Lord King (The King)

I looked at King, who wasn’t arguing about its efficacy.

“You will stay away from my daughter,” he growled. “And you will stay away from my Seer.” King walked up beside me, grabbed my wrist, and showed his mark to Ansin.

Now he was trying to claim ownership? What the hell?

Ansin stepped forward. “Ten Club is dead. And Jeni is mine now. The deal was struck. She made it free and clear in order to save your evil ass. She must honor it. You know she has to.”

“What’s he talking about?” I asked King.

“It’s nothing,” King said dismissively.

“No. Not nothing,” Ansin interjected. “A Seer’s promise is her bond. If she breaks it, she will be punished.”

“By who?” I asked.

“Didn’t your buddy, King here, bother to explain anything to you? The Seers enforce their rules,” Ansin said. “You break ’em, you pay. Their entire world is based on the philosophy of balance. If you get, you give. If you do harm, you have to repay with a sacrifice.”

I scoffed. “I didn’t agree to that.”

“You don’t have to,” King said coldly. “It’s simply the way they do business.”

Was this the reason the Seers kept pushing back when I asked for help? I didn’t know, and honestly, I didn’t give a shit anymore. I was done with them. Their games, their lies, their manipulations. I might have Seer blood, but I wasn’t on their team.

Team me. And I would do anything to protect this baby, including aligning myself with the two most dangerous men on the planet. Who else could I turn to if I planned on going up against a clan of Seers? Dead or not, they were still powerful. They’d created a freaking hurricane. They’d ripped King’s soul from his body and bound it to me so he couldn’t die and cross over. The Seers might not be a part of this physical world, but they sure as hell knew how to manipulate everyone and everything in it.

“So where does this leave us three?” I asked.

“I cannot kill him. Not now.” Ansin threaded his fingers through his thick black hair. “King is the only one who can train Ariadna properly.”

Okay. I took his words with a grain of salt, but it made sense.

I looked at King and raised an expectant brow.

“Ansin has Diviciacus’ dagger, which means he has the ability to end my life when the time comes. I no longer need to appease the Seers. I assume you know how to use it properly?” he asked Ansin.

Ansin clicked his tongue and gave the old brow salute to King. “Yes. And I’ll be naming the price.”

“You threatened to kill me two moments ago. Now you wish to charge a price for it?” King snarled.

Ansin crossed his arms over his bare chest. “Yep.”

King narrowed his pale gray eyes. “Better be reasonable. I could take your head and then your knife.”

“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m just as hard to kill as you are. And the knife only works for the rightful owner.”

These guys. These fucking guys. I shook my head. So King wanted to stick around long enough to raise Ariadna and derail her destiny. Then he wanted Ansin to end his life and be reunited with Mia and Arch.

Ansin wanted a family, but only as a backup in case Ariadna couldn’t or wouldn’t save his bloodline.

As for me, all I wanted was to make sure this little girl was born happy, healthy, safe and sound. I wanted her to have a choice and be free of the competing agendas around us. Because I was quickly learning that King and Ansin had both been right. Everyone wanted to own us, control us, and use us.

But would anyone ever just…love us? Maybe it was too late for me. But not for her. I had hope she could find another path even if she was born with an agenda of her own.

“This lovefest is super touching, guys, but I really hate this castle with a passion and don’t want to spend another minute inside it. Can we just light it up and go?”

King nodded. “I’ll find the car I drove here in and meet you outside. Do not be long, Seer.”

“Jeni,” I corrected with a sigh. What did these men have against using my name?

King walked past Ansin, being sure to give him a shoulder check on the way out.

Ansin raised two dark brows and scoffed.

These two were ticking time bombs. The moment they got what they wanted, one would try to kill the other.

I wasn’t sure King would mind, but I would.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“What are you thinking?” Ansin asked, still standing near the doorway of Sage’s bedroom, shirtless, his meaty arms crossed over his scarred-up chest.

“About what?”

“I’ve never looked to my enemy to protect my interests. I’ve never looked to anyone. Now I have that baby and you to worry about.”