I nodded. “And I’ll get the pudding.”
We glanced at his parents, waiting for them. They were staring at us — again — and I was pretty sure they weren’t even blinking. Cahal opened his mouth, but Vivian stood abruptly, placing her hand on his shoulder, her eyes on her mate. “I’ll get our coffee. Just sit here and enjoy the,” she cleared her throat, “silence.”
Little by little, his mouth shut, and he grunted.
Yep, a lot like his son.
Antonio joined us fifteen minutes later. He sat next to me with his arm over the back of my chair. At first, Ezra and I had both been quiet at his arrival — neither of us had been completely comfortable with him after his threat. But eventually, Ezra laughed at something he said. The conversation was not at all like the first part of our brunch as Vivian led the discussion, keeping the topics less painful.
When Cahal snuck in a question about where I had grown up and what schools I had attended, Antonio answered smoothly, lying out of his ass as he rested his hand on my shoulder. I finally glanced at him when Vivian enquired about my mother, and he recounted a story which made me smile as he laughed. His golden gaze met mine, and he leaned over, placing a kiss on my forehead and murmuring, “I love you, Lil.”
I forgave him for everything at that instant, knowing I didn’t understand everything there was to him. His layers were as deep as my own. But the truth was there. I loved him and he loved me. My grin was a little watery, but I sniffed the tears back, resting my head against his shoulder, and joined the conversation around me. A meal became simply a meal.
Exactly two weeks after Ezra and I became sexually active with one another again, the Kings decided to hold a movie night down in the fighting arena, which was the largest area of clear space, since some of the natives were becoming restless as the rumors of war escalated even further, which weren’t at all off base, judging from our intel meetings. The Kings also decided that when it was all said and done, the four Prodigies were going to be on clean-up duty, calling it ‘cleaning up our subjects’ messes’. Of course, they told us while laughing at their own ‘superb intellect’ practically in our faces. But we weren’t going to let that get us down. All four of us loved a great movie marathon, and the Kings had picked out three perfect films — a romance, a comedy, and an old scary flick, which was pretty much a comedy to a Mystical.
Mages had arranged the sublevels with rows of black leather couches, slanting the bleachers, and set up an enormous movie screen at the end of one wall. The kitchen staff served buffets at the other end full of hot dogs, nachos, and candy galore. Add in the popcorn and soda fountains, which were magically replenished, and it was a packed house. So much so, I was betting that the Kings would do this at least once a week, though hopefully without us always on clean-up detail.
I stood with Pearl in line for drinks, staring at Ezra, who was standing near where we were sitting. There was a pretty Vampire woman talking with him. Oddly, she had a tiny Maltese dog in her purse, which she kept shushing when it made barely a sound. And she had very friendly hands. It was almost comical to watch Ezra trying to evade them, making me feel better. Ezra and I hadn’t talked about sleeping with other people, but that was only because we just weren’t doing it, so we never actually needed to have ‘the talk’.
“Do you know who that is?” I asked, chewing on my lip.
Pearl followed the direction of my gaze. “I think it’s Daisy or Petunia or something like that.”
My eyebrows slammed together. “Rose?”
“Yep, that’s it.” Pearl nodded. “She ate with us at lunch one day weeks ago when…” She cleared her throat. “Never mind.”
I snorted. “I know about them.” I stared at her dog, evil thoughts entering my mind. “I do believe she wants a repeat with Ezra.”
Pearl snorted that time. “He looks like he has to pee, he’s moving around so much trying to escape her clutches.” She leaned forward, squinting. “God, are her nails painted pink? On a Vamp?” She paused. “And black polka dots. Whew, she’s something else.”
“An experience…and she sprinkles her bed with rose petals,” I murmured, my power flaring at the dog, which finally glanced my way. “But she’s not going to smell so pretty anymore.” And my eyes flashed for the barest moment, capturing the dog’s complete attention as I pushed my will on it. That was all it took. I rocked back on my heels, stuffing my hands in my pockets and grinning like a fiend.
“What was that?” Pearl whispered. “It was only a tiny fluctuation.”
“Tiny bit for a tiny dog.” I nodded toward Ezra and Rose. “Watch and learn.”
Her attention snapped to them as we slowly moved in the line. We watched as Rose and Ezra both sniffed the air, right before Rose peered down at her little, innocent pooch. She opened her purse wider. Pearl and I both blinked in surprise as she screamed bloody murder, holding the bag and dog out at arm’s length, literally running through the obstacle of couches and out the fighting arena’s doors, her shout following her.
The place had gone silent.
I slapped a hand over my mouth so my laughter didn’t attract any undue attention. And, God, was Ezra’s face priceless. He shook his head at his dad and mom, who were sitting on the couch behind our reserved one, clearly confused.
Pearl was gurgling, making an odd swallowing noise. “Poor dog.”
And I couldn’t help it, my laughter just busted out. Loud and booming. She had the right of it.
Conversation had begun to pick up again, saving me from everyone looking in my direction, but Ezra’s eyes snapped to me, his keen hearing picking up my laughter. I wiped a tear from my eye, waggling my fingers at him as he blinked. I mouthed, “You’re welcome.” He stared, his eyes slowly widening.
Pearl was cracking up, too, but quickly stepped in front of me when Cahal began to turn his head to see who his son was staring at. “I’ll have to remember you can do that.”
Rubbing my stomach, my muscles cramping from laughing so hard, I chuckled, “We’ve put a herd of predators to sleep before.” My gaze met her watering one. “I can handle a dog’s bowels.” Not to mention, King Kincaid had been taking me out into the woods for the past few days, having me call wolves in preparation for the upcoming war. They were my animal. It was pretty awesome to be able to control them with a single growl and my will.