King of Me (The King Trilogy #3)(22)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

My pulse sped up, and I felt the new Mia—cold, hard, ready for anything—evaporate into thin air.

“Excuse me. I need a little fresh air.” I stood and headed for the door before I lost my composure. A few simple moments were all I needed to stomp out the freaking-out flames.

I headed to the balcony overlooking the ocean and braced myself, allowing the cool breeze to fill my nostrils. The full moon was high in the sky, its light bouncing off the rippling waves.

“What is the meaning of your retreat, woman? Get back inside this instant,” King commanded.

Great.

I swiveled on my heel and faced him. His shirtless magnificence was not lost on me one bit, and neither was his long dark hair. His unshaven angular jaw remained just as wickedly handsome as ever, too. Without a doubt, he took my breath away.

“Did you hear me, woman, or shall I carry you back to the table?”

Be strong. He won’t respect a coward. “Stop calling me ‘woman.’ My name is Mia.”

“Get back inside, Mia.”

I scoffed. “I’m not hungry and, frankly, the company does not please me.” I referred to Hagne, of course.

He blinked. “You dare insult my council? You, a lowly Seer who claims to be from another time?”

I held up my finger. “Lowly? What makes you think that?”

He looked me over, his eyes momentarily sticking hungrily on my br**sts. He caught himself, cleared his throat, then threw back his shoulders a bit. “All Seers are lowly.”

“Don’t you mean that everyone who isn’t you is lowly?”

“I am the king.”

“Well, this lowly Seer is your fiancée.”

“Hagne is my betrothed.” He frowned at me. “You are mad. I suspected as much, but now you have confirmed it.”

I’d been impressed so far by how well Hagne’s little tattoo translated everything, but I wondered how it would do with what I had to say next.

“I’m not crazy. I am the only one capable of preventing an utterly hellish situation—”

“Prove it. Prove that you are not mad and that I should believe any words coming from your mouth.”

Crap. I had no cell phone, laptop, or Internet to show him the place I came from, and anything I said would sound like insane tales of an insane person. I had only one thing, and it was a huge risk.

I showed him my “K” tattoo. “You put this on me. It allows you to feel me, my presence, and”—Hell, I am so going to regret this—“control me.”

He laughed. “Control you?”

I nodded. “You place your palm over it, and I’ll do anything you say.”

He burst out laughing, and it was a deep, hearty laugh. “Well, woman—”

“Mia,” I corrected.

“Mia,” he said condescendingly, “if you speak the truth, I can see why such a device might be necessary. You are like a wild animal, frothing at the mouth, seeking to sink its teeth into anything that moves.”

I growled.

“You see?” he said smugly.

“Very funny.”

“Show me,” he commanded.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“I’d have to take off the bracelet.”

“And this signifies…?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, actually.”

“You obviously have some sort of assumption that has sparked your concern.”

I had to show strength. I had to speak with conviction. Otherwise, he’d blow me off, and this would all be for nothing. “This is a bracelet from your collection of powerful relics. It supposedly prevents your mark from working, and…I believe it’s what brought me here.”

He leaned in and stared deeply into my eyes. “Exactly why are you here?”

“Don’t change subjects. You wanted to know why I can’t demonstrate how your tattoo works. That’s the reason.”

He stepped back and folded his arms over his sculpted bare chest. “Remove the bracelet, or I will hold you down and remove it myself.”

I had to think this through. If I took the thing off, there were two outcomes I feared: getting snapped back to the horrific situation I’d come from, or that removing the cuff would allow King, the future one, to come and find me.

Mia, if he had the ability to travel back in time, don’t you think he would have done it by now? He would’ve undone his curse and changed his fate on his own.

All right. So perhaps I only had one thing to fear: going back. But not trying my damnedest wasn’t an option. This could be my only shot to make everything right again.

“I’ll remove the bracelet on one condition,” I said.

His mouth formed a snide grin. “You mean to negotiate with me?”

“Give me your word you won’t command me to do anything sexual.” King’s one saving grace: he was a man of his word. Except when something goes horribly wrong with the man’s curse and he turns into an evil bastard who should be destroyed.

But that was not this man. He was the kernel of goodness inside the demon. That said, he was still King.

He laughed. “What you must think of me.”

“I know you better than anyone, King.” I stared him down. “You’re fierce, calculating, and determined.”

His smile melted away. “You forgot impatient.”

“I was getting to that. Do you agree or not?”

He stared, not amused by my flippantness, but then gave me a nod.

“All right. Here goes.” I slipped the bracelet off and held it in my palm, bracing for the worst. The moment I realized that nothing happened, I released a breath. “I’m still here.”

“Obviously,” King said.

I slid the cuff onto my right wrist for safekeeping and then held out my left arm. “Okay.”

He placed his hand over my tattoo. “How will I know you are not simply pretending?”

“Ask me to do something you know I can’t fake. How about putting me to sleep? You can give me a poke with that pin.” My eyes flashed to a small circular broach stuck to the front of his wrap-skirt thing.

His lips formed a wolfish smile. “You wish me to poke you? I am more than willing to appease the wish; however, I assure you it is not a pin.”

I frowned. “You gave me your word.”

“So I did.” His eyes flickered for a moment over my shoulder toward the ocean. “Jump.”

“What?”

“I command you to jump.”