Lord King (The King)

But the ancient ones had told me they wanted King to take his place on the throne, to lead them. On the other hand, that never made sense. From the beginning, I’d been asking why they would put him in charge—the man who’d wiped them off the face of the earth.

I had no idea what to do now. I had none of the answers, but all of the questions.

More importantly, I didn’t know whom to trust.

Was I being played by the Seers? Was I being played by this guy? And what would he do if he found out there was a more powerful Seer inside me?

Would he try to take her?

Ansin was thousands of years old and looking for a woman to match his skills in order to revive his tribe. Me.

But what stopped him from changing course and taking my daughter instead? Wait it out until she’s a woman. These were dark, sickening thoughts, but I’d be stupid not to consider them.

Fuck. I needed to talk to King before he left. I had to tell him what was going on.

CHAPTER NINE

“What do you mean Mr. Minos checked out already?” I asked the woman at the reception desk at just past three in the morning.

“He said he had a flight to catch. I’d offer to deliver a message, but we never know when he’ll return.”

Shit. Shit. I’d already tried his cell phone five times. He wasn’t picking up. Fucker. He was giving me the cold shoulder.

“Thanks. Just have him call me if he happens to check back in? Tell him it’s an emergency.” I jotted my name and cell phone number down on a piece of paper. King had my number already, but it couldn’t hurt.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Thanks.” I returned to my suite and began racking my brain. I needed to find King, but how? I had no access to Ten Club records, so I didn’t know where this Sage lived in the UK. King might have information in his warehouse, but that required flying back to San Francisco and finding a way into the building. The place was warded up the ass and had some of the scariest things I’d ever seen. Even King had warned me not to go poking around because he’d set traps everywhere.

I had an idea. Against my will, King had placed a mark on my wrist. A tattoo of the letter K. He said it would prevent Ten Club members from laying a claim on me—some ridiculous rule he’d been worried about before the night he slaughtered them. Most of them. Either way, I’d had luck before, connecting with him by touching the tattoo.

I rotated my arm and covered the K with my palm. A white room popped in my head. Why a white room?

I tried again and again, but nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. Dammit!

My only choice was to reach out to the Seers, but that wasn’t a great option either. Ariadna’d scolded me for showing up last time, and now I was wondering if they’d been completely honest with me. Was this whole thing really all about turning the tables on King so they could use him this time around?

It made more sense than the bullshit they’d fed me.

Still, I needed to talk to King.

I had to ask the Seers to find him. I’ll go directly to Circe.

I got into bed and closed my eyes, relaxing my body. I focused on where I wanted to go and let my mind take me.

The cobalt blue ocean roared behind me, its powerful waves crashing onto pristine white sand on a day that was too sunny to be true.

So beautiful. I stared up at the brightest blue sky I’d ever seen, wondering if this was really what Crete looked like thousands of years ago.

“Jeni, you have returned.” Circe, the old woman with long silver hair, walked up in a blue tunic.

“I needed to see you.”

“Ariadna will not be pleased.”

And? “Why does she get a say?”

“You are asking if she is our leader?”

I nodded.

“Ariadna holds the cards to our survival, so I suppose she is a leader of sorts.”

Interesting. “I know what she said about not coming back uninvited, but I need help, and there was nowhere else to go. I have to talk to King, but I don’t know where he is. Can you help?”

“Did you not try to locate him yourself?” she asked.

“I don’t know how.” I felt a little stupid.

“Jeni, there are certain things that must be taught to a new Seer, but exploring your gifts is not one of them. Do not be afraid to use what you have.”

“Here’s the thing; you all assume I even know what Seers are. So we see stuff. Okay. And some can time travel, read people’s minds, or track stuff down. Got it. But I don’t know how it works or where my gifts come from.”