The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga)

by Hudson, Stephanie

  “And what else am I supposed to believe? I saw it all with my own eyes and until the bitter end I would have never thought it was you behind the blade.” At this he was in front of my face in less than a second and he placed a finger over my mouth before the gasp could escape it.

  “Well it was me behind the blade Keira, but for good reasons, ones I fear you won’t understand. And just to clarify, that ‘girl’ was anything but the good and pure human you so wrongly believe but she was however a very dangerous Angel!” He let that thought stew in my mind for a while before continuing. He gave me space as the words ‘Dangerous Angel’ sank in.

  “But she…she was crying, she begged for me to save her...I...” I wasn’t only saying this for Draven’s sake. I needed to reassure myself with what happened.

  “You were played Keira. She used you… she wanted you to help her escape and if she had succeeded, she would have then killed you. I am just thankful she couldn’t access your mind. Your gift, although extremely frustrating, it does however keep you safe. Although in this case, if my powers had worked on you like I had hoped, then you would still be in my bed safely asleep and blissfully unaware of what happened tonight.”

  “You mean what you did!” I corrected but again this didn’t go down well and his reaction made him throw a chair across the room turning it into mere splinters. I let out a scream but he just shouted out.

  “I MEAN WHAT I HAD TO DO!” As soon as he saw the fear in my eyes grow he calmed and his hand flew out to the remains of the chair, making it fuse back together so that it looked like it did the day it was made.

  “I’m sorry.” He said with exasperation before continuing,

  “I didn’t mean to frighten you, but Keira you must understand, that what happened tonight was never anything I ever would have wanted you to lay witness to.”

  “Oh and lying to me is so much healthier?”

  “In this case, yes it would have been.” He looked at my shoulder to make his point but I just shrugged.

  “So that is why I was so tired in the car, you were controlling me?”

  “Yes and given the circumstances, was that so bad?” I knew the answer to this wasn’t the one I would give. He was right in so many ways, but that didn’t make it any less moral.

  “What, taking away my free will…mmm let me think…YES, I might find a problem with that! And anyway, if you knew what you would be doing tonight then why even have me come with you? Why not let me stay at home where there would be absolutely no chance of me finding that…that place?” I flung my arms up to emphasise my point.

  “Keira, when will you understand it is simply not safe for me to leave you alone, a few hours yes but a whole night?” At this he shook his head like he wouldn’t even contemplate the idea.

  “Well it wasn’t exactly safe me being here, now was it?” At this he growled and I rolled my eyes at him.

  “Yes, well if Ragnar had done his job like I ordered, then none of this would have happened.” Now this got my back up!

  “Oh no, don’t you dare blame him, this was my doing and mine alone. I will not have you scorning him anymore than you already have done…he had his reasons for not standing outside my door all night!” At this Draven looked shocked at my concern for my new colossal friend.

  “It wasn’t long ago that you were singing a very different tune. Is there something I should know?”

  “God, could you be any more paranoid?” Ok, so when I replayed that back in my mind I now realised why he was finding it amusing. For one he was counted as a kind of God and the other is that since he had first met me, I had been nothing but trouble! First, with my sicko stalker and now with Lucius after me, who could really blame him.

  I know right about now would have been the perfect time to tell him about my nightmares and that I seemed to have a new Demon, vampire stalker and I’m pretty sure that later on I will regret not doing so but I had my reasons. If Draven was like this over just one incident that didn’t even include Lucius then I couldn’t bear to think how bad he would be if he knew just how many times I had been ‘visited’. He would have me locked up in a bloody tower just to be safe! I would not only have Ragnar as my bodyguard but a whole bloody invisible fleet! An army outside my door to escort me to college every day. Ok, so it might come in handy in history class, considering most would have been around when major historical events were taking place but I’m pretty sure that would still class as cheating and not research!

  “What I meant was that I found out about his history. Draven, how could you do that to him?” Note to self, stop pissing off Demon boyfriend! At this he looked like he would soon turn purple again but when he closed his eyes to gain control, he wasn’t the only one taking deep breaths.

  “Listen to me carefully Keira, as I will only say this once. What I order my people to do is my business and mine alone. If I choose to have one of my most faithful subjects to take care of you when I cannot, then I would rather that a bond be formed as opposed to an indifference!”

  “But…”

  “BUT NOTHING! I will not have this conversation with you, do you understand? There are more important issues to discuss than for you to be telling me how I should be conducting my business.” At this I gave in. What was left for me to say to this anger fuelled king? He was right anyway. What right did I have to tell him how to run his kingdom? He had saved my life and kept me safe, by using his own judgement and here I was questioning that! I was a fool.

  “I’m sorry, you’re right, I shouldn’t question your methods or stick my views into your business. I should just go. You can have Ragnar take me back.” I started to walk towards the door and away from him, mainly so that he couldn’t see the tears that rolled down my already salty cheeks. I felt one hand being pulled back behind me softly and with a small tug he turned me round to face him. I couldn’t look at him and as a result my tears fell from my tired eyes, landing at his feet. His hand came to my chin and lifted it up so that I couldn’t continue to be a coward and face him. I met soft eyes as the last shreds of temper melted away at seeing me cry.

  “Oh Keira!” He whispered as both his hands came to my face to wipe all my tears away.

  “I never wanted to put you through this. I never wanted what I am, to affect you this way. You spoke of a normal life and now I realise that this is something I can never give you. It pains me to see that I am the cause of this!” He lifted his tear soaked hands to his face and looked down at them. He looked disgusted as he turned away from me and I was near to crying until I couldn’t breathe in fear of what was to come. Was this the end? After all I had endured, after all we had been through…it couldn’t be. I wouldn’t allow it!

  “What are…are you saying?” I spoke between sobs but even at the sound he didn’t look at me.

  “I will have Ragnar take you home.” Was all he said and as a result I was close to crumbling to the floor.

  “NO, no, no! You can’t do this to me. I was stupid and I wasn’t thinking! I see that now but please…you can’t… you just can’t!” I let my body fall to my knees and my devastated head followed. I cried even more when I felt his hand on my bowed head and I realised he was knelt on one knee in front of me.

  “What Keira, tell me, what don’t you want me to do?” His desperate voice asked with as much pain as my tears were made of.

  “Leave me…I don’t want you to leave me!” And there we had it...I had finally broke. After a night from hell I lost it. I had zero control left and Draven knew it as I started to cry it all out. He scooped me up into his arms and I buried my head into his chest letting my tears invade his soft skin over hard muscle. I gripped my hands tightly around his neck and never wanted to let go. I didn’t know where he was taking me but my tears wouldn’t run dry at the possibility that it was going to be somewhere without him. Then he spoke and relit my heart.

  “Never! I will never leave you, do you hear me. Not until the day you no longer want me. Not until the day you stamp on my heart and s
et it on fire. Not until I hear you say that your love for me has been replaced with hate!” He pulled me to him tighter to prove this before releasing me on the bed but he didn’t leave me. I felt his body get as close as he could to my own before making the covers devour our bodies in a blanket of secure warmth.

  “Rest now, we can resolve this in the light of day.” I didn’t say another word as I rested my emotional body and intertwined it with the man I loved and as if by hearing my thoughts the last thing I heard before crying myself to sleep, were the same thoughts from him….

  “I love you.”

  Chapter 23

  Calm After the Storm.

  I wasn’t sure if I had just had the worst night of witnessing nightmares in real life or whether it was just in my dreams. My thoughts felt like they were covered in a deep morning fog and the heavier the clouds, the more I seemed to be lost in the darkness of my mind.

  I could feel something comforting on my back. It was a circling motion but when I turned round I could see nothing there. I started searