King for a Day (The King Trilogy #2)(35)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

He stepped back and ran his hands through his thick black hair. It was amazing how even now, his hair looked perfect. Perk of being a ghost, I guess.

“Yes. Lucky me. Trapped to walk the earth, incapable of feeling any emotion apart from sorrow and pain, for eternity. But at least I have nice hair.” His expression was one of pure annoyance, but he wasn’t getting any pity from me. Not now.

“Don’t forget the private jet, hookers, and champagne.”

He shot me a scathing look. “Cruel is not a good look for you, Mia.” He then sat on the bed and released a slow breath.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to be nicer to you. Thank you for honoring me, Draco, by being the one to end my life. It is so very kind and noble of you, my king.”

King moved with a blur and had me up against the wall. “Do not,” his voice trembled with rage, “mock me, Mia.”

I pushed at his hands, which were now gripping my shirt tightly. “Fuck you, King.”

Once again, I found myself staring into those seductive eyes and caught in his net. His effect on me was instant and profoundly carnal. My pulse raced, my body temperature spiked, and my most intimate parts fluttered wildly. Why does he do this to me? Why does he make me feel this way?

“Because,” he replied to my thoughts, “I feel the same way for you.” He let me go, and when he did, my wobbling knees forced me to prop myself up with my back to the wall. “You are the first person since being cursed who has allowed me to feel something other than pain. This is why I chose you.”

I looked away. You killed off all of the Seers. You were going to kill me.

He gently turned my head towards him. I could smell his sweet breath and feel the heat of his body. “Mia, I speak the truth when I say that my intention was never to kill you. Remember, I never tried to discover who you were. I never went looking for you. I never hunted you. You simply strolled into my office as if handed to me on a platter by fate. Yet, not once, not even for a second when I realized who you were—a Seer—did I think of ending your life.”

I wanted to believe him, I did. But trusting him or anyone had gotten me very little. Besides, I’d seen King’s true colors. I knew what lay behind those mesmerizing eyes. Desperation. Darkness. Pain. He’d do anything to make it all end. And take his revenge.

He tilted his head to one side. “Yes, you do know what lies inside me. So then ask yourself, Mia, what it means. If you understand the torment I live with, then imagine what it would take to simply walk away from salvation: killing you. Imagine how badly you would have to want something else. That is what I felt when I saw you. Because for that one second, I truly felt human again. I felt something good. I felt alive.”

He stepped in closer, and the heat from his body drew me in. As did his smell. As did his words and their meaning.

All I could do was to stare into those eyes and ask myself what I was going to do. Because I wanted to kiss him. I wanted it so badly that I’d give anything for it.

“Don’t fight this, Mia. Just…accept that you are mine—my most cherished possession. And there is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you.” He lowered his head and slammed his lips to mine. His rough kiss was filled with the intensity of a man who’d been denied everything that was good in this world—light, love, compassion—but had found all of those missing things within me.

His hand slipped to the back of my head, and he deepened the kiss. He pressed his large frame into my body, lighting it up with sinful pulses and tingles. I knew it was wrong to feel this way. I knew it was wrong to want him. But I did. I couldn’t explain it, but I did.

I slid my hands around his waist and held him to me. I didn’t want to let go. Not ever. He felt as real as any man in my arms, and I couldn’t help but thinking how I’d never wanted anyone more than I wanted him.

His mouth continued to work over mine, his lips moving in that erotic, sensual rhythm that signaled what he wanted to do to my body. And when I felt his large c**k pressing into me and heard the panting of his breath, I knew I would never be able to resist him.

If my last day on earth was today, then being with King—his muscled body, his beautifully masculine face, his smell and taste—wouldn’t be a bad way to go. Except that…this isn’t real.

I pushed him off me. “Stop. I’m not letting you do this. I’m not letting you lull me with some sexual fantasy when you’ll just kill me later. After you’ve got your revenge on Hagne.” That is why you want the Artifact, isn’t it? That’s what you wrote in the journal.

He pulled me back toward him and placed both hands on my cheeks. “Look into my eyes, Mia. Do you see anything? Do you feel anything that would make you believe I want to hurt you?”

No. But that doesn’t mean a thing, I thought.

“It means everything,” he said with a low growl. His hand moved to my shoulder and glided down my arm. He grabbed my hand and held it between us. “Because the ring will not bring you back if you do not wish to return.”

I glanced down at the shimmery rock on my finger. The ring? What does it do?

“The diamond is one of my earlier acquisitions. It was said to have the power to bring back the dead, which is why I hunted it. However, I discovered that it only works if worn at the time of death. Far too late for me, I’m afraid.”

So this is his plan? I thought to myself, not entirely clear on the rest of it.

He nodded. “Yes. It halts ageing, illness, and it will bring you back as long as your body isn’t destroyed. However, you must want to return to your life…” His voice trailed off as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t.

“And?” I asked aloud, trying to comprehend what he was dancing around.

He lifted my hand to his mouth and placed a soft kiss on my palm. “If you really believe that you will return only to be killed by me, if you die thinking that it is my wish to see you gone, then I fear you will not return.”

Now I understood. And he was correct; I still believed he wanted to kill me to end his curse. Maybe not now, not today, but someday soon when he’d fulfilled his lust for revenge.

I slipped around him and went over to sit on the bed. I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face. I couldn’t think straight. My heart wanted to believe that King was good, but his actions had shown me he was capable of incredible cruelty and deception. He himself admitted that the curse robbed him of any sense of emotion for others. If that were they case, then he couldn’t possibly feel any genuine concern for me.