King for a Day (The King Trilogy #2)(55)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

“You have the stone?” King yelled. “You will hand it over to me!”

“Oh no. A deal is a deal. And I promised it to Vaughn to save you, silly,” I said, dripping with sugary sweetness. “After all, you were in trouble, weren’t you?”

I looked at Mack. “Tell him it’s inside my dead brother’s stomach.”

King glanced at Mack. “Don’t you f**king dare, Mack.”

Mack’s panicked-filled face bounced back and forth between us several times.

“Do it, Mack,” I said. “You’re the one who made the deal.”

“But I—”

“Don’t listen to her, Mack,” King warned.

I laughed because that’s what horrible people do in situations like these. “King doesn’t give a shit about you or me, Mack. So think what Vaughn will do if you don’t deliver. Think long and hard about what’s important to you in this world because he’ll take it away, Mack.”

Mack’s conflicted gaze dropped to the floor, and I felt a sadistic satisfaction. I knew that Mack valued his loyalty to King. But I had to guess he cared about something else, too. Something more important. A mother, a sister, a child. Whatever it was, he now had to choose: his loyalty to King or…the alternative—welshing on a deal with Vaughn.

King’s eyes wandered out toward the ocean, and he scratched his chin. “Do it, Mack. Tell Vaughn,” he said in a low, calculatedly calm voice.

Mack’s head snapped up. “But I don’t care. I’ll—”

“Do it, I said,” barked King. “At least I’ll know he has it, and it won’t take me long to get it from him.”

Mack glared at me, and I could literally feel the rage. Slowly, he took the phone off of mute and held it to his face. “Justin swallowed it.” He hung up and left.

I grinned at King. “There. Now everyone has sacrificed something they love.” King, his stupid f**king Artifact. Mack, his loyalty. And me, Justin.

“Consider us even. Almost.” I turned and headed toward the door.

“Where the f**k do you think you’re going?” King seethed.

“Home. I’m going home.”

“We’re not done here, Mia.”

“Oh, I’m done,” I said casually. “I’m done with you. I’m done with caring. And I’m done being afraid.”

“If you go back to your old life, Vaughn will find out that you’re not dead. He’ll kill you,” he warned.

I laughed and held up my finger with the ring. What could Vaughn do that he hadn’t done already? “Like I f**king care, King. What else do I have to lose?” Besides, Vaughn would wish he’d never been born. When I was done with him, he’d be wishing for death. I’d skin him alive. Because I was not the same Mia anymore. Oh no. This Mia wanted blood. This Mia would move heaven and earth to get it.

“Mia,” King warned, “remember, I can hear your thoughts.”

“So?”

“So learn from my mistakes. Revenge won’t bring Justin back.”

“You did this to me! You and your goddamned need for that f**king rock. So don’t you dare preach!” I screamed. “I only want one thing in this world, and that’s to hear that sick bastard Vaughn scream like he made Justin scream.”

I was halfway down the hall when I heard King say, “Revenge won’t bring Justin back, but the Artifact will, and I’m the only one who knows how to use it.”

I blinked and then looked at my feet. King wanted to make another deal. Now? After he’d betrayed me in the worst kind of way? I’d never trust that monster again. Never!

“I warned you, Mia,” he said, reading my dark thoughts. “We gave you every chance to run. And I showed you who I truly was.”

I took a deep breath. Yes, but you never gave Justin a chance, did you? How about that baby? Or Jamie?

King was suddenly behind me, so close I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. “I know,” he said with regret. “But that was not the outcome I’d hoped for.”

I looked at him once again, ignoring the beautiful vision of masculinity before me. “Does it matter?”

“Not to you, no.”

“Then your point?” I asked, turning to face him.

“My point,” he scratched his beard, “is that I need redemption.”

“What?” I laughed. “You’re joking, right?”

“I never joke, Mia.”

“Whatever. Asshole.” I turned and made several more steps toward the gaggle of Spiros at the top of the stairs.

“Redemption is the key. With it, I can buy back a life.” King moved in front of me, blocking my exit. “The key to the Artifact, the key to breaking Hagne’s curse is there.” He placed his hand over my heart. “I felt it when I was digging around inside you.”

I shook my head. “I don’t—don’t understand.”

“The Seers hold the key to the Artifact, and unlocking it will give me back what I lost: a life.”

I frowned. Was he saying that I could bring him back?

“Yes,” he said, answering my thoughts. “I learned long after her death that Hagne bound the curse to an ancient stone, a Seer relic she always carried with her.” He explained that all curses had to be tied to a counterbalance of sorts. It was like the yin and yang concept. “And she bound the key to her bloodline. Initially, I thought it might be a word or a phrase safely hidden away inside your minds. But Hagne was determined never to let me find it, so she put it in the one place she thought I would never gain access.”

Our hearts. I suppose it made sense given Hagne thought Draco to be incapable of winning anyone’s heart, but who the hell cared?

“I care,” he replied, once again listening to my thoughts. “You saw me for who I truly am. Yet you did not stop caring for me, wanting me.”

I laughed hysterically, doubling over at the waist.

“What is so funny?” he asked.

“Oh. Oh.” I could barely catch my breath. “You. You are funny, King. Not to mention this whole f**king situation.”

“I do not follow.” He crossed his arms, still behaving like the calm, collected man that he wanted the outside world to see. But I knew better. He was a dangerous villain.

“You need me to make the Artifact work.” I hit my stomach. “It’s a Greek tragedy at its finest.”