I re-emerged, lying on her back, my legs wrapped around her waist and one of my arms tight around her throat. She took me on a death roll through the mud, trying to get me off…right before she went still, less than thirty seconds later. Her face pointed upward, her eyes closed and her mouth opened. I quickly shoved her aside, sitting up and rubbing the mud from my eyes. Like the kind Samaritan I was, I checked her pulse before standing and pumping a fist at the screaming crowd. Everyone chanted, “Castrator, castrator, castrator, castrator!”
“Yes, ladies and gentleman.” The funky Mage reporter came back onscreen, the mud wrestling video finished. “You’ve guessed correctly. The castrator would be none other than your next Queen Elemental.” His brows waggled. “And I have it on good authority for those of you who are wondering, she did, indeed, spend the night with my good friend the announcer.” He winked.
A commercial came on.
Ever so slowly, King Collins raised a hand and turned off the television.
The only noise in the room was his continually ringing phone. Until he put a hand into his pocket, turning it off. He was not looking at me.
Realizing my hand was still over my mouth, I quickly dropped it and cleared my throat.
I tried to meet this head-on by placing the blame directly on him. “They never would have known it was me if you hadn’t called this morning announcing who you were and who I was.” I flicked a finger at the black screen. “You couldn’t tell there, but my hair was spelled black, and I used a different name.”
“Yes.” King Zeller cleared his throat. “So we heard.”
I waved an irritated hand at him but kept my attention on my King. “Another name.”
King Collins began rubbing his forehead. Staring at the ground, he asked in a very soft voice, “Are there any other videos from last night I need to be aware of?”
I waved a pointed finger at the screen. “I didn’t even know that one was out there.”
Slow, quiet words. “Is. There. More?”
My lips pinched. “Not that I know of.”
More rubbing of his forehead. “I heard multiple voices this morning over the line.” Rubbing of forehead. “How many eyewitness accounts might there be of your time after the illegal contest?”
I blinked. “Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”
Brown, cool eyes flicked to me for the first time, holding my gaze. “How many fucking people am I going to have to shut up over this?”
I exhaled on a bittersweet laugh. “Oh, God.” I held my stomach as I chuckled. “Fuck.” I shook my head, staring him right in the eyes. “Staying here with you is a test to my damn patience.”
I continued chuckling and stood, placing my hands on the table and leaning forward. My tone changed as I growled, “Did it ever fucking occur to you to ask me if anything actually happened, instead of automatically assuming I did as that report alluded to, or what you thought you overheard this morning?” My fingers gripped the table, curling because I wanted to hit him so badly. “One day you will apologize to me for every fucking assumption and lack of trust you’ve had for me so far. And you’d better fucking pray I accept it, because right now, especially after yesterday, you’d be the last one I’d save in a fight.”
My mouth snapped shut as I realized what I had just said to a man I respected.
His jaw clenched and he jerked forward, grabbing my bicep and yanking me harshly away from the table. A furious zap of his power jolted through my body, a tiny cry emitting past my lips before I bit it down. I gritted my teeth through the pain while he continued pulling me from the room. His icy power fluctuated through my body. He stopped abruptly in his tracks, jerking me to a halt next to him when a tiger rounded the corner.
Tristan’s teeth were bared. A low, bone-chilling growl reverberated in his throat as he deliberately crouched, his eyes intent on King Collins.
Through gritted teeth, I choked, “Tristan, no.” His eyes flicked to me then quickly back to King Collins. “My fault.” I sucked in a harsh breath, my arms trembling from King Collins’s alarming power. “This is due.”
Tristan continued growling, not really caring what I had to say.
The One’s overly lazy drawl drifted from the table. “Tristan, stand down.”
Tristan moved to the side, sitting proudly, his growl cutting off.
But his teeth were still bared at my King.
King Collins jerked forward, continuing to yank me from the room. He didn’t let up on the power he was pushing, silently telling me just how furious he was.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sandpaper would have rubbed less than my tone. “How kind of you to invite me.”
Brown eyes flicked to me, narrowing. King Collins returned his attention to where we were walking through the Elemental section. “I didn’t have to, Prodigy. Remember that.”
I barely withheld my snort. I had been ‘grounded’ for two days for my filmed stunt on television. “And how wrong would that be? After all, I gave you every single avenue available to make this happen.” We were currently on our way to a conference room where the Royals and all the spirit Elementals were. It was time for the One to obtain the whereabouts of Philip Masterson and Jacob Angel.