Abruptly as it hit, the power attack ended.

I blinked, shaking my head hard past the fuzziness. “Goddammit, Antonio.” And I stilled, realizing King Zeller must have caught me instead of letting me drop to my knees in front of him, since I was wrapped in his arms against his heated, hard muscles, his scent engulfed in his warmth. I shoved at his chest, throwing myself out of his strong embrace, wobbling only for a moment. I met his hard green gaze. “Why?”

Why hadn’t he taken the victory?

King Zeller’s head tilted as he brushed back his floor-length, dark silver robe to place his hands in the pockets of his designer holey jeans, his gaze not leaving mine for a second as he slowly and quietly drawled, “Queen Ruckler, when you do,” a cruel, sensual curve of his lips, “fall to your knees before me, it will be because you can’t stop yourself, not because you tripped at a distraction.”

A few ticks of silence went by as our unforgiving gazes held.

“Well,” my eyes lowered to his crotch, then up to his icy gaze, “if that impossible day ever happens, King Zeller,” asshole, “just remember you’re not the only one with sharp teeth.” I mimicked his deliberately forbidding carnal smile.

If anything, that cruel smile of his only increased as he cocked his head the other way. “Yes, I do believe having you here will be interesting.” Gradually, his gaze touched my hair, my face, my throat, slowly moving down my body from head to toe, scrutinizing me. “I never would have guessed you to be the Queen of the Shifters.” Green eyes lifted to mine. “You’re fortunate you told me when you did last week, otherwise…well, you know where you would still be hanging.” My nostrils flared in angered irritation, and he smirked at my expression before his gaze traveled to Isa. “And I never would have imagined a Ruler to adopt a child of another faction, especially with this war we’re in.”

Protective instincts flared, stealing my breath I felt so consumed by them, as King Zeller just as slowly analyzed my daughter as he had done me. Before I knew it, I was standing directly in front of her, practically smashed between Antonio holding her and King Zeller, my wolf growling quietly and my eyes glowing brightly as I glared up at him. Wolf riding my voice harshly, I growled, “Mine.”

Deliberately, one cocky eyebrow rose as he stared down at me, not backing away. “I was only getting a good look at what sent you here to be tortured.” My growl lowered even more, furious, my eyes slightly narrowing as I debated the pitfalls of hitting him only once. Not to kill him, but just as a bit of retribution to feed the soul. Again he smirked, and bent so his face was inches away from mine, whispering, “You may think you know my weakness, but with certainty, I now know yours.” He rose, glancing over my head to Isa while I seethed. “And trust me, Queen Ruckler, even though your daughter is beautiful and appears sweet, I won’t ever lay a finger on her for any reason, good or bad.” He shrugged a shoulder, peering down at me. “I hate children.”

All of that had been truth, except for that last comment. It had rung more of confused dishonesty. As if he believed he should hate children but didn’t entirely understand why. I said nothing, my head cocking as I evaluated that little bit of information. Every morsel of weakness I knew about this man was gold, as were my weaknesses to him.

I watched his eyebrows begin to pucker just the tiniest increment as he stared over my head at Isa, but his expression quickly turned hard and cold before he asked with a voice void of emotion, “Is she cold?” His gaze flittered down to mine then back to her. “You have her wrapped up like it’s the arctic, and her cheeks are pink, but she’s not sweating. If you would like, we can have a fire Elemental warm it up a bit in here.”

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Ah…in no way did he hate children.

That was all I needed to know for now. Slowly, I moved out from between them. “That’s very kind of you,” I murmured, feeling Isa’s cool, rosy cheek. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.”

He grunted, no emotion showing as he glanced back to where two Vampires stood — a male and a female, both of them very similar-looking to each other — and asked one of them to have the heat turned up. King Zeller’s green gaze then turned to Antonio. And stayed there. I watched his eyes harden even further than while he had been evaluating my daughter. His black eyebrows snapped together as he glanced over Antonio’s facial features. “Last week, I didn’t…” He trailed off, his gaze slamming back to Antonio’s. “You never caught me, Elder Farrar.”

I blinked and hid my confusion the best I could by staying silent. I had no clue what this was about, but Antonio seemed to understand by the way a small smile played at his lips.

He rested Isa more firmly on his hip, eyes never leaving King Zeller. “King Venclaire may have been the one to eventually find you,” his lips lifted further, “but who do you think helped him be in the right place at the right time?” His eyebrows lifted in question. “And believe me, I had much better things I needed to be doing, such as raising my daughter,” a head tilt in my direction, “Lil, here, but instead, I had to run after a foolhardy young man while she was sent to live with her now,” his grin was a bit evil, “deceased uncle.”

I stood still as a statue, completely understanding now. Antonio hadn’t just left me after my first Awakening, which felt like so long ago. He had been searching for a goddamn runaway Prodigy Vampire. Doing the math quickly in my head…I blinked…well, hell. I couldn’t exactly add this to my list of things to hate King Zeller about. That had been around the time he had lost his mate. Some unhinged more than others when their mate died, and as my eyes roamed King Zeller’s carefully blank face, I realized he was one of them.

“Love’s a bitch, King Zeller,” I murmured, lifting Isa from Antonio’s arms to break the growing tension between them. “We’re all much better off without it.” I kissed Isa’s forehead. “Unless it’s the love of a daughter or son.” My smile matched Isa’s, and I placed another kiss on her forehead. “Now that is worth having.”

King Zeller slowly dragged his eyes away from Antonio, his gaze meeting mine. “I’ll take your word for it.” Green eyes flicked to Isa, and his voice softened the barest bit. “Although, I can see your reasoning. She really is beautiful, Queen Ruckler.” Truth. My lips lifted at the honesty — there was almost kindness in his void words — before he bent, bringing his head level with hers as Elder Zeller had done earlier. Isa eyed him, her own green eyes tracking over his features, her expression reverting back to cautiousness. King Zeller’s lips lifted on one side, and if I wasn’t mistaken, it was a shadow of his real smile. He whispered, “Hello, Isa. You’re a smart one, aren’t you?”




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