Reborn Yesterday - Tessa Bailey Page 0,92
for blues singer Robert Johnson.
Finally, his sire leaned forward, just the barest inch. “Perhaps with your fancy new heartbeat, you’ve started behaving as an entitled human, daring to address this council in sweatpants?”
“I’ve had a busy night,” Jonas returned, without a second’s hesitation. “As I suspect you well know.”
Clarence slowly tilted his head. “Why, whatever could you mean?”
The gut-crushing memory of his Ginny pitching forward off the bridge shot him through with white-hot rage. While he did his best to control his outrage, because losing his composure would serve no one, he would not play the fucking game. Not after three attempts on Ginny’s life. “You know damn well what I’m talking about. You’ve been waiting for me to figure it out.”
Silence ticked by, followed by a low laugh from the king. “How does it feel to be a hypocrite, son? Such an idealist and a rule follower, aren’t you? Traveling the country, turning my constituents against me with your bleeding heart.” He drummed his fingers on the armrest, the movement very precise, a glimpse at the irritation he tried so hard to conceal. “Until a pretty face—a human—comes along and the rules become inconvenient. Not so noble now, are we?”
“A pretty face?” Jonas took an involuntary step toward the foursome. “You speak of my mate. My devotion to her is not a whim. I could no more stay away from her than I could turn myself human again.”
Silence fell. “She is still alive then?”
They had no idea, did they? They had no idea he could never be standing there and forming words if she was dead. He’d be nothing more than dust motes carrying on the breeze. Furthermore, they had no idea he’d saved her. Or how. And he’d hold on to any potential advantage. “Yes. She is alive,” Jonas answered, voice clear.
The king’s eye twitched. “A rule has been broken. You’ve most boldly entered into a relationship with a human. Would you have us ignore your insubordination?”
“Who will make the ruling on what you have done?” Jonas shouted. “Leaving her in a position to die is the same as killing her. So is sending another vampire to put her in harm’s way.”
“Ah yes, Seymour. He agreed to the mission in exchange for his mate’s freedom. When he didn’t report back with his progress, I assumed he’d failed and executed her for the crime of feeding from a human.” He tapped his lips. “Though I can’t imagine what happened to Seymour. Care to fill me in?”
Jonas stared back unflinchingly, intuition telling him to leave the question unanswered. The longer he could keep his new abilities to himself, the better off he would be if he needed to fight. “Don’t distract from the issue. You’ve tried to kill my mate, too. Twice.”
The smallest dash of regret bloomed in Clarence’s eyes, but it was masked immediately. “I wondered if you’d figure it out. Well done.”
“Why?” Jonas worked to steady his voice. How easily his sire admitted to subjecting him to unimaginable pain. “Why kill her and not me?”
“Is it so outlandish that I desire to have my only son reign at my side?” shouted the king. “That you would covet the accolade so many would kill for?”
Jonas hid his shock over Clarence’s vehemence. “If that is so, if you are being truthful and you care anything for me, please accept my vow of fealty in exchange for…a life with her. A life out of this Order’s reach.”
The king’s eyes widened just slightly, enough to let Jonas know he’d surprised him. “First you choose your precious conscience over the life I offered you. Now you choose a human girl over the honor of sitting on the High Order? How many times do you think I’ll allow you to humiliate me?”
“I do not seek to humiliate.”
“It matters not. Perhaps I’ll give you what you want, my son. Perhaps I’ll sentence you to death. Once you’re gone, I’ll no longer have a reason to fear a challenge.” He cast a look just beyond Jonas’s shoulder. “Isn’t that right, Larissa?”
Jonas reeled from the shock of Ginny’s stepmother waltzing past him in a crimson robe, her movements so smooth, she didn’t seem to touch the ground at all. She curtseyed to the High Order and folded her hands at her waist. She’d just opened her mouth to speak when the suited vampire who’d greeted Jonas at the elevator reentered the room. “King, we have visitors.”
The king’s mouth turned down at the corners. He beckoned the suited