Her brows puckered, and she tapped a finger on her bottom lip. “He said a lot of other crap.” More finger-tapping, a soft hum. “Oh, yes. He driveled that once all four of you drink your vials the spell will be reversed — everyone’s memories about the four Rulers and their past together back in place. All except the skirmish that got you here in the first place. No one who doesn’t already remember that incident will recall it. And he wanted me to explain that it was when your biological father healed you that your tubes — which were magically tied — were fixed. The power your bio-father used to fix you was all-consuming on your wrecked body.”
Her nose crinkled as she flicked a finger at my stomach. “The Mage also said that until you decide to have more children and purposely unspell them, the current state of your tied tubes will work just fine.” Another nose scrunch, and she yawned wide. “He said, and I quote, the more the merrier.”
My mouth bobbed like a damn fish. When I finally spoke, it was with a wheeze. “Elder Harcourt did this to us?”
She stared like I was an imbecile, then her dark gaze flicked to Ezra’s frozen frame. Her brows rose, her lips twitching. “You hadn’t told her you figured it out?”
Ezra glanced to me, his expression wisely void, then back to her. “I didn’t want her getting hurt going after the most powerful Mage in the world.” His tone turned absent. “And I enjoyed the games she played trying to acquire the information.” His eyes slowly narrowed on her, his gun tapping against his leg. “Tell me, Julia, how is it that Elder fucking Harcourt trusts a mere Com youth with all of this valuable intel?”
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 fucking 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?”