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)
“No. I don’t,” I said remorsefully. Ansin had helped King because I’d promised the one thing he wanted most in the world: a new family. After watching Roman soldiers slaughter his tribe, bringing them back was something not even Ansin’s powers could do. The only option was to fulfill a promise he’d made to his dying mother. Ansin had been charged with keeping the knowledge and power of his people in order to pass it on to a new generation of Bastuli someday.
The someday part of this was my point. Ansin claimed he wanted to do right by his people, but I wondered if he just wasn’t tired of roaming the earth alone. Literally, the guy had lived multiple lifetimes. At any point, he could’ve found a Seer or someone with extra to restart his bloodline. According to him, the world had once been filled with tribes like his.
So why wait? Why find a partner now when there were so few choices (in his mind) when it came to women? The only answer I could come up with was that he was tired of being alone.
Anyway, I took that dream from him the moment I got what I wanted: to get King back. Worst of all, I’d never intended to keep my word. I’d planned to get out of our deal one way or another.
Did that make me a crappy person?
The old Jeni would’ve fervently declared yes. This Jeni wasn’t so sure. While I didn’t believe in “the strong taking from the weak” doctrine like Ansin did, I couldn’t ignore there was a very dark and ruthless side to the world hiding in plain sight. This Jeni had had her eyes pried opened when she’d learned about Ten Club, whose members had paid ten billion each in annual dues so they could rape, murder, and torture anyone they liked. CEOs, presidents, and the wealthy elites gladly signed up for their exclusive ticket to absolute immunity.
That was how I lost my mother. One of the members, Victor Escorcia, had been into killing women, and she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The infuriating part was that she hadn’t been his first victim, nor would she be his last, and the police knew.
But did he get jail time?
Nope.
There wasn’t a judge Ten Club couldn’t blackmail or bribe. Ten Club also had hundreds of district attorneys in their pockets along with mayors, governors, and congressmen.
But not all Ten Club members liked to participate in debauchery. I learned from King that many enjoyed kicking back, cracking open a cold one, and watching mankind sink to new lows.
Savagery was their kink.
It made them feel more…godlike. Want your city to be a cesspool of murder and free-range pedos? Just ask Ten Club. They could make it all happen.
In the days just before King had dismantled the monster he’d created, I’d learned that several members had grown bored of watching a real-life Purge situation play out in their cities. They were planning to go one step further: entire countries.
King had stopped the whole thing just in time, but that didn’t change the past. King had started Ten Club. He ran it. And because of that, a serial killer had been able to roam free, and I was raised without a mother. I guessed that was why King felt he owed me. It was why he left me all his stuff.
Sorry, King, but it’s not enough. What was taken could never be replaced. Maybe that was why I actually felt bad for Ansin. I knew what it felt like to live with a giant hole in your life.
“You are very quiet all of a sudden,” Ansin said.
“I was just thinking about your request to have me move out,” I lied. “My dad’s coming to watch Draco for a few days. I need to go out of town.”
“For?”
“For none of your damned business. But after I get back, I’ll look for a place to stay.” It would have to be somewhere secure because sooner or later, the Seers would be coming for Draco.
They had him earmarked as their future king—a child born of King and a powerful Seer. Me. They believed he would usher in a new age of Seers. All I knew was that Draco was my child and belonged to me. They couldn’t have him.
Ansin clicked his tongue and folded his arms over his chest. I sensed he’d been hoping for a different reaction from me.
“Guess the lawyer showed up right on time. You have many of King’s properties to choose from.”
“I’m not planning to live in any of King’s homes.” Being surrounded by his stuff wouldn’t help me move on. Also, I knew firsthand that some of King’s properties had very dark pasts. “I’ll figure out something.”
“Sure you will.” He turned to leave.