King of Me (The King Trilogy #3)(34)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

He squared his broad shoulders and stared with that glare I knew well. The man was about to lose his temper. “I do not wish to discuss this further, Mia. I am telling you—”

“Why can’t we find a way to just…have you travel forward with me now?”

“Do you have one?” he growled.

“I have the bracelet. No, I don’t know how it works, but you could try to use it, and I could—”

He suddenly grabbed me and kissed me deeply, with every ounce of emotion his body dared to expose.

I melted into him, wishing for this to never end, hoping that he’d change his mind and run. Run with me. Maybe we’d have another week together. Maybe we’d have twenty years. I didn’t know or care. I just wanted more time.

“I know you are worried for me,” he said, “however, I am the one volunteering for this fate. There is no other way.”

I winced. He didn’t understand who he would become and the terrible things he would do. Yes, I’d told him he became a monster, but clearly he didn’t get it.

“What if,” I said, “history repeats? Because if it does, you have to believe me, you don’t want that future.” I swallowed back the tears.

“What is it that I do? What are you not saying?” he asked coolly.

“You are not good to me. That’s why us leaving is the only option.”

“Mia, we are moving forward with this plan. And everything you hide only lessens our chance of seeing this through successfully. So whatever is it you are concealing—”

I’d already told him he’d hurt me, but I never gave him the explicit details. “I can’t tell you. It’s…”

“You will tell me!” he yelled.

I glared at him. “No.”

“I will place you over my lap and hit your ass until you are black and blue if I must, but you will tell me.”

I was speechless. Completely and utterly speechless with rage. “How dare you threaten me.”

“I do not believe in threats.” He grabbed me and pulled me towards his bed, throwing me over his lap with his hand raised. “Tell me! I am your king, and you will tell me!”

“How dare you!”

His hand came down hard with a sting on my ass. “I dare! I am the king. And I love you enough to fear nothing. You, however—”

“You whip me and rape me!” I screamed.

His body fell limp, like he’d been hit with a thousand bricks, and he tossed me off him onto the bed. “This cannot be.” He suddenly looked at his hand in disgust, as if frightened by his roughness with me.

I looked away. “I escaped right before you…”

“I do not know what to say,” he whispered.

The tears flowed down my face. “It wasn’t you. Not really.”

He stared at the floor. “And yet you allowed me to…” he whispered, “be with you. Without grudges.” He was about to say something else, but closed his mouth, stood, and turned for the door.

“You are not that same man,” I said. “And you can’t feel guilty for something that hasn’t happened yet.”

“But there is no denying that I have the seeds of evil inside me. It must be there.”

“Where are you going?” I asked.

His chest heaving, he swallowed. “I-I-I will fight Callias at sunrise.”

He was almost out the door when I realized that it wasn’t long before the sun came up.

“King?” I said, my voice trembling, the tone begging him to tell me what was going on inside his head.

He didn’t face me, perhaps because he couldn’t. “I must place the well-being of my people first.” He took a breath. “And if what you say is true, then you are correct. You cannot curse me.”

“What are you saying?”

His large shoulders lifted and fell. “I will die.”

“No. Let’s think this through and find another solution.”

His beautiful eyes were as cold as two blocks of ice. “There are no other options.”

King left, and I broke. Broke.

I’d lived through so much pain, but this…this was the wall. “I will break you, Mia,” King had said on that horrible night. And he’d been goddamned right: I was utterly and completely broken.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Just after sunrise, I followed the massive flow of people outside the palace walls to an open-aired auditorium that reminded me of a scene straight from Gladiator. Present had to be the entire population of Minoa, their skin colors ranging from deep dark brown to light olive. Some had long straight black hair and others curly. The men, most anyway, wore only simple sarongs made from linen and kept their hair in braids or ponytails, while the women wore tunics or togas made from rough, hand-dyed fabric. Had I been in any other situation, I would have been talking to everyone and asking questions for posterity’s sake. But my heart was too heavy to care that someday this civilization would cease to exist, and likely, I was about to witness the beginning of the end.

Unsure if I’d be able to observe the horrific event about to pass, but unable to walk away or stop myself from praying for a miracle, I sat high up in the last row of stone benches next to a group of women wearing white head scarves. They were much older than me and among the few spectators who looked dismayed. The rest behaved like a wild mob, ready for a boxing match between champions. I couldn’t believe it.

Barbarians.

I sat on the edge of the bench and wiped away a tear, my mind still searching for a way to stop this.

“It is all right, dear,” said the silver-haired woman to my side. Her eyes were dark brown and her skin worn by the sun.

I made a polite smile, but said nothing.

“You are the one Hagne spoke of, aren’t you?” she asked.

I looked over, and all four women stared. “I’m not sure.”

“You are Mia, the Seer.”

I stood up. “I think you have me confused.”

“This is Hagne’s work.” The woman grabbed my wrist and pointed to my tattoo. Not the one that King had placed on me, but Hagne’s. “Sit,” she commanded, “do not force my hand.” Her touch sent static through my arm.

I didn’t have the energy to fight, so I sat. “What do you want?”

“Is it true that Hagne tried to kill you?” she asked.

Of course, I tried to kill her first, but that wasn’t the question.

I nodded.

“Is it true she had eyes for Callias?”