King Hall (40 page)

Ezra had stepped directly behind me. I hadn’t told him anything about my uncle, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the man wasn’t wanted here. Especially when Antonio maneuvered directly behind him, aiming death’s own glare at the back of his head.

King Kincaid’s wolf abruptly quieted. “He has a letter from your deceased mother, which she ordered by Law for him to hand-deliver to you on your graduation day.”

My heart stopped, and then fluttered frantically. Immediately, I held my hand out. If my mom had willed a letter to me in the event she died before my graduation, I wanted the damn thing.

My uncle stepped closer, pulling a long, thin white envelope from his inner suit jacket pocket. He placed it on my waiting palm, not letting go of it as he lowered his mouth near my ear, whispering softly, “The best thing your mother ever did was die. She used to be my favorite when we were little, the way her bones broke…a pure masterpiece, but when she swallowed all that water and left you to me…let’s just say, you’ll always be my particular desire.” He sighed. “The way you screamed was a symphony to my ears. One day, ah, Lily, one day, I’ll hear it again.”

My heart rate jumped further, and not because I was excited for the letter. Memories of my time at his house flooded me. All those hidden moments. The basement. It was soundproofed. His hands. Jesus, how I hated his hands. I still couldn’t look directly at them.

The sound of Ezra’s Vampire growling snapped me from the downward spiral of my past’s haunting terrors. I had never heard this particular Vampire growl from him before. It was different, low and deep and slow — menacing enough a shiver flittered down my spine.

Ezra pressed against me from behind, his palms landing on my hips, and he, literally, lifted me off the ground, making my uncle jerk backward. My uncle had spoken softly enough for his comments not to have been picked up by anyone’s ears but the Vampires’ nearby. Ezra set me gently on my feet beside him, stepping forward, fangs fully extended.

I slammed a hand against his chest, and whispered gently, “Ezra, stop.” I thought he was seriously going to kill him. This wasn’t his fight. I wanted it. “He’s mine to handle.”

He tilted his head, his fierce, glaring eyes piercing mine. “Then fucking handle him.”

Gazing back toward my uncle, who stared at Ezra with startled, wide eyes, I questioned, “King Kincaid, now that the letter is in my hand, are there any provisions on that sheet of paper for my uncle’s safety?”

Instant. “No.”

“May I?”

“You may.”

“I need three witnesses who can verify he just threatened me.”

“Witnessed,” Vivian said, her tone coarse.

“Witnessed,” Cahal stated, sounding distracted.

Ezra waved sharply for me to hurry up. “Witnessed. Fucking kill him already.”

“Uncle, under Law 671 you’ve just been judged and found guilty.” I cocked my head as Antonio stepped out from behind him. “I think we’d better go outside, so we don’t get blood everywhere.” Rucking up my robe, I kicked my uncle as hard as I could straight against his chest.

I felt, and heard, his ribs break. I knew that sound intimately since he had done it to me so many times. The force of my blow had his body flying backward, right at the window. He hit it hard, and the shattering of glass was loud as he flew through it. I accepted the offered gun Antonio held out, and sniffed it. Silver. Shoving off the ground, I jumped through the broken first-storey window. Glass crunched under my shoes as I landed.

My uncle was trying to crawl away — pathetic.

Easily kicking him onto his back, before I shot him I had to ask, “Why the hell did my mother name you as my guardian?” It was a burning question inside of me.

He coughed, and a bone must have nicked his lung because he spat up blood. Grinned with it all over his face, his voice breathless. “She knew you’d like it.” He laughed softly, more blood spilling from his mouth.

No hesitation, only relief, as I lifted the gun.

Pulled the trigger, my ears ringing from the discharge.

Head shot.

Over too quickly, but so be it.

Guards in black fatigues had already surrounded us. Luckily, cutting off any view the people down the hill might have had where they waited for graduation to begin. Speaking to the guard on my right, I ordered quietly, “Get rid of him.” She nodded, instantly moving to do as ordered, so I turned and walked back to the window.

Ezra was there with Pearl and Jack on either side of him, filling the space. They must have been swiftly informed, because they looked as furious as he did right then. Ezra knocked the rest of the glass away from the window, and then leaned outside, picking me up and pulling me back through to set me down inside the office.

He glowered, his body actually trembling.

