Lord King (The King)

Sage wiggled her lips side to side, deep in thought. “What if I trade something else?”

“Has to be King. He and I have business to settle, and if I know you, you’ve had your fun and filled your jars. You don’t really need him anymore.”

“One can never have too many hearts of a king, Ansin.”

I was going to throw up. For real this time.

“Sage, I would consider it a personal favor if you would make this trade. I’ll even throw in Victor’s bracelet.” Ansin held out the cuff he’d taken off Victor’s body. “This is the real deal. Keeps a person from aging. Can bring them back to life. You can melt it down and make your famous ink with it.”

Ink? For what?

Sage’s eyes fixated on the bracelet. “Where’d you get that?”

He shrugged. “Victor suffered a misfortune. I happened to be there.” He wobbled his hand, making the cuff shimmer under the lights. “It’s a good trade.”

I raised my hand. “Sorry to throw a wrench in things, but I’m not up for being traded.”

“Shut up, Seer,” Ansin snarled. “You belong to me now and will do as you are told.”

“What the hell is that on her wrist?” Sage pointed a boney finger at my right arm.

I wasn’t sure what she meant until I looked at my wrist. I’d completely forgotten about it. King, in all his audacious glory, had decided to tattoo his mark on my wrist—the letter K, written in script.

I dropped my wrist and glared at Ansin. Oops. Fuck you.

He looked at Sage. “That doesn’t mean anything. Ten Club is over.”

“Is it? Because King is alive upstairs in a nice new body.” She folded her arms over her chest.

“Not for long. I plan to kill him,” Ansin replied confidently. I wondered if he really understood how difficult it was to kill King.

“Sorry,” she said, “but until he’s actually dead, the rules still apply. Including for this trade right now. Which means no deal. Now, if you wish to trade for something else? Say…a night with you?” She flashed a sadistic smile.

“No thanks. I like my heart exactly where it is,” he replied and then looked at me. For a tiny moment I swore I saw a flicker of regret in his eyes. So he was disappointed that he didn’t get to double-cross me?

Oh, boo-hoo… Fuck this guy. He made a deal with me and broke it.

“I want to make a trade,” I said.

“You?” Sage laughed. “What could you possibly have to trade, Seer? The only thing of value you own is your body, and King still has rights to that.”

“My thoughts are fair game. I’ll trade you King for one session with me. Ask anything you want. Treasures you’ve been looking for? People you’ve been hunting? Maybe you—”

“I want to see my death,” Sage threw out.

“Your death?” I asked.

“Yes. I want to know when, where, and how I die,” she said.

“Okay. Done.” I stretched out my hand to shake on it.

Ansin stepped between us, facing Sage. “Uh-uh. Not so fast. Jeni doesn’t know the rules, Sage, but I do. Only agreements made between club members mean anything. But I like this deal, so I’ll sponsor it. King in exchange for one session with Jeni, who will tell you everything you want to know about your death.”

“Hold on,” I said to Ansin. “You want to kill King. I want to save him.”

“Why?” Sage asked me.

“Because…” I swallowed my words.

“She loves him,” Ansin threw out. “Which means she’s not as smart as she looks.”

Asshole. I shot a scathing look his way, even though he was probably right. There was no reason on God’s messed-up green earth to rationalize my feelings for the man. Still, my feelings weren’t theirs to judge.

“He saved my dad,” I said. “And to me, that means something.” True.

“Well, maybe you and I can work something out later.” Ansin winked. He fucking winked. Did he think this was a game?

Hold on. I had to take a moment and roll this situation through my head, because I suddenly wasn’t sure if Ansin was playing me or playing Sage.

My mind scrambled through the facts, what I knew and what I didn’t. Ansin had showed up at the resort the other night and made an offer: Me in exchange for King’s life.

So if he only wanted to kill King and had a way to do it, he would have done it. Period.

Instead, Ansin decided to use his unsubstantiated threat as leverage, knowing I loved King.

How exactly did he know?

I could only guess he’d been watching me for a while. Which meant he’d been watching King, too. How else would Ansin have been there the other night when King and I went to Victor’s yacht? Ansin had been following us, waiting to make his move. On me.

The point was, why go through all that simply to fly here to the UK and trade me away for King? Ansin had been given multiple opportunities to get to King before this.