CHAPTER NINETEEN
“You lying ass king,” Cass shouted, his eyes flashing white. “I asked you point blank if he was dead, and you had the audacity to lie to me? You used my trust as your son against me?”
Theron leaned forward, thrusting his face toward the seer. “I didn’t lie to you. I killed him with my own bare hands.”
Everyone glanced back and forth between them.
The room was full inside my home.
Once Alaric arrived home, he had called the entire group together—because the assassin was in a tizzy about the picture.
Finn threw his hands up in the air in a stopping motion. “We all need to calm down. Yelling at each other isn’t helping. We need to talk calm—”
“Fuck you. Stay out of this before you get hurt,” Cass growled. He shoved his finger right in his dad’s face and focused on the king’s steadfast gaze, his eyes still a scary-as-hell white. “This is an offense that breaks the bond between king and seer.”
Theron’s eyes narrowed. “Are you threatening me, boy?”
Oh. Fuck.
“You damn well know I have the right to kill you right now for this. You wrote down a false telling in the seer’s journal. You broke the bond. Our people survive on that bond, and you brazenly tossed it aside.”
Alaric grabbed my hand and pulled me back.
“If you think you can take me then try it. I guarantee it’ll be me standing last. Like it’s always been against any seer I’ve come up against. How do you think I’ve lived so damn long when only one of your kind can kill me?” His head cocked, stepping closer. “I. Fucking. Win.”
One by one, everyone started stepping away from the two in the center. Farther and farther away we walked. Until we were all out in the hallway.
Then we ran.
We raced as fast as we could away from the impending fight. I didn’t know if our house would survive, but I sure as hell wanted to. And an atomic seer and Ancient king fight would leave me in the rubble, forever dead.
Until Poppy stopped in her tracks next to me.
She panted for all of a second.
Then turned back around and ran to the room.
I stumbled to a full stop and grabbed my husband’s hand. I shook my head. “We need to stop her. She’ll get killed.”
Alaric’s nostrils flared, and then he ordered, “Get outside. I’ll get her.” He turned and ran so fast, he left a breeze behind.
I hesitated, staring at safety in one direction.
“Ah, shit,” I hissed. I turned around and raced after my husband. I didn’t want to be left on this earth to live forever by myself. If he went down, so would I.
Hmm. I was pretty sure I was in love with him.
I stopped just inside the “battle” room.
Poppy had squeezed her way between the seer and the king. The tiny woman had her little hands on them, one for each of their chests as she pushed them away from each other. A pebble between two boulders.
Alaric stood close to her, ready to snatch her.
If he was fast enough, he could grab her arm.
“You two need to quit acting like damn children. He did this. No, I did that.” Poppy snarled. “Act your ages. Figure your shit out, get the facts, and do it rationally. Because right now? You two sure as hell aren’t thinking straight. You have your dicks waggling all over the place, and one of you is about to trip over them. And that means one of you dies. Do either of you really want to live with that?”
I sucked in a harsh breath and held it.
The bitty woman was pure magic.
Like two balloons deflating, each man walked away from the other to stand on separate sides of the room. They weren’t happy about it, but neither wanted to kill the other. Their arms crossed over their chests, they avoided eye contact while they stared off into space.
Poppy was left in the middle of the room.
She nodded once. “That’s better. Let’s see if we can’t work this out, yes?”
Alaric cleared his throat, and asked, “Theron, I take it the man pictured was the last seer?”
He grunted, and rasped, “Yes. His name was Joshua Striker.”
My head snapped back. “Wait a second. Did you say, Striker?”
Alaric glanced in my direction, warning me to tread carefully. There were delicate waters with sharks swarming nearby. Blood would be spilled if not handled correctly.
Theron snapped at me. “Yes. Why?”
“Because he told me his name was Ethan Striker.”
“That’s his brother’s name.” His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. “His twin brother.”
Alaric coughed, his features scrunching. “Is it a possibility you killed the wrong brother? Were they identical?”
