Though I’d managed to push myself into a seated position, suddenly a wave of nausea pressed through me, and I almost fell backward. I had to clutch both of my hands into fists, drive them into the plush carpet, and draw in a deep breath to steady myself.
There was something deceptive about this man’s presence. If Jim hadn’t announced him as the Lonely King, I would have just thought this guy was an aide of some description, maybe some modern version of a butler.
But the longer I looked at him, the more I realized something. He had the kind of power that wasn’t immediately visible. While Max from the past, with his broad chest and powerful persona, immediately struck you as a man who could move the very tides of time to achieve his desires, the Lonely King was far subtler in his approach.
And yet, right there in the middle of his gaze was the undeniable force of someone who would crush everyone in their path.
He continued to watch me with a nonplussed look.
It took until I clenched my teeth and hissed through them that another smile spread across his lips.
“You should save your strength,” he commented. “There’s no way to get out of this room, seer. And nor is there a way to call on your powers. They are blocked. I have laced your blood with a compound that will block your magic. And the more you try to fight against it, the more it will fight against you. So just sit there, rest. Tonight, you will literally make history.”
“Piss off,” Jim spat, wrapping his hands harder around the rusted bars of the cage and rattling them.
All the Lonely King had to do was dart his gaze towards the cage, then the bars suddenly became electrified.
Jim was thrown backward. But with nowhere to go, he struck the other wall of the cage. Instantly, his body bucked forward as another wave of electricity pulsed through it. He was thrown on the floor, heaving body pressed up against the metal. He tilted his head up, and I saw a flash of his determined gaze. “Go to hell,” he spat.
The Lonely King pressed his lips together in the coldest smile I’d ever seen. “Not today. Not today.” He returned his attention to me.
The more I sat there in his presence and assessed his persona, the more I saw through the act. Through the soft smile, through the pleasant features. The more I saw the power within. It seethed and bubbled like lava in the heart of a volcano getting ready to explode. It was honestly one of the most violent things I’d ever seen.
I brought up a shaking hand and ground it over my mouth, my eyes pressing open wide as I stared at him in horror.
“No need to be afraid.” He chuckled. “No need to be afraid,” he repeated, voice dropping down lower.
I wanted to jolt back, but there was nowhere to go. So it was time to fight. “I’m not going to help you. I’m not going to let you win,” I spat.
He pulled his hand out of his pocket and gestured wide. “You have no option, seer. You are trapped. Even though you are blocked from your powers, surely you can appreciate that? Surely you can appreciate that?” he repeated again. I doubted he was repeating himself for mere emphasis. No, every time he did so, his voice dropped a notch and had this mesmerizing quality to it, almost as if he were trying to hypnotize me into surrendering.
I shook my head sharply, my hair scattering across my face. “What have you done to Max? Where is he?” Fear pounded through me as I asked that question.
A confused expression crossed the Lonely King’s face, and it took him some time to answer. “Why would you care about such a thing? He is but a tool.”
“Where is he?” I demanded, voice finally becoming strong as it battled through my throat.
“It is irrelevant. All that is relevant is that you sit here and wait. Guard your power, little seer, for I will need it tonight.”
“Go to hell,” Jim spat again. “There’s no way the coven is gonna let you go through with this spell. They will stop you, no matter what it takes.”
“The coven have had years to hunt me down and stop me, Jim Preston. But in all that time they have not. Because they cannot. They cannot go up against my power. For to do so would require all of their powers, and it would kill them, one by one. Crushing them, using up their life force as the magic burnt them like a sacrifice.” The Lonely King’s expression was deceptively calm as he spoke those violent words, and yet his tone was harsh, biting, hard.
It sent another wave of nausea slamming through my body, but I held on. God did I hold on. “Where’s Max?” I demanded once more, voice little more than a rattling hiss.
“Gone,” the Lonely King said. And he would not elaborate. He tilted his head to the side, appeared to survey me like you would a barnyard animal you’d just bought from a fair. Then he turned on his foot when he was satisfied.
I hadn’t been paying attention before, and I hadn’t picked up how he’d gotten into the room. But now I concentrated with all my might.
He placed a hand into his pocket, appeared to clutch something, and shifted his fingers around as if he were typing on a device. Then a door appeared. It just blinked into
