Free King for a Day by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

of all the men in his family, but I think Draco is weak. He is so unlike his brother, Callias, who is truly a man, a man who takes what he wants instead of asking. I wish that he would take me. But that is not my fate. It matters not how many candles I light or how many times I ask the gods, they are determined to watch me suffer.
    However, by this time tomorrow Draco may own my body, but Callias will own my heart. I will think only of him when Draco comes to my bed in the night. And I will scratch his back when he bucks on top of me. I will imagine I am scratching out Draco’s eyes.
    I wish the man nothing but death and pain.
    Mack’s soft groan from the emergency room bed moved my attention away from the book in my hands. I leaned forward in my chair and brushed his blond hair from his forehead. I’d never noticed before, but he had a small scar over his right brow and one on his chin. He was a very handsome man that reminded me of those “all-American” types I saw in the Abercrombie perfume ads I’d worked on once.
    Ha. I chuckled to myself. How long had it been since I’d even thought of my old job? A little less than two months ago, advertising was my life. I specialized in global fragrance campaigns. But the days of Manolo heels and flights to New York, Paris, and Buenos Aires were long gone.
    Mack cracked open his sleepy blue eyes. “Why are you staring at me?”
    I smiled. “Hi, there. How are you feeling?”
    “Like shit.” His eyes began to move around the sterile hospital room. “You took me to the hospital? Fuck.” He struggled to get up, but I pushed him back down.
    “No, Mack. You can’t move. You have a concussion, three broken ribs, a fractured arm, and the doctor thinks you have a ruptured spleen.” I still couldn’t believe that the hundred-year-old twig did this to him. “He’s waiting for the test results.”
    “He can call me when he gets them. Help me up.”
    Damned stubborn man! What is he thinking? And I knew I never should have let him walk out of that warehouse. He hadn’t even made it to his damned car! He’d passed out cold on the sidewalk for over an hour before I found him.
    “I’m just thankful you weren’t flying when you blacked out.” Especially since he always flew alone.
    His eyes flickered with pain. “How many hours did we lose?”
    I looked down at my hands, already knowing the time because I’d been watching the clock like a hawk. “We have about sixteen hours left.”
    “Shit. We’ve lost too much time. Now you have to run, Mia.”
    “What? No. We’re not giving up.”
    Mack stared at me for a moment. “Of course, you’re right.” He moved to get up again.
    “Mack, no. Didn’t you hear me? The doctor said you might be bleeding internally. There’s no way in hell you’re flying a plane. And before you ask, I already checked all of the commercial flights. Everything is booked to L.A. until two p.m.”
    “Then we’ve hit a wall,” he said.
    I blew out a breath. “I know,” I murmured, thinking. “I had a vision that King came to see me,” I blurted. “At least, I think it wasn’t real.”
    Mack simply stared.
    “Yeah, I know. It’s strange.”
    “What did he say?” Mack asked.
    “To run. And that he can’t be saved.”
    “Is that all he said?” Mack mumbled, squirming in his bed, trying to get comfortable.
    “You sound like you believe it might’ve actually been him.”
    “It’s King. Anything is possible. What else did he say?”
    “He asked me to read this.” I lifted the book.
    “What is it?”
    “It’s a story about some horribly mean girl who has to marry a guy she doesn’t want. She’s a Seer, like me.” I shrugged. “That’s the only reason I can think of that he’d want me to read this— if he wanted me to read this.” I wasn’t sure what was real any longer.
    Mack looked at me blankly. “I don’t have a clue what that book means, but are you sure you want to keep going?”
    “Yes! Why do you keep asking