered with golden, powered liquid in the darkness. “Here they—”

“Shut up,” I hissed, lunging at her and stealing them. I held the vials close to my chest, my wolf huffing in contempt. “They’re mine.”

“Actually, only one is yours.”

When I bared my teeth, Ezra took a step forward and pulled me away from her, my wolf shining through my eyes.

His words were a soft warning. “Julia, I would suggest you quit talking as Queen Ruckler stated.”

“Yeah…the wolf seems pissed.” She chuckled quietly, an evil gleam in her eyes. “I haven’t even heard a word of gratitude for bringing her something she wants so badly.”

Antonio snorted and stopped circling to bend, placing his face next to hers. “It’s time for you to go away now, Julia. Elder Harcourt was right about timing. Yours is a smidge off.” He had grinned like a fiend while he had threatened her. “You are still young yet.”

“Fuck off.” She glared with haughty air, sticking her nose up at him. “I’ll leave when I wish, not when a Mage tells me to.” Her eyes narrowed. “How is your new-found ache—”

Antonio slapped a hand over her mouth, all pretenses of humor gone, his eyes turning deathly cold in a heartbeat. His voice was choked in discomfort when he hissed, “Leave now. Or I will be the one to kill you.”

In the silence, my wolf went quiet, hearing agony deeply seated in his tone.

Behind his hand, her voice was muffled as she growled, “Mage, oh Mage, be wary. Your own cockiness is blinding. Blank spots are not always as they appear…and sometimes, they are.” She jerked her head away from him and abruptly turned on her heel, griping over her shoulder, “This is me, leaving of my own free will. When I wish it to be so.”

His golden brows puckering, Antonio watched her back. “Goodbye, Julia.”

She waved a jerky hand over her shoulder, her words still whisper soft. “Later.”

I watched as her bare feet peeked out from under her cloak that whipped in the wind. Just as suddenly as she had appeared, she disappeared into the brush of the trees lining the two-lane road. My gaze gradually altered to Antonio where he still stared at the woods. “Antonio, what was she talking about? What new-found—”

“Shut it,” Antonio instantly snapped, turning a sharp glare on me. He pointed a finger at the vials in my hand. “Drink up, kiddo.”

I still stared. He had just gotten Cahal back in his life. He had no reason to be hurting. “What are blank spots?”

Antonio scowled, his gaze beginning to shine in the dimness.

Ezra grunted quietly, ignoring the searing menace from Antonio. “A blank spot is when a Mage cannot see certain occasions. It doesn’t matter how powerful they are. They cannot see when they will meet their mate, a loved one’s death, the act of sharing sexual intimacies with a partner, or their own death.”

I blinked. “Oh.” My lips thinned. “I think I do need one of those damn books the Com brat was talking about.” I pointed a finger at Antonio. “So what blank spot do you have that’s bothering you?”

“Enough,” Antonio growled. He started marching right at me. “I cannot speak on it, which you know full well.” He grabbed my hand that gripped the vials. “Drink yours.”

My tone turned extremely soft. “I am sorry for everything you see…and don’t see.” My lips turned up in a bittersweet smile. “You’re amazing.”

He went completely still. “Lil?”

“Yeah?”

“Quit stalling.”

Instantly, I scowled. “This is a big decision!”

“No, it’s not. It’s not a decision at all. It is your past. Your life.”

I nibbled on my bottom lip, turning my gaze to the vials. “I don’t know if I’m ready.”

“You are.”

I did not shift my attention from the sloshing golden liquid. “Ezra?”

Instant. “I’m not drinking one. I haven’t made that decision yet.”

Antonio barked, “Cahal, talk some sense into your f*cking son before I beat the living shit out of him.” A pause, then his tone changed to calm. “I say that with much respect, of course.”