I had to admit there was a certain irony to my fate. I’d spent countless years accumulating power, only to have it keep me from what I truly wanted: death. Until my soul—which remained anchored to Jeni—returned to me for good and my sins were corrected, I would remain trapped in the world of the living.
So how did a man without a heart or soul redeem himself?
One day at a time.
I was once a good king who loved his people above all else. I would get there again.
“Knock, knock?” I heard a soft voice come from the doorway. Jeni’s golden-brown eyes and kind smile greeted me.
“What are you doing here?”
“Sorry, but I couldn’t stay away.” She sauntered in, wearing jeans and a red sweater. Her long brown hair was straightened, cascading down her shoulders. I could tell from the way she looked, she had done it for me. She did not understand what I was, and what I could never be.
“Oh, don’t be so pessimistic.” She stifled a smug smile. “You’re always so hard on yourself. But thank you for the compliment. I did try to look nice. But not for you. For myself.”
“What is going on?”
“Ah!” She strutted across the spacious loft, with a bounce in her step. “I finally figured out my gift. One of them anyway. Didn’t take long, really, once I had a chance to clear my head. Or maybe the other Seers helped. Who knows?”
Ariadna, my beautiful daughter, said Jeni’s gift was a bullshit meter. She could never be fooled by me. Just as long as she’s unable to read my thoughts.
Jeni grinned. “Sorry. But it’s payback time, baby.”
JENI
After I returned to Florida, I couldn’t get a few things out of my head. King being at the top of my list, of course.
What nagged at me most were my unanswered questions. But as my body healed from stress and exhaustion, I began piecing together all the threads of his tapestry. The picture was pretty interesting.
I always knew we met for a reason. And I knew he couldn’t shut me off. So I began to wonder if our connection wasn’t something more. Something bigger.
My next question was why now? Why, after twenty-five years, would his self-made coffin pop up in a storm, only to land at my feet?
That was when I got a visit. They came in a dream and, at first, I didn’t believe it was real. Until I realized I knew their faces. I knew them. My ancestors.
They didn’t say much, but I woke knowing exactly what they wanted: With King’s leadership and powers, he was going to bring the Seers back. Not as his personal army of indentured thugs, but doing what they were meant to do. Heal.
He didn’t know it yet, and they didn’t tell me how it would play out, but it was the Seers’ job to mend the wounds of this world. The cancer had to be cured.
My role was to never leave King’s side and to keep him on the path of the straight and narrow.
He was going to hate that.
But I wouldn’t. I could see the good in him. I knew he was capable of redemption.
Once I realized my connection with him wasn’t one-way or haphazard, it dawned on me that I could pick his head, too. And maybe the real reason I’d grown up isolating myself from people was because I could hear what they were thinking. It scared the hell out of me.
Fact: Not all people were good. And for a child to listen in on so many dark thoughts would warp them beyond recognition—something I understood firsthand. With King’s help, I could start tapping into my inner strength. I was twenty-three now, and soon, I would come into my full powers. In exchange, I would guide King into his new role.
A price for everything. He would no longer be an ancient powerful king; he would be the Lord of the Seers.
That was what they called him: Lord. Our leader. Not master, not king, not ruler. Our leader. Something he had been born to do, but never got the chance. His choices had led him down a dark path that wasn’t meant to be.
I wonder how long I can keep that fun information to myself.
“What information? And I asked you a question,” King said. “Why are you here?”
Standing in his loft, I tried to contain myself. “I just thought you could use some help. It’s a long way to redemption.”
His eyes clung to mine. I felt him try to dig inside my head. “So you know.”
“I do.” The Seers told me everything, unlike you. I laced my hands together.
“So they sent you,” he said.
“I’m here of my own free will, if that’s what you’re asking.”