His eyes captured mine. “Come here.” A pause. “Please.”
My eyebrows puckered, but I found myself moving toward him at his soft demand. “What do you know?” I sought an explanation in the depths of his eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?” I stopped, waiting for an answer.
Again, he hummed quietly. Watching me just as intently as I was him. “Closer.” Again, he asked nicely. “Please.” I hesitated. I was already close enough in my opinion. But when I opened my mouth to argue, he shook his head gently, saying softly, “Trust me.”
My jaw set, but I glanced at Isa. I already trusted him with my one light, my heart. Slowly, I took the remaining steps toward him, and I couldn’t help how I stood on the balls of my feet when I stopped directly next to his chair. And when he hummed in quiet reprimand, I sluggishly lifted my eyes from his hands — where the pain would come from — to meet his gaze.
One side of his mouth curved, and he murmured quietly, “You’re smart to be wary of me, especially because I don’t trust you, either.” Ever so slowly, his hand rose and hovered an inch away from my right hand. “But, I believe I have the answer to the million-dollar question.” His heated palm touched mine, and I barely managed to hold still as he turned my hand until I felt the slide of his palm against mine, holding it gently as if I were made of glass. Eyebrows puckered, I peered down as something caught at my ring on my thumb.
It was…a black ring, which appeared just as unobtrusive as mine, on his thumb, his skin dark against my peaches-and-cream complexion.
My breath caught as I lifted my other hand, touching his ring gently. “Does it have an inscription?” I turned it gently, wishing to take it from his finger to inspect it myself.
“Yes.” He cleared his throat, glancing at the other occupants of the room. He took his hand back slowly. “And I’d rather not say what it is right now, but,” his gaze returned to mine and held, “what I believe our rings mean, the only option I found while skimming the Law book after dinner,” his nostrils flared, his face tomblike and severe, “is that we’re married.”
I forgot how to breathe, and honestly, I couldn’t feel my body for as long as the silence reigned over us. I could only stare at him, as Law One hit me like a whirlwind. I gripped my own ring hard, needing to feel something, as I choked, “Married couples can’t be kept apart longer than two years, a minimum of one, no matter their punishment.” I watched King Zeller nod, his spiked hair shimmering in the sparkling Mage light, and I tripped backward, falling hard onto the couch to stare at him. “What the fuck were we thinking?”
King Zeller’s smile was scornful as his eyes lowered to stare at his own ring. “You know the answer to that as well as I do.”
I shook my head, denial coursing through my veins, and covered my mouth with my hand as I turned my attention to Antonio. “Tell me this isn’t right, Antonio.” I shook my head again. “Tell me we weren’t ignorant enough to not only have sex, but also have a child together and get fucking married.” My eyes were wide. “Seriously, please say something. Gurgle. Do whatever you do to tell me no.” I shook my head harshly, dropping my hand to swing it between King Zeller and myself when Antonio stayed mute. “Please tell me the King of fucking Vampires and the Queen of the damn Shifters did not do this!” My eyes flittered to all four Elders, pleading with them with my eyes. “Tell me we weren’t this senseless!”
Not a sound…not a blink…not even a gurgle.
The air shuddered out of me as with wide eyes I turned my attention to King Zeller, unable to hide my emotions, freaked the fuck out. “There would have to be a record of a marriage.”
He shook his head. “Not if we did it by old tradition.”
I shook my own head. “I don’t even know what that means.” Fidgeting, I tightened my ponytail. “If you knew me at all back then, you would have married me the old-fashioned way, not with some old tradition.” I nodded, knowing this was right. “There would have to be a record of this.”
King Zeller’s arched brows furrowed. He was quiet for the span of a minute, but he didn’t dispute or question my certainty on this. “If there was a marriage certificate, it more than likely would have been mailed to us, as is the normal custom after it’s processed.” He shook his head. “I don’t have any documentation like that.” His eyes caught mine. “Unless you do?”
I stared at him, realizing I was hugging my legs to my chest, and quickly dropped them, understanding how weak I had to appear. Scanning my memory gave me no new leads on legal paperwork, but it didn’t take long for me to realize where I would have sent documentation like that. I shook my head and chuckled softly. “I have a place where I send paperwork.” I held up an instant finger when his lips parted. “And don’t even ask where it’s at. It’s heavily spelled for a reason, and I sure as fuck don’t trust you to know about it.” My gaze went to Antonio. “Wanna take me on a quick trip?”
Chapter Seven
Riding in the golden emptiness that was Antonio’s fastest means of transportation, I worried that I had made the wrong decision leaving Isa with King Zeller to go to the PO Box in New York that Antonio had spelled for me years ago for all official paperwork I wanted hidden. King Zeller had argued to go along, believing I would hide information from him, but his argument hadn’t rung completetruth. I had pretty much gotten the gist that he wanted to snoop through my spelled PO Box, and I had firmly put my foot down, telling him to go to hell. And, although it had been somewhat amusing to see him sit back down to silently scowl — sulk — taking Isa’s sleeping form back from where he had passed her off when he had tried to intimidate me with his height, I still worried I hadn’t made the right choice leaving her with him. But damn if his Vampire growling at me when I had tried to take her hadn’t freaked me out enough to back down. Well, that, and he had given me his word — gruffly — that he, and she, would be there when I got back…as long as I came back with everything that might pertain to our mysterious relationship.
So I had grabbed everything I didn’t recognize from the spelled, voice-protected PO Box, dumped it in the pillowcase I had grabbed to haul anything I found, and now I was in the middle of the golden abyss, waiting to reappear in the front room of my tent.
And, like normal, I first noticed the scents as we started to appear. Everything smelled normal, making me feel better; the scents of those that were supposed to be there were. Sounds of their breathing — no one was speaking — hit me next. Then I blinked from the brightness of the Mage sparks as we appeared inside the room. I rubbed my eyes with my free hand, then my gaze darted around the room until I saw King Zeller sitting where he had been before, holding Isa’s sleeping form, his pinkie finger held tightly inside Isa’s gripping fist.
He scowled. “It took you almost a half-hour.” Yep, his cheeks were flushed to match all of his pissed off aggression; he wasn’t bothering to hide his emotions.
I shrugged, enjoying — actuallyenjoying— his discomfort. “Quit your whining.” I lifted the bag, still holding onto Antonio’s hand. “Or I won’t show you what I found.”
His gaze darted to our joined hands, his Vampire growling grumpily, but his mouth stayed beautifully shut.
My lips lifted, muttering, “There’s a good Vampire King. At least you know when you’re beat.”
Angered by my taunting, his Vampire hissed.
Antonio pulled his hand from mine, shaking his head at me and sighing. “Try to be nice, Lil.” He waved a hand at King Zeller. “I know I raised you to have better manners than this.”
I snorted. “When?”
Antonio blinked. Stayed mute. Blinked again. “Well, I should have.” His head cocked at King Zeller. “So work with me and pretend as if I did.”
Elder Merrick chuckled quietly, staring at Antonio. “The similarities between you two are limitless.”