Pearl and Jack didn’t offer any support, either.

I pointed the gun out the window. “I killed him. As you can see, he has a hole in the middle of his forehead. The situation has been taken care of.”

“You should have fucking told us about him,” Jack hissed, so furious he threw his hands out and stalked away, spewing curses the whole while. I felt bad for Nikki.

“I’m so bloody upset with you right now,” Pearl said through clenched teeth. “I…I need to walk away before I say something I’ll regret.” She pivoted, and started marching, taking three steps. Stopped. Clenched her hands, and put her feet into motion again, going clear across the room from me. I felt for Gideon.

Gazing after her, I really didn’t want to look at Ezra with that soft Vampire’s growl emanating from his chest. This one wasn’t as chilling as the one before, but he was ticked. If any of my besties had hidden an abusive, adoptive relative like I had…well, I wouldn’t be pleased with them, either. I would have wanted blood for them. Lots of it.

I peeked up. Quickly glanced away. Christ, he was upset.

“Sweetheart,” he snarled on a mere breath, which sounded more Vampire than not and almost hypnotic in tone, but not quite there, his predator only peeking, “you keep something like that from us again, and I will—”

“Goddamn it! I fucking killed him! Alright?” I shouted, interjecting, done with the verbal attack from my friends after shooting my bastard uncle dead.

Unbelievably, his expression actually turned even more furious as he shouted, “No, it’s not alright! That fucker lived how long past his expiration date? And never once did you tell—”

King Venclaire, abruptly next to us with glowing eyes, jammed his hand on Ezra’s shoulder, stopping him. No words emitted from his pinched lips — the room had gone silent — but the warning stare he gave us was enough.

Ezra and I glared at one another for a moment longer before we jerked on our heels, turning from one another and stalking away.

Bumping against someone in my haste, I muttered a half-hearted apology, but the person placed a huge hand on my bicep, stopping me from moving along. Instantly, I stepped back from the hold, and had to blink a few times until the red haze disappeared.

Ah, perfect.

Cahal Zeller, himself. Daddio. I wasn’t in the mood. “You know, don’t feel bad you didn’t know who I was before, because I didn’t realize who you were, either.” My wolf growled a bit. “Your son never mentioned that one, and yet, he gets all pissed when I keep a secret?” Belatedly, I realized I was wildly swinging a loaded gun with silver bullets in a room full of Mysticals. Staring at it a second, I quickly lowered it. “Anyway, sorry we had to meet with me offing someone not ten minutes after I shook your hand.” I shrugged. Nothing I could do about that.

Mutely, he was still staring with his hard gaze as his wife held out…my envelope.

I quickly snatched it from her hand, mumbling, “Thank you.”

She nodded, silent.

They stared, their heads cocking.

Well, alrighty then.

Antonio slung an arm over my shoulder. “You like the gun?”

Huh?
Oh. I nodded. “It fires straight. That’s what important.”

“It’s yours.” He smiled. “I spelled the clip. It’ll never run out of silver bullets.”

My eyebrows rose. “You know, Antonio, I always thought for graduation I’d get, like, a car, or a vacation to someplace warm, but no, instead, I get a letter willed to me from the grave and a gun that always fires.” I paused. “I am a woman. Chocolates or roses…” I trailed off as he pulled Rolos and a small, single red rose out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket. I bit my lip, taking the gifts when he held them out.

He kissed my forehead softly, whispering, “Your mother would have been so proud to see the woman you’ve become. I am too, Lil. So very proud of you.”

Vivian deigned to speak, instead of ogling. “You two know each other?”

Antonio nodded. “I raised her, with her late mother.”

Cahal blinked, also deciding to speak. “You raised her?” He paused. “Then, how did she end up with that asshole?”

Keeping his arm firmly around me, Antonio stated, “Before her mother passed away, I left. I had to search for someone who was lost. You might know him. His name’s Ezra.”

I
knew
that was why he had left me. The timing fit perfectly.

Vivian jerked, her mouth thinning, but, little by little, she bowed her head to him.

Cahal’s eyes narrowed. “What are you really doing here? I haven’t seen you since we passed on our reign to our Prodigies.” Yeah, that was the history lesson I hadn’t put together. Ezra’s dad had been a scary-ass King during the war, right alongside Antonio.

