King of Me (The King Trilogy #3)(35)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

I nodded.

The woman turned to her companions, and the ladies mumbled frantically. With the roar of the crowd, I couldn’t hear a damned thing.

The woman faced me once again. “So the king killed her with just cause.”

“Yes, I believe so.”

She nodded solemnly. “I am ashamed that we did not deal with Hagne in time.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“We knew she’d been…let us say, using her gifts in unsanctioned ways. She was tainted, as are all Seers who betray their oaths.”

“I’m not following you,” I said.

“Those of our kind who use their gifts to gain power or wealth are defying the gods and the natural order. They become crazed animals who must be put down.”

“You’re all Seers?” I asked.

“We are the elders.”

I had so many questions for them about Seers and how our gifts worked, but there was no time. “Then you can stop this,” I pleaded.

She shook her head no.

“Why not? They haven’t fought yet.” I pointed toward the arena.

“The challenge was issued by Callias.”

“Yes, because Hagne’s family threatened to rally the people into a civil war. The king thinks this is the only way to avoid massive bloodshed.”

“I’m sorry, my dear, but it is too late. The wheels have been set in motion.”

“But you just said—”

She held up her hand. “Our people are unhappy that the king ended Hagne’s life, one of our own, without consulting us first.”

“But you’re saying her death was inevitable.”

“Yes,” she said, “however the king has violated an agreement with our people, and there must be a fight to set things straight, or there will never be peace again.”

This was ridiculous.

“Besides,” she grinned, “everyone knows that our king is the better swordsmen. He will prevail. And Callias has been a thorn in his side, a jealous fool—”

“And a thief!” chimed in one of the other women.

“And a womanizer!” barked another. “He has three unclaimed children that we know of. We will all be far better off with him gone.”

“But the king isn’t going to win,” I said, panicked.

The four women stared, clearly not understanding.

“King will let Callias kill him,” I clarified.

“Why would he relinquish his divine right?” one of the women asked.

“It’s a long story,” I answered. “But you have to—”

“It is a shame, then, because our people will not stand to be ruled by Callias. They would rather burn the island and everyone on it to the ground.”

I blinked as her words dangled in the air. If Callias ruling would cause civil war…and the Seers knew that Hagne was nuts and…My head hurt from spinning so hard.

I had to stop this. I had to. The only way to really change course was for King to live.

But Callias died in the first version, and that didn’t work out either. King had been married to Hagne and then challenged for the throne by Callias. King won the fight but discovered that his wife had been behind everything and cheating on him. In retribution, or perhaps to smother any flames of civil war, he executed Hagne’s entire family and then took her out, too.

But if King dies, it changes nothing. I had to stop him so we could rethink this. We had to. Because clearly King had no idea his brother was loathed by the people.

“I have to stop the fight.” I ran down the steps of the coliseum, but arrived to a high railing that separated the first tier from the second. “Shit! Where is it?” I turned and spotted the stairwell and darted down, slamming into a brawny man with thick black curly hair, holding a spear. He looked just like future King’s driver.

“Arno?” I said.

“I am called Sama.” With his large size, he easily forced me back.

“Let me through; I have to speak with the king.”

“Only the Minos family and the council are permitted to pass.”

Dammit! “You’re a Spiros, right?”

He nodded.

“I know you’re supposed to protect the king. He’s about to die—I swear it—and if he does, it all goes to shit.”

He glared at me.

“I’m not crazy. I’m a Seer. And I see the future!” I lied.

“I cannot let you pass.”

The crowd roared with deafening screams—the same sounds I’d heard when a football team enters their home stadium.

I covered my mouth. “Oh dear God, no.”

I turned and ran upstairs to the balcony overlooking the arena. The male members of the crowd had already pushed their way forward.

I wiggled through a mass of sweaty, smelly, shirtless male bodies. “Move!” I barked repeatedly until I reached the front.

There, to my horror, was King. His shirtless, muscled torso glistened in the early morning sun. He wore only a simple blue sarong. No helmet. No body armor. Just a big bronze sword.

“King!” I screamed, waving my hands in the air like a madwoman. “King!” But he couldn’t hear me let alone see me in the midst of an ocean of onlookers.

My mind buzzed. If I couldn’t reach him, I couldn’t tell him that he wasn’t saving his people or anyone and history was going to repeat—the Minoans would disappear if he left Callias in charge.

“King!” I screamed again, just as Callias entered the stadium. The bastard wore a dark brown leather breast plate and a bronzed helmet as he strutted in like the hero of the day, waving his arms and sword. The crowd booed him.

“Fuck. Fuck. Think, Mia. Think.” If they were all going down, then I had to do something to save King. Anything.

I glanced up at the row of silver-haired Seers looking on with emotionless expressions.

I pushed my way back through the wall of cheering subjects and leapt up the steps two at a time.

“You have to help me!” I screamed at them.

The women stared.

“Please. Please don’t let him die,” I begged.

“But he must, my dear girl. This is his fate.”

Fate. Fate. What did that even mean?

Nothing to a woman who’d seen the laws of the universe broken as easily as a child might pull apart his or her favorite Lego set.

“Curse him!” I screamed. “Curse him to walk the earth until he finds a Seer who loves him.” Meaning me. Facing him in the future would be my cross to bear.