King’s (The King Trilogy #1)(20)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

I couldn’t move. I didn’t know what to believe. I wanted to scream. I wanted to pull my hair out from the roots. This is what it feels like to be in hell, I thought.

King slipped from the vehicle and approached me, but I held out my hands, warning him not to come closer. Then the tears began to pour from my eyes, and I had to use my hands to cover the horrifying scream that erupted from my mouth.

I was certain that King was going to slap me or throw me into the car to keep me from drawing the attention of passersby, but instead, he pulled me against his hard frame. He held my head to his broad chest and stroked my hair while I sobbed hysterically for five whole seconds. I suddenly felt safe, so incredibly safe. Like nothing could touch me or hurt me ever again. Except for King.

He gripped my shoulders and pushed me back, pinning me with his hypnotic, jewel-like eyes. “That’s enough crying, Miss Turner. We have work to do.”

I blinked at him. “You are the devil, aren’t you?” How else could I explain what he knew or how I saw things that couldn’t possibly be real? He was messing with my mind.

He looked at me oddly and smirked with those exquisite lips. “I would gladly take the position if it were up for grabs and actually existed.”

I stared, not amused one bit.

He gave my shoulder a little squeeze. “If I were the devil, then why would I be helping you?”

“Who are you?” I asked.

He shrugged his sable brows. “I, Miss Turner, am the man who can find anything. And you…” He gripped my wrist, flipped it over, and then pointed to the “K” tattooed on my arm. “Are my Seer of Light. Let’s hope you stay alive longer than the last one.” He turned away and got into the waiting SUV.

I stood there shaking, wondering what on God’s green earth he’d meant.

He looked at me from inside the vehicle. “Are you getting in? Or do I have to drag you?”

I didn’t know who I was, where I was, or what was happening, let alone what else to do, so I got in.

“Close the door, Miss Turner,” King instructed.

I did as he asked.

“Very good.” He glanced up at the driver. “Arno, take us to the dig site.”

As if my brain had been set to slow motion, drugged with a strong sedative, I turned my head toward King. Still dressed in his dark jeans, he now wore a long-sleeved, black T-shirt and black boots. His jet black hair was messier than usual and falling a bit in his face like he’d just towel-dried it and left it that way. He looked fierce and untamed, yet regal and shockingly handsome. He exuded potent, raw, male energy. “Are you staring, Miss Turner?”

I nodded absently, only able to feel the tips of my fingers and the tops of my toes. I think I was in shock.

“Like what you see?” he asked.

Had he really just asked that? The exact same words he’d used in my dream?

I blinked. “What’s a Seer of Light?”

He looked ahead at the road. “You’ll understand once we get there, but it is a sixth sense very few have. That is why I brought you to the temple last night, to borrow some of its power to help you unleash yours. And to mark you.”

The temple has power? He used it on me? Why do I feel so wooooozy? Maybe King planned to murder me tonight and had doped me up.

“What happened to the last Seer again?” I said with a slow slur.

“She died because she disobeyed me.”

Holy crap. I knew it. “You killed her, didn’t you?”

King flashed an irritated look. “No. I needed her, just like I need you. To do your job for me.” He shifted his body in my direction and rested his thick arm along the back of the seat.

“What’s happening to me?” I asked.

“You’re waking up, Mia. You’re seeing the truth.”

The truth? I knew that word, but my mind felt all slushy inside.

“What did you do to me?” I mumbled. “Did you drug me?”

“It’s simply your brain trying to reconcile the old reality with the new. It will wear off. Why don’t you try humming since that seems to help you?”

He knew that I hummed? How odd. I closed my eyes. “I feel dizzy.”

King slipped his hand from the back of the chair onto my thigh and gave it a rub. His touch felt strangely sensual. It was tingly and electric. I liked it.

“You’ll be fine,” he said in that deep, deep voice that sounded like it had been cut from a blanket woven from thick dark chocolate and sin.

I snorted with drunken amusement. “Chocolate blankets. Ha! Okaaaay.”

“Rest, Miss Turner. We’ll be there soon.”

I mumbled some sort of agreement and drifted off to images of Justin, Brian, and King swirling in my head like a fuzzy kaleidoscope.

When I opened my eyes again, it took several moments for my vision to clear. I wiggled my way upright in the backseat, rubbing my tingly face.

“King is waiting for you below.”

I shook my head. “Huh?”

The driver—Arno?—pointed to my side of the vehicle. Once again, the night was pitch black, but I could make out a mound of dirt a few yards away.

“Oh—kee—do—kee.” I stumbled from the SUV. I felt like I’d downed a bottle of tequila, then rum, then whiskey. I dropped to my hands and knees, retching, but nothing came out.

The driver came to my aid and pulled me up. “You’ll be fine, Miss Turner.”

“Yes. Yes. I’m okay. I’m okay.” I think…?

He showed me to a wooden ladder that led to a dark hole in the ground. “Turn around.”

I did as Arno instructed and clumsily lowered myself until I reached solid footing.

“Ah, Miss Turner, you are awake. How do you feel?” King’s strong arms gripped my waist to steady me. I felt wobbly and disoriented, but I liked the feel of his powerful hands digging into me.

“Like Alice,” I replied.

King’s lips twitched in that special way that almost looked like a smile. “Yes, and here is your rabbit hole.”

Gas lanterns and candles illuminated much of the dark space, but all I saw were the dirt floor, dirt walls, and dirt overhead.

“Is this it?” I asked.

King took my hand, and I noticed how his touch was hot and cold all at the same time. And it did things to me. It made my blood flow faster, made me breathe heavier. It worked its way inside my mind and pushed against it. His touch felt almost…erotic.

“This is where your brother was searching for it.”