CHAPTER NINETEEN
“You lying ass king,” Cass shouted, his eyes flashing white. “I asked you point blank if he was dead, and you had the audacity to lie to me? You used my trust as your son against me?”
Theron leaned forward, thrusting his face toward the seer. “I didn’t lie to you. I killed him with my own bare hands.”
Everyone glanced back and forth between them.
The room was full inside my home.
Once Alaric arrived home, he had called the entire group together—because the assassin was in a tizzy about the picture.
Finn threw his hands up in the air in a stopping motion. “We all need to calm down. Yelling at each other isn’t helping. We need to talk calm—”
“Fuck you. Stay out of this before you get hurt,” Cass growled. He shoved his finger right in his dad’s face and focused on the king’s steadfast gaze, his eyes still a scary-as-hell white. “This is an offense that breaks the bond between king and seer.”
Theron’s eyes narrowed. “Are you threatening me, boy?”
Oh. Fuck.
“You damn well know I have the right to kill youright nowfor this. You wrote down a false telling in the seer’s journal. You brokethe bond. Our people survive on that bond, and you brazenly tossed it aside.”
Alaric grabbed my hand and pulled me back.
“If you think you can take me then try it. I guarantee it’ll be me standing last. Like it’s always been against any seer I’ve come up against. How do you think I’ve lived so damn long when only one of your kind can kill me?” His head cocked, stepping closer. “I. Fucking. Win.”
One by one, everyone started stepping away from the two in the center. Farther and farther away we walked. Until we were all out in the hallway.
Then we ran.
We raced as fast as we could away from the impending fight. I didn’t know if our house would survive, but I sure as hell wanted to. And an atomic seer and Ancient king fight would leave me in the rubble, forever dead.
Until Poppy stopped in her tracks next to me.
She panted for all of a second.
Then turned back around and ran to the room.
I stumbled to a full stop and grabbed my husband’s hand. I shook my head. “We need to stop her. She’ll get killed.”
Alaric’s nostrils flared, and then he ordered, “Get outside. I’ll get her.” He turned and ran so fast, he left a breeze behind.
I hesitated, staring at safety in one direction.
“Ah, shit,” I hissed. I turned around and raced after my husband. I didn’t want to be left on this earth to live forever by myself. If he went down, so would I.
Hmm. I was pretty sure I was in love with him.
I stopped just inside the “battle” room.
Poppy had squeezed her way between the seer and the king. The tiny woman had her little hands on them, one for each of their chests as she pushed them away from each other. A pebble between two boulders.
Alaric stood close to her, ready to snatch her.
If he was fast enough, he could grab her arm.
“You two need to quit acting like damn children. He did this. No, I did that.” Poppy snarled. “Act your ages. Figure your shit out, get the facts, and do it rationally. Because right now? You two sure as hell aren’t thinking straight. You have your dicks waggling all over the place, and one of you is about to trip over them. And that means one of you dies. Do either of you really want to live with that?”
I sucked in a harsh breath and held it.
