Prologue

King

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Mia stood in our bedroom doorway, her blonde curls whipping in the warm salty air coming through the open window. Her sky-blue eyes, eyes that I loved with every piece of my soul, simmered with anger.

She already knew my answer.

"I am sorry, but I must do this." I marched outside to the balcony and gazed across the endless blues of the Mediterranean.

God, how I love this place. Crete, four thousand years ago. I grew up on this island. I learned to love and be a king here. But I did not deserve this heaven.

I climbed up onto the ledge and stared down at the violent waves breaking over the jagged black rocks below. The rhythmic sound had been beckoning me since my arrival, like a mixture of voices from my violent past, screaming and roaring for my atonement.

And they would never stop.

Not until I made things right.

"King! No!" Mia ran up behind me and grabbed my elbow. "Please don't leave me again. We're happy here. You're finally at peace."

Peace?Nothing could be further from the truth.

I looked over my shoulder, soaking in Mia's lovely face one final time. I had gone through hell to be with her in this afterlife, but a piece of me still remained on the other side among the living.

"He cannot be my legacy, Mia. Great kings build better worlds, not destroy them."

Mia snarled, "Fucking shit, King, your time is over, and he is not your problem. Let the world burn if that's what he's meant to do. Your place is with us."

I had managed to beat death for thousands of years, and it was all to be with Mia, a woman from the future. In the end, after Mia and our youngest son had been murdered, I fought with everything I had to find them again in the afterlife. But Mia knew I had committed too many sins to belong here.

Hell was supposed to be my home.

And before I went, I had to ensure the people I loved would be safe. It did not matter if they were already dead. A soul held light and power. It could be snuffed out like any living creature. No one, not even I, could come back from such a death.

I swallowed down my anguish. "I lived for centuries, defying the natural order of life. I killed, I used people, and I lied—none of it I regret because it led me to you, Mia. But you will never be safe unless I stop the cancer I have left behind."

The veil between us and the world of the living grew thinner by the day, and while Mia believed we were powerful enough to fend off anyone, I knew better. This threat was unlike anything the world had ever known.

"King, you can't—"

"No more talk," I barked. "He is waking. I can feel it. And nothing will survive him. Not unless I get to him before he learns how truly powerful he is."

The look in Mia's eyes said she did not believe me. "We've fought worse, and if he wants to come, let him. You'll protect us."

After all these years, she still thought I controlled the earth, moon, and sun. She thought I was all powerful, a god who could not be bested. How very wrong she was.

I was simply a man on a journey, making mistakes every step of the way. There was only one last mistake to atone for: Draco.

He was a child I'd had with a Seer during a time in my life when I was lost, unable to remember who I was or that my heart belonged to Mia. Draco was never meant to be.

Mia's blue eyes narrowed, windows into the pain in her heart. "If you leave, don't ever come back, King. You won't be welcome here in our afterlife."

"I know. And I love you." I looked down and jumped.