Blood of the Infinity War (Afterlife saga Book 8)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “Is that not considered gentlemanly behaviour in your lands, for I can assure you, it is surprisingly tame for a man such as I,” he teased back and once again I got carried away with our game and smacked his arm and shouted,

  “Humpf! Now it is I, you try to make jealous!” I don’t know if his people saw or not but the room suddenly went very quiet and I turned around slowly and saw that everyone was now in complete shock that I had struck their king. Each and every one looked on edge as if waiting for their King’s famous rage to erupt and I turned back to Draven and whispered,

  “I think I went too far, for I fear your people are ready to have me hanged, so try not to make any sudden movements as they might class that as the go ahead.” Hearing this Draven threw his head back and roared with laughter, a sound that boomed through the hall and echoed so that most of his kingdom could no doubt hear it. It only took a moment for the rest of his people to catch on and soon they were all laughing as well, only I doubt they had much clue as to why.

  “Upon my word, you are a funny girl! I bless the Gods again to have granted me not just a beautifully, intelligent girl, but also one ripe with humour, for I can only imagine the fun we will have. Which reminds me,” he said after caressing my cheek affectionately.

  “Reminds you?” I asked but he simply kissed me quickly and said cryptically,

  “The reason behind the festivities that I called upon.” I frowned and gave Sophia a panicked look, knowing it wasn’t good when I saw her mouth the word,

  ‘Sorry.’ Adding to it, a shrug of her shoulders.

  I was about to protest, but before I could Draven gripped me tighter as he stood, then let go of my legs. I bit my lip and shot Pip a panicked look but seeing that it hadn’t helped when doing so to Sophia, then I wasn’t holding out much hope for the naughtier member of our quest. And she didn’t disappoint for she just started giving me the thumbs up. Oh god, but what could he be doing now!

  “I will have silence!” Draven’s command thundered out into the crowd and I jumped, making him place a hand on each of my shoulders. The weight felt there was supposed to comfort me but facing the crowd now it just managed to root me to the spot so that I couldn’t run from my dread.

  “You do remember the part about me hating attention…right?” I hissed the question at him through clenched teeth. He gripped my shoulder once and then whispered down to me with amusement,

  “But of course, my blushing little lamb” At this I growled low in response and he chuckled once before addressing the room.

  “I grant all to enjoy this night’s festivities, as we welcome another battle won when defeating the Romans, for hair would grow on the palms of our hands before we let Roman dogs into our city!” Draven shouted making the crowd cheer and go wild, rejoicing at their King’s victory. I looked back to Vincent as he hammered a staff against the floor making his own echoing boom. But then my head snapped back to the room when I felt Draven’s hand squeeze my shoulders as it was clear he wasn’t yet finished.

  “But now I speak of another battle won, that of my heart, for it was quickly captured by a lost beauty, with that of a golden fleece!” he stated loudly and I bit my lip and desperately wanted to turn around but he wouldn’t let me. The crowd cheer again and I thought I would die of shame.

  “Please Arsaces, that’s enough.” I pleaded. I heard him chuckle behind me and whisper back,

  “Not yet it isn’t.”

  I stiffened in his hold trying to figure out all the possibilities to what it could be but nothing prepared me for what it actually was.

  “For on this night I deem it known, this pale goddess bestowed on me from the Gods, is on this coming moon’s cycle to become…” he paused turned my face to look up at him and with all the love in the world, he wholeheartedly declared to the kingdom…

  “…My Queen!”

  Chapter 17

  Reliving the Past

  “…My Queen!” He shouted this last part and just as the words registered, I felt my legs buckle beneath me as he turned me back to face the celebrating sea of people.

  “Brother!”

  “Arsaces!” Both Sophia and Vincent shouted and just as I crumbled he wrapped his arms around me before I fell. He picked me up as the room continued to cheer and rejoice. Then, instead of turning back to his throne, he dismounted the steps with purpose. His people bowed and congratulated him as we passed, which he acknowledged with a slight nod of his head. But it was clear that his sole focus was on being alone with me as he swiftly walked us from the Grand Hall.

  We headed down an empty passageway and I looked over his shoulder to see that his guards were cutting off access to this part of the palace. It was a beautiful wide hallway, with walls covered with square cut panelling, each inlayed with a paisley pattern in a droplet-shape. The bottom section of the walls were larger carved panels, each displaying a carving of different plants and all were framed with colourful tiles.

  We walked through a huge archway in a teardrop shape and I realised that this was heading towards Draven’s private chambers. Of course, what I didn’t understand was that they had been far vaster than the few connecting rooms I had been staying in. It quickly became apparent that Draven had thought it safer to keep me contained to one place than giving me free rein to wander around his private home.

  I didn’t speak and neither did he as he walked me through this new space but my mind was reeling with questions. Where we were going being at the very top of that list. I knew it wasn’t where I had hoped it to be when I saw him reach a large circular staircase that led straight up. It was like a massive turret and I quickly found that it led to the rooftop as I gasped at the first view of his immense city.

