“Am I really your interest, Ansin, or are you going to stab me in the back the moment you don’t need me anymore?”
He flashed a wicked smile. His only smile. “Time will tell, my little treasure.” He turned and left the room. “Like the bra, by the way. Very hot. I look forward to you saying yes for once when I ask you to remove it.”
I couldn’t help but smile. I knew he was talking about the dreams he’d had last night. An entire suck-fest of me telling him no. “Sorry. But I don’t plan on ever saying yes!” I called out.
“We shall see.” His voice faded with that last word.
He was so confident, wasn’t he? Well, I wasn’t. Nothing felt sure in this new situation.
In less than nine months, I would have a baby. Ansin was putting his hope in her to save a people who’d died two thousand years ago. King hoped she wouldn’t save anyone except us. Here. Now.
One thing was for certain, the Seers were going to be pissed when the door to their reincarnation plan slammed shut in their faces. I had to prepare for the inevitable battle, and these two men were the only ones who could help.
But would they?
King
Jeni was pregnant, and I would be a father again. To Ariadna. How was this possible? One thing was for certain, it explained what Jeni had been hiding and why her light seemed to flicker. The child was drawing from her energy. Seers. They are a strange and unpredictable breed.
Which was why I had very mixed feelings about Ariadna being reborn. Especially because they believed every wrong turn I had made was entirely my doing, when in reality, the long dark road I ultimately took in life had been because of them.
It had all started with Hagne over three thousand years ago. I had once been betrothed to her, but I didn’t love her. She knew that. They knew that. I’d reluctantly agreed to the union for the sake of my people because the Seers had insisted. At the time, they protected our island from outside threats, so I did what good kings do: put the people first.
Then Mia arrived out of the blue, pregnant and holding a baby boy. She claimed to be my wife from the future, on the run from a group called Ten Club. I did not believe her initially, but eventually I succumbed to my feelings. Our connection was undeniable. Then Hagne, who’d always had a violent streak, tried to kill me in a fit of jealousy.
She missed.
Mia was gravely injured and bleeding out. To get the medical attention she needed, she would have to go home. The Seers offered to help my pregnant, dying, weak wife make the journey. For a sacrifice, of course. Fucking Seers. I would not be allowed to travel forward with Mia and Arch. Mia could never return to my time.
This meant if I ever wanted to see them again, I would have to stay alive for three thousand years. I would need to wait for Mia’s life to start and for her to become a woman.
I should have let go. I should have died in my own time with the satisfaction of knowing I was loved by a good woman.
But I didn’t.
I slid on a ring Mia had given me. With it, I would never age. I would live on. But not before the years of loneliness got to me. Everyone I ever knew or cared for was in the future or the past.
I went mad and killed every living Seer out of bitterness and hate. It had been their demand for a sacrifice that separated me from Mia.
But killing the Seers off hadn’t been enough to satisfy my rage. I wanted them to suffer. Eventually, I created the beginnings of Ten Club—a group of ruthless individuals to assist me in my hunt for powerful objects. Over time the group evolved into something bigger, but I did find a way to resurrect those I held responsible for my suffering. I enslaved those Seers as a punishment, and Hagne had been at the top of my shit list.
It all ended badly, of course. But to say they played no part in it?
A fucking lie.
The Seers could have simply chosen to help Mia after she had been wounded. They could have helped me travel forward with my family. But no.
And for what?
So someday they could rise against me and attempt to take over Ten Club? So I could slaughter them all over again? So Hagne could escape me and kill Mia? So my children would die, too?
None of it made any sense. We’d all lost. We had all suffered immeasurably.
All I wanted now was to end the cycle of revenge, and to find peace, including for Ariadna, who had always been a concern to me. Seers who were denied the full life of a human before moving on grew tormented and bitter over time. Ariadna had never even made it out of the womb.