Theron uncrossed his arms and rubbed at his face. “He used his power when I took him down. It couldn’t have been his brother.”
Cass’s head snapped in his direction, the first civil words out of his mouth yet. “Actually, it could have been.”
“What are you talking about?” Theron questioned.
“A seer can transfer some of their power to aid another, though it will turn that seer dark.” He shook his head. “That’s why I never did it with Godric. I would have been a fucking black hole to this world thanks to my added little gift.”
“I’ve never heard of that before,” Theron mumbled, glancing off to the side. “That was the day we all met our mates, the day you were all conceived.”
My eyebrows rose on my forehead. “So, if he transferred some of his power to his brother, then you killed the wrong man. The man you killed, his brother, didn’t actually die because you can’t really kill him. The seer turned dark that day. And all of the newfound mates that day turned dark. Am I getting that right?”
Poppy blinked. “That’s what I’m getting out of that mess.”
The quiet in the room was dark.
Cass snorted. “Fucking hell.”
Jonathan strolled into the room. “I know why he punched me now.”
My head snapped in his direction. “Why?”
“Because I was the one to drag in the fake-seer before our king for judgment. I beat the shit out of him.” He shook his head. “He used Faith’s fists as revenge for beating up his brother.”
“Actually, there is one issue with all of this.” Theron cleared his throat and his nose scrunched, finally speaking. “After I killed him, I dumped the bits of his body into lava. I remember that lava hardened over time. That shifter would never have been able to escape that hell, even if he managed to regenerate inside the lava rock.”
I choked, and muttered, “Oh my god.”
Theron shrugged. “I’m thorough.”
Poppy gagged. “You mean that there is a shifter stuck in a rock somewhere? Dying over and over again? For the last two hundred years?”
Cass ran his fingers through his hair. “Maybe there wasn’t enough room to regenerate. That would be the better of the two.”
“Except psycho seer thinks Theron has had his brother all these years,” I groused. “Why would he wait so long to start the fight, though?”
“You’re on the right path there. He never cared about his twin,” Jonathan explained quietly. “I studied the seer before I hunted him. He would have killed his own brother to save himself—and he did.”
I was still stumped. “But still, why wait so long to show his face to the world again?”
Cass shook his head, tugging at his hair. “Maybe to build his power up again since he gave some of it away? I honestly don’t know why he would do that, though. He would have been fully powered again months later.”
Alaric scowled. “What does ‘turning dark’ really mean?”
“For a normal seer, not like me, it would mean he only cared about one thing. Himself. He would do anything, and I mean anything, to gain his desires.”
“That isn’t much different than how he was before,” Jonathan sneered. “I had never met someone so twisted as him. He was evil incarnate.”
Poppy nibbled on her bottom lip. “It’s obvious he wanted us to figure all this out. But why?”
Theron’s eyes narrowed. “Because he wants us to know who is fucking up our lives. It’s feeding his ego. It’s all about him.”
Cass nodded. “We need to figure out his end goal.”
Theron walked forward, pointing at the assassin. “Get your men looking for Joshua. I want more of your people on this case. We have the bastard’s picture now. That should help.”
Jonathan dipped his head. “It’ll be my pleasure.”
One killer walked out of the room. His job set.
Brown eyes wide, Poppy muttered, “Is no one going to mention the guy inside the rock again? I know my father likes to bury people, but they eventually die—permanently. Rock man doesn’t have that luxury.”
Cass’s eyes glistened with intrigue. “Actually, I may go find him soon. I might have a use for him if I can crush the rock down enough for him to fully regenerate. When I have time, I’ll check it out.”
“When you have time?” Poppy sputtered.
“He’s been there for two hundred years. A few more days isn’t going to hurt.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That’s sick.”
“And so is my job,” he griped. “I’m busy.”
Alaric rolled his eyes and walked straight toward me. He pulled me into his embrace, growling, “I ordered you to leave the house.”
“I know. But I didn’t want to live forever without you.”
Dark brown eyes stared into mine. “Fool.”
I nodded and grinned. “Yeah, for you I am.”