Lord King (The King)

“What the hell is that thing?” he said, spinning on his heel, watching it fade into a wall.

I turned to King. “Stop! None of this matters anymore. What Ariadna told you the night of the massacre isn’t true. Think about it. She said that the Seers won’t release your soul until you completely obliterate Ten Club. But she also said you had to erase your footsteps—three thousand years of them. It’s impossible, King. They were never going to let you be free. Their plan was always this. Have you kill Ten Club so it would be safe to bring back Ariadna. So she could grow up and then fulfill her duty. So what’s the point now of killing Ansin?”

“He is still a threat to you,” King said to me while staring Ansin down. “He only thinks of Seers as objects to be used.”

Ansin laughed, still panting with excitement. “Says the man who brought back a few dozen Seers from the dead just so he could force them to do his dirty work.” Ansin looked at me. “He slaughtered them the moment they tried to get free.”

“They wanted to take over Ten Club,” King threw back casually. “I did not feel that would be such a wise idea. As for Jeni, she knows she cannot trust me. I’ve made no secret of what or who I am. She makes her own choices, and she is free to go at any time.”

Ansin shrugged. “And she knows she can’t trust me. Yet she still jumped in bed with me. Or will.” He winked. “How was that dream, little treasure?”

Were they really discussing this? They were missing the goddamned point!

I threw my hands in the air. “Yes, I’m aware you’re both not safe for me. You’re both dangerous, double-crossing, power-hungry liars. But this is a new game now. I won’t allow my baby to be used by these fucking women. And I don’t believe for one minute that having her go back three thousand years to undo everything will help anyone but the Seers. I. Don’t. Trust. Them.”

“You’re pregnant?” Ansin asked, his eyes fixed on my stomach.

“Yes,” I snarled. “And if you try to lay a hand on her—”

“Did you say she’ll be able to time travel?” Ansin’s expression was pure shock—wide eyes, slack jaw. I’d never seen him with his guard down, and it felt surreal. Ansin was actually having a genuine reaction to something instead of his typical calculated responses. Why?

Only one reason came to mind. “You can’t have her, Ansin. I’ll kill you myself before I let you get anywhere near her.”

“If what you say is true,” Ansin spoke with an unusually soft voice, “then she can stop my people from being slaughtered.”

“Okay. What? I think we just established that Ariadna isn’t going anywhere. Or bringing anyone back. Or being used. Or manipulated. Or—”

“Jeni.” Ansin stepped closer to me. “I watched my entire family be taken out. My mother and I barely escaped, and she used everything she had left in her to curse me rather than heal herself. She made sure I wouldn’t die until I reestablished our people’s bloodline. I tried, again and again, to find ways to bring them back, and I failed.

“Then one day, I came across this, Diviciacus’ dagger—the druid legends say it was a gift directly from God. I don’t know, and I don’t care. All I know is it can cut through any spell. It protects whoever carries it from their enemies. I almost used it to end my life, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not without doing the one thing I hadn’t tried to fulfill my duty to my people. That was finding you—someone powerful enough to carry a child with my bloodline. And while I assume you enjoyed those dreams last night, I’m no fool. You have been calculating a way to get out of our arrangement.”

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Ariadna’s gift might be a detriment to you two,” he added, “but not for me or my people.”

“So what are you saying?” I asked. “That our deal is off if I promise to make Ariadna go back and try to save your family?”

“He cannot ask that.” King stepped forward. “I will not allow it, and he already knows you cannot commit Ariadna to anything. Any deal struck must be with her directly.”

I flashed a look at King. “I wasn’t going to agree. I wanted clarity.”

Ansin winked at me. Fucking winked again. “Sorry, Jeni. Our deal stands. It’s my insurance policy in case Ariadna is unable or unwilling to help me. But I will say this. She gets my sword.”

“You don’t have a sword. It’s a knife.” King’s eyes grew colder.

“One that we both know can easily kill you, so watch yourself, King.”

Was this true? Could his dagger really cut the cord between King and me and take him out? Ansin had killed Victor and Sage—two very powerful individuals—with ease. Whatever protection or wards they’d had on them had been completely useless. Of course, Ansin had needed to remove Victor’s bracelet and Sage’s head to stop them from coming back, but he’d definitely killed them. So I had to assume his knife would do the job with King.