Antonio jostled me inside his side. “Watching over this one. She can be a handful.”

Cahal grunted, his narrowed gaze finding mine. His eyes didn’t soften, either. “She appears to like trouble. It figures you had a hand in raising her.”

Antonio grinned.

Cahal’s attention returned to him, and his brown eyes ran over Antonio’s face, his words slow. “Since you’re here, I may stay awhile. See what happens.”

Antonio nodded. “Might as well.”

They stared at one another.

Mrs. Jonas called loudly, “It’s time for the Prodigies to head out. Once they’re gone, you’ll all want to take your seats down the hill. There’s a special area reserved for you behind the students.”

I twisted under Antonio’s arm, hugging him. “Wish me luck so I don’t trip and fall in front of everyone.”

“You won’t trip and fall, Lil.” He kissed my forehead again, squeezing me tight. “Besides, even if you do, you’re going to be Queen soon. Blame it on the person who put the stage together.”

I chuckled, swiftly pecking his cheek, and inserted my rose in his lapel buttonhole for safekeeping before covertly opening a drawer to Mrs. Jonas’s desk and placing my new gun at the back. I couldn’t exactly carry it down the school hallway without worrying people. This was a happy day, after all. I would just jump through the window later and get it back when it was time to leave after the Awakenings.

Antonio shooed me off, and I turned, running smack into Ezra’s back. Seriously, I had run into walls that were softer. Ezra grunted and growled under his breath, not even glancing backward as I shoved away from him, rubbing my forehead and growling in return.

Mrs. Jonas gave us a disapproving look. “I know you two aren’t in attendance anymore at this school, but if you both keep up these shenanigans,” she paused, “or if the four of you have planned any pranks for the graduation ceremony—”

“We need to go,” Pearl interrupted from where she stood in front of Ezra, her tone clipped. She was still irritated.

“Now,” Jack said very quietly, which was never a good sign.

Mrs. Jonas glared at the four of us, her eyes roaming down the line until she got to me. She pointed a finger. “You are trouble.”

“You’re the second person to say that to me today, so it’s not really breaking news.”

Her face scrunched in aggravation.

King Nelson cleared his throat quickly, offering, “Mrs. Jonas, I’ll take this unruly bunch where they’re supposed to go. You just relax before you have to go onstage.” He motioned for us to follow him, which we did.

Although, we still heard Mrs. Jonas hollering after us, “There had better not be one person flying through the air, a wet t-shirt contest, wild animals roaming about, or an unwilling flash mob during the ceremony!” She must have paused for breath, because there was a gap of silence, then she shouted, “
This is going to be on live television, so don’t ruin it!
”

Hell, I had only done the wild animal party once. I’d had to have a little fun with that part of my power, since I knew I could do it now. It wasn’t my fault if one of the pythons was last seen entering the administration building and never found. That could have happened to anyone. The bugger had just slithered away when I hadn’t been looking. Other than the fact the python was hard to control, like the alligators had been, I blamed it on the goat that had been giving me a lot of trouble. It had kept eating everything in sight, including the sandals I’d had on that day, which I had been in the process of pulling out of its mouth for the second time when said python disappeared. At least the python wasn’t that big. Yet.

I didn’t trip and fall. Thank God for small favors.

I sat with my diploma for Political Science in my hand as the last of my classmates were walking across the stage. We were in alphabetical order, so I hadn’t been able to sit next to any of my friends. Not that I had really wanted to but, sadly, once I had calmed down during Mrs. Jonas’s droning on — and on — behind her podium onstage, I felt I should apologize again. My abusive uncle had been another secret I had kept to myself, even when they had held nothing back. At times, I definitely acted more Com than Mys.

I had read my mom’s letter while I sat on the slip-covered folding chair, instead of listening to Mrs. Jonas. She hadn’t written a lot of words. But it had made me misty-eyed, and I had quickly blinked back my tears, not wanting mascara tracks staining my cheeks. The gist of it was that she hoped and prayed I forgave her for sending me to her brother, but that there had been no other choice. She wrote that if I was reading this, then it was my graduation day and she was proud of me and my hard work, and she knew in her heart and mind I would go on to do great things and live a life full of happiness and love. Under her signature, she had, once again, asked me to forgive her.