Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 53433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
I, on the other hand, had lived most of my life hiding under a rock, barely able to look a stranger in the eyes. Later, I’d come to understand it had more to do with my ignorance. I had no clue what a Seer was or that I had the ability to read people’s thoughts. Ugly, dark thoughts. Thoughts that seeped into my head and made the world a terrifying place.
Then King came along and showed me the truth, but that didn’t change facts: I used to be weak, timid, and afraid of my own shadow, which made me a magnet for every sadistic SOB in a ten-mile radius. Something about me screamed victim. But King had no interest in teaching me squat; meanwhile Ansin wanted me to be powerful and fearless like him. I wanted it, too.
“Do you really need to ask what my point is, Jeni?”
“You don’t need to tell me King is dead,” I said quietly, pushing back the sadness. “I watched you kill him. Which brings me back to my prior point: you broke our deal.”
“Fuck the deal, Jeni. That was my point. Fuck the deal and fuck King. He is the past. I am your future.”
What future? Did he mean the one where I’m punished for a crime I committed in a past life?
“According to the Seers,” I said, “I am cursed to love a man who will never love me back and cursed to be reminded of it every single day as I raise his child. I’m cursed to belong to another man who will make me, and I quote, ‘suffer in unimaginable ways’ because I am incapable of ever loving him back. So don’t talk to me about my future, Ansin.”
“Do not listen to them, Jeni. The Seers are manipulative charlatans.” Ansin took my hand and pressed it over his heart. “It is time for you to use your gifts and see the truth. You were always meant to be mine. You were never King’s.”
CHAPTER TWO
King
I clawed at my neck, feeling warm blood gush from the wound. That sonofabitch. He slit my throat!
I had to hand it to Ansin; the man had balls. Also, he was a man of his word. He swore he’d kill me someday.
But here? Now? I glanced at Jeni, who was lying in the hospital bed, a sheen of sweat dampening her brow. Her long dark hair was tied up, soaked from the effort of giving birth. She and the baby in her arms began to spin before the light faded from view.
What was happening? Was I finally dying?
I glanced beneath me, spotting my lifeless shell in a pool of blood on the floor.
Yes. Yes. Yes. It is over. My curse is broken. I felt nothing physical—no heat, cold, or pain—and the hollow ache from decades of being separated from my soul was gone. The sensation replacing it might even be described as…hope.
If I had a heart, it would be singing. I could finally cross over and find Mia and Arch, my wife and son. We would spend eternity together. I did not deserve such a gift, but I would take it all the same.
Floating in the abyss, like a feather dancing on the wind’s back, something began blowing me away from the delivery room, up higher and higher. I had died hundreds of thousands of times, only to be resurrected, but I’d never experienced this.
A blue light off in the distance caught my attention. What the hell is that? It was moving toward me, faster and faster, like a freight train on a collision course.
I tried to turn and move out of the way, but it was impossible without a body.
Oh hell. I watched helplessly as the light approached, growing larger and hotter. This’d better be bringing me to Mia.
The light slammed into me, launching me like a projectile through the darkness.
When I opened my eyes, the light was blinding. Where the hell was I?
I squinted, blocking out the sun with my arm.
I looked down at the white sand between my toes. Just a few feet away, a soft wave broke over the long stretch of beach. Beyond that, the frothy white surf faded into the deep blue of the Mediterranean.
I am home! This was the island of Crete from my childhood, before volcanic eruptions, wars with Seers, or visits from a beautiful woman with golden hair—a woman from another time who would become my reason for being. Mia.
I inhaled deeply, savoring the clean, unpolluted sea air. Birds circled high above against the backdrop of the powder blue sky.
So this is the afterlife. But where were Mia and my infant son, Arch? Where were the others—my twin brother, Mack, and his wife and children? Where were my parents, aunts, and uncles?
I started walking in the direction of the great temple, where I had been crowned king after my parents passed away. Aside from this beach, where I would someday build my Mia a modern-day palace, the temple was my favorite spot on the island.