My chest heaved, and I instantly walked backward, and turned to face the guard, who was still smiling at me. I tapped my lips lightly with my finger, trying to remember what else I had on me. I ran a hand over my left arm, but I didn’t have a knife there. Even felt under my breasts, but there was no weapon I may have placed there. My brows puckered, staring at Smiling Bitch, and then I snapped my fingers. “I know.”
I kicked my right boot up on the table, clunked the back of it perfectly, and the silver knife tipped with a diamond sprung out from the toe of the boot. Gritting my teeth, I gripped the silver with one hand, and finagled the latch inside the boot to release the knife. I dropped that one in the bag, wiping the sweat that had beaded on my forehead off with the back of my hand, then kicked my left boot up on the table, hitting that latch right, and proceeded to pull it out. During that process, I remembered the bullet I had thrown in my purse that had stopped me here in the past. I held up a finger, then unzipped my purse, rifling through it until I found the little bugger, still blood stained and all. I kept my hand around it as I dumped it in the bag. At the last minute, I took out my keys, setting them on the table.
Blessedly, I walked through the metal detector without it beeping.
Grabbing my keys off the table, I plunked them in my purse. My attention honed on the guard. “I’m sure you’ll want to take all of that to the safe now, and make sure no one touches or looks at it, and then, you’ll find our box as soon as the match is done, and bring it all to me, right?”
She nodded once, zipping the bag. “Yes, ma’am. That sounds like a splendid idea.”
“Right,” I muttered, brushing my hair out of my face, watching her walk away with my goods, my items, until I couldn’t see her anymore. Then, I slowly turned to the group still standing mute. I smiled ever so sweetly at the Kings, looking at none others. I asked bluntly, “So…how hard is it going to be to convince the four of you I have no ill intentions toward your Prodigies now?”
And dammit, I heard Elder Jacobs start choking down a laugh on the left side of the group, where he would have had the best vantage point to witness my humiliation, and I saw him quickly walk away, muttering curtly, “I’ll be back in a moment.”
But, it was King Bridges’s lips which tilted as all four Kings stared at me with silent eyes, and he stated quietly, “Well, I believe it will be fun to see you try, Ms. Farrow.”
My own smile altered, mimicking him again. “I do believe we’re in the correct place for a match.”
He actually grinned with those quiet eyes. “Indeed.”
Chapter Five
It was like a fixed poker table where I sat in the box, but I had taken the best seat, the one closest to the exit, also giving me the best view of the fight around the enormous granite table. The Kings sat two on each side of me, the Prodigies directly across from me, and an Elder on each side, specifically, Elder Merrick on my right and Elder Jacobs on my left. The Prodigies wore scowls still for their King, only giving me looks of respect, while the Elders wore quietly blanked expressions, more years of training for that, and the Kings wore varying looks of barely banked hostility.
While I sat back in my seat, keeping my feet firmly planted in case I needed to push back, and stared at them with a lazy, bored expression. The sounds were loud around us before the fight began as others took their seats. “So,” I waved an absent hand, “fire away.”
Fergus interceded when King White opened his mouth, asking me, “So, Sadie…have you talked to Elder Farrar recently?”
And, dammit, that quickly, my fucking cool broke, freezing completely as I stared across the table at him, everyone except for the Prodigies damn near coming to attention with the mere mention of that name. But, Fergus only smiled, looking damn coy, asking King White, “Oh…you didn’t know she’s friends with Elder Farrar?” Fergus blinked. “I just talked to him not too long ago on the phone at her apartment.” He smiled. “He got a cell phone, and was calling to brag about it to Sadie.”
Oh, God.
As one, every single King or Elder turned to stare at me with completely blank expressions.
Elder Jacobs leaned forward, placing his forearms on the table, asking slowly, “You know Elder Farrar?”
I knew what they were thinking. That I had duped the Prodigies. That was how I had gotten the “in” with them. And therefore, I had bad intentions toward them. And with the weapon show earlier, those intentions would be very poor, definitely the opposite of honorable.
And I knew Elder Farrar didn’t want to be found. I hadn’t gotten his number the last time we talked a week ago, the thought slipping my mind again, so…I had no way to prove I actually knew him other than to go to his place, snatch him back here, say “Ta-da”, then flash him back.
I swallowed hard, peering back to Fergus, and the other three Prodigies, their faces patiently waiting, although the longer I took, I noticed their eyes began to blank slowly. My gaze roamed over all of their faces. I couldn’t sit here and make fools out of them. I hated it, but in the end, Elder Farrar was much more capable of taking care of himself than they were, much more equipped to take care of himself than I even was, so, in a very small voice, I stated quietly, “Yes. I know Elder Farrar.”
“That’s bullshit,” King Samson muttered instantly, even as the Prodigies all instantly wore tiny smiles, sitting back comfortably on their chairs, that expression gone from their eyes. “Elder Farrar has not been seen since after his ruling as King. He’s fucking disappeared. No one can find him.”
I chuckled quietly, staring at the table. “I found him.”
King Samson snorted. “Again, bullsh—”
“She’s telling the truth,” King Townsend interrupted him steadily. “At least, what she believes as the truth.”
It was quiet for a few moments as those who didn’t have truth sniffers thought that through, then Elder Jacobs asked slowly, “Where does he live, if you know him?”
My lips pinched, and I altered my gaze to the rafters, watching the twirling spotlights above. “I believe he wants his privacy.”
“Truth,” King Townsend murmured. “How can you prove you know him?”
Sighing heavily, I studied my fingernails, and started picking at them absently, and opened my mouth to say the truth—
Ring. Ring. Ring.