King of Me (The King Trilogy #3)(26)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

~~~

I spent the rest of the day hiding out in my chamber, waiting for King to return and fully expecting him to give me a tongue-lashing of epic proportions for messing up his harvest ceremony.

Instead, just after sunset, Mela appeared with three other ladies, holding a new clean blue dress and a multitude of hairpins.

“Please don’t tell me I have to go bottomless to a dinner party,” I said.

“No, mistress,” she said, not getting my joke, “the king has requested you dine in his chamber tonight.”

“Alone?” I swallowed.

“Yes.” She flashed a confused look at me. Clearly she thought we’d already slept together. “This is his request.”

I nodded slowly. “Oh. Okay.” This couldn’t be avoided, anyway. He’d had almost an entire day to digest the bad news and think up some sort of a solution. If there was one.

Yes, I’m sure that’s what he wants. To talk. Nothing more.

Within the hour, I was once again bathed, coiffed, and my teeth were scrubbed to a pristine shine, but I procrastinated leaving the room.

“You are ready, mistress,” Mela said.

I sat at the edge of the bed. “I think I need to scrub my teeth again.”

“No. I assure you, three times is more than sufficient, and the king does not appreciate being kept waiting.”

I blew out a breath and nodded.

“Are you all right, mistress?”

My body felt like it had been wound up in giant knots, and my heart raced at a million miles per hour. Images of King staring at my bare br**sts, that sinful pleased look in his eyes, made me feel heated up all over again. I wanted him, and I wanted to continue the nonverbal conversation we’d started earlier. The problem? My liking him in any way, shape or form would not be a smart idea. There was no future in it. Especially if I prevented him from becoming cursed. The man would hopefully live out his life, grow old, and die in this time as he should. I, on the other hand, hoped to get back home to a new, evil-King-free life.

“Yes. I’m good. Just a little tired, I guess.” I stood and walked as slowly as I could out the door to his chamber.

When I entered, there were only a few oil lamps lit. King lay with eyes closed in his steaming tub of water, his bare, muscular chest gleaming with drops of water.

I was about to turn and leave when he spoke. “Come in and sit.”

He hadn’t opened his eyes or looked at me.

“Okay.” I looked around the room. Against the wall, there was a table with enough food to feed ten men. I sat and waited, trying to keep calm. If I’d found it hard to keep my wits around the evil King, this version of him was proving impossible.

“So,” I said. “Did you have time to think?”

King remained still and quiet, his muscular arms extended across the edges of the tub.

I waited for a response, but he said nothing.

“King?”

“You sound nervous. Why don’t you join me?” he said.

I blinked. “Thank you, but I already had a bath today.”

He slowly opened his blue eyes and smiled. “Ah yes. You do not like baring your na**d flesh. Exactly why is that?”

I shrugged. “It’s just not something I generally do unless I’m intimate with a person.”

He suddenly stood up and removed himself from the tub in all his na**d glory. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him nude, but my feelings for him at the time felt infinitely different.

My eyes drank in every towering, lean, chiseled inch.

“Like what you see, Mia?”

My eyes snapped up to his face. This time, I didn’t want to deny it. “Yes.”

He smiled. “Good. At least you are honest.” He reached for piece of white cloth and wrapped it around his waist. “Care for some wine?” He strolled toward me, poured a glass, and offered it to me.

“Thanks.”

“So.” He sat in front of me and poured his own chalice. “I have some questions for you.”

“All right.”

He gulped down his wine and set down the empty cup. “You say you do not know how you came here to me.”

“I think it was the bracelet. But I’m not sure.”

“You also say you were running from me,” he said sharply.

“Yes,” I replied.

“But you are here to help me.”

“Yes.” I nodded.

“Why?” His gaze was steady and harsh.

“I already told you that.” I didn’t think it was fair what had been done to him.

“Yes. But there is more to our story, isn’t there?”

I nodded but stared at my glass.

“What are you not telling me?” he asked.

“It’s hard to explain.”

“Try.”

I lifted my eyes. “I can’t.”

“Cannot or will not?”

“Can’t. I don’t know how.”

“But you are my woman, yes?”

“Yes. I mean—you claimed me as yours, but we’ve never…”

“I have never lain with you,” he said, completing my sentence.

“Why are you asking me all of these questions?”

“I am not certain I believe your story.”

“Which part?” I asked. “The part about my being from the future, being yours, or your fate?”

“All three. Who is to say this is not a ploy to win me, to be my queen in Hagne’s place?”

Dammit. So stubborn. If he didn’t buy my story, then we were all screwed. History would repeat. Unless you do something to stop Hagne on your own. Which I was fully prepared to do, but wouldn’t get the chance if King thought I was bonkers and had me thrown back in a cage.

“Then ask me anything.” I lifted my arm to remind him of the “K” tattoo.

“You could pretend your words.”

“You saw me jump with your own eyes,” I pointed out.

“Perhaps you knew I would catch you.”

“That’s ridiculous; I almost died.” I took a moment to catch my breath. This conversation felt useless. “You know what? Fine.” I stood up. “Don’t believe me. Go ahead and marry Hagne. Kill your brother. Enjoy your cursed life.”

“Where do you think you are going?” he asked.

I’m going to find Hagne and take care of this mess on my own.

“I thought you were stronger than this,” I said, “but I was wrong.”

“You think me weak because I do not believe your wild story?”