  “It’s…it’s so…” I was just about to say beautiful when suddenly Draven filled the space and I looked up at him to see him looking down at me with purple fire in his eyes.

  “You trust me?” he asked and an action drew my eyes down to see him pulling free a long sash from around his waist.

  “Answer me,” he ordered softly and I looked back up to him and nodded, making him smirk no doubt at my fearful gaze.

  “Good girl.” Then he raised the long length of silk to my face and I stepped back. All he needed to do was raise a brow in question at me and I knew what he wanted…my compliance. So, I took a deep breath and stepped up to him. My reward was a grin and a nod of his head, telling me silently that he accepted my trust and was pleased by it. Then once more he raised the material to my eyes and tied it securely at the back of my head. He lightly smoothed it out over my eyes and whispered,

  “Time for my own surprise.”

  After he said this I ended up making a girly squealing noise as I felt my legs go from under me as he lifted me into his arms once more.

  “Hold on.” This was my only warning as he started running. Now, from the brief glimpse I got of the rooftop, I knew there was nowhere for him to run to so when I felt him jump up, I knew what was coming next…wings.

  I first heard the loud whoosh, before a swishing sound of them erupting and opening to their full span. Then I felt the shiver that usually followed before I found the air blowing back against me.

  “I should probably tell you that I don’t like heights!” I shouted over the sound of his wings hitting the wind.

  “Then it is fortunate for you that I chose to blindfold you, my fearful little lamb,” he replied and chuckled when I yelped and gripped onto him tighter when I felt us start to descend. I had to ask myself if I would ever get used to this and then the painful truth hit me…I might not need to.

  I quickly pushed that thought from my mind as otherwise he would be removing this blindfold to find me in tears.

  “Ready?” he asked me after I felt him land and I nodded before he placed me back on my feet. Then he reached around and untied the knot so that it fell away, revealing what looked like a private Arabian paradise. Suddenly I was transported back to another rooftop and I gasped at the sight. It was back when Dra
ven and I had split up. A painful time to look back upon yes, but one I still held with fond memories as it was my first night spent in his arms after so long apart. Which begged the question, had this been where Sophia had stolen the idea from…the past?

  “Do you like it?” he asked and I turned back to face him to see something I hadn’t seen on him in this time…he looked vulnerable. That’s when I finally understood what this place meant to him and what I was seeing was another version of Draven’s cave. His secret place. I looked back to his tranquil hideaway and smiled.

  “I love it!” I shouted, turning around suddenly to hug him, holding him tight to me for a moment before looking back at the space that obviously held all the things dear to him. He hugged me back, looking surprised at my reaction but happy with it nonetheless.

  “You like to read?” I asked him as I saw all the scrolls, ones that looked well used and I giggled wondering if he was a ‘Dog ear’ folder.

  “You’re not the only one who’s ‘well read’,” he teased coming up closer behind me. I had expected this place to be filled with treasures and it was, but just not of the gold and expensive ones you would have expected from a king.

  His ‘secret space’ consisted of an Arabian style tent, layered with endless lengths of fabric in rich sunset colours. But around the walls in between small pillars, were small water features that spouted from demonic mouths. These all fed into a surrounding channel that framed the space, connecting at its centre to a large hexagonal pool.

  Inside the covered space was a comfortable seating area with giant sausage shaped cushions used for back supports on the flat square cushions that were scattered on the floor. At its centre was a small table which was simple in design, like most things in his little slice of hidden hideaway heaven.

  Other things included a small shelving space with maps, well-worn scrolls, a carved figure of what I thought looked like Ava and a small bust of a woman’s face, who looked like a Goddess thanks to the startling white marble it was cut from. But what was most strange of all was that I recognised her face from somewhere but I couldn’t place where or how.

  It looked flawless and I had no idea when owning something so beautiful, that he could find me so. He must have seen me looking because he took my hand and pulled me closer. Then he picked it up and looked down at it, smiling.

  “It is an image of my mother,” he said, surprising me.

  “She is so beautiful,” I told him, making him grin and he replied,

  “Yes, my father would also agree.” Now this made me grin and suddenly I knew where I had seen it before…it was in the last place it should have been but in the only place it needed to be, with Draven’s father, in Hell. I couldn’t help but wonder what he would think if he knew that I had been introduced to both, in very different ways and one more intimate than the other. Although a foot rub from the King of Lust was what I would call a tad overfriendly when first meeting a potential daughter in law for the first time. But then again, so was taking over someone’s body in the middle of a battle and basically kicking ass. Not that I was complaining as she did save my life and well, she was really nice to me.

  Draven raised it to his lips and kissed her forehead before placing her gently back on his shelf. I smiled at the tender gesture and couldn’t help but wonder where the small marble bust called home back in my own time?

  “I have never shared this place with anyone before,” he told me softly and I bit my lip, trying to contain the massive grin that wanted to erupt. He sat down and I followed him, then turning to face him I placed a hand at his cheek and told him,

  “Then I feel honoured that you do so with me.”

  “I never felt inclined to do so before there was you, but then I saw you that day from my throne, sneaking through the crowd,” he said as if watching the memory playing back in his mind. I blushed thinking back to it myself.

  “You scared me.”

  “Oh, of that I have no doubt my little lost lamb, but I wouldn’t have hurt you, not for all the power in the world and especially not when I intended one day to make you my wife.” Hearing this I sucked in a sharp breath and said,

  “You meant what you said down there…you…you wish to make me your queen?” My voice started to break a little and he smiled, pulling me close. Then he reached behind him and pulled something from beneath the cushions that had been hidden there. It was a long piece of scroll wrapped up and for a moment I had no idea what it was.

  “I believe it was when I saw you drawing this that I was ready to declare you my queen, but first I had to declare you my head concubine.” He paused a moment and laughed to himself before letting me in on his thoughts,

  “I will never forget as I had you sat on my lap with thoughts of making you my queen filling my mind, when I had you saying the opposite, speaking of only doing so if it was expected of you for the man you loved…you know not how deeply you shocked me that day.” I had to confess I was stunned at the idea that he was thinking in such a way at the time. In fact, I remember this was shortly after I had made the major mistake of calling him by the wrong name and after hitting the roof and promising murder to anyone named Draven, he soon stormed out.

  Oh, but not before he cruelly told me how I’d better impress him at the ‘Choosing’ as he was still undecided. Now I knew he had just said this to piss me off and get revenge, but then again, in his mind I had said another man’s name in the bedroom. So, thinking about it like that, then if it had been the other way around, then he would so still be sleeping on the couch!

  “I waited to open this as I wanted you to be here with me when I did so.”

  “I promise not to take it from you this time,” I said smirking as that was precisely what I had done not long ago.

  “No, I should think not, otherwise I would have to find something else to tie you up with…for I find myself without any shackles to ensure your good behaviour,” he teased and I challenged him back by tugging on his leather belts and silk ties saying,

  “Well, you do have quite a lot of leather and silk here, so I don’t think you would have to look too far.” At this he burst out laughing and in turn hooked a talon down the front of my dress near my cleavage and tugged me closer to him.

  “Now I do believe you are trying to distract me once again from my mission, my clever little lamb.” Then he kissed me, making me melt into him and I decided to knock him off his game again by pulling up my dress so that I could straddle him. He groaned as I lowered myself down rubbing against his obvious arousal.

  “I am sorry my Lord, did you say something?” I asked playfully, making him growl this time.

  “How is it one so seemingly innocent can be so mischievous and full of trouble, for you could easily make this King lose his mind and most of all…his focus,” he said squeezing my hip with one hand and running the backs of his metal nails down my face with the other.

  “I think a King like you needs to be kept on his toes or on his back, either one,” I replied with a smirk and a kiss on his nose, making him chuckle before shaking his head.

  “And I thought I was the one with a demon inside of me.” Now I was the one laughing and then replied,

  “Yes, and lucky for me your demon seems to like my naughty side.”

  “More like fucking adores it!” This time it was his demon side that answered me and I couldn’t help the breathy sigh I released at what each side of this man did to me.

  “Now behave whilst I opened my gift, so that I may give you yours,” he told me and then smirked when he saw the shock on my face.

  “You have a gift for me?” I asked with my voice rising as I got excited.

  “Ah, I see my sweet girl has a weakness for surprise gifts…this pleases me,” he said as he obviously liked the idea. It wasn’t exactly surprising as he also enjoyed spoiling me in my own time and even though his great wealth meant little to me, it did mean something to me when receiving gifts from the heart. Something he did often.

  “Only if t
hey are from you and not too expensive,” I told him and once again he roared with laughter and had to hold me still as I bounced on his lap.

  “Upon my word, I fear you are not real for it must surely be impossible for such a woman to exist…by the Gods it must be!” he shouted up at the night sky and I growled at him this time, making him laugh again.

  “And what do you mean by that, um?”

  “Simply that you are unlike any other I have ever met, for you have no ambitions of power by becoming queen and in your own words, doing so only for love, yes?” I nodded, knowing now where he was going with this.

  “You never shy away from danger but instead face it head on for those you love and wish to protect.”

  “Well yes but…” He cut me off and continued.

  “And now you speak as though the riches of the world mean nothing to you and for all you care, my treasury could be empty.” I grinned at him and said,

  “No, not empty, for the space could be filled with enough food to feed a city and a bag of rice goes a long way.” Hearing this he gave me a soft affectionate look as if I had touched him with my words.

  “What a sweet heart you have given me, I feel truly blessed for this combined with an intelligent mind and such a sweet tasting body, then if I found my treasury empty tomorrow, I would still consider myself the richest beings alive.”

  “Oh Arsaces,” I said putting my hand to his face and placing my forehead to his, so that I could whisper,

  “You are the only treasure I will ever need.” Then I kissed him.

  I don’t know how long we kissed but this time it was slow, soft and tender. I pulled back and then whispered gently,

  “I still want my gift though.” Once again joy bloomed within me as he looked at me first with wonder and then laughter quickly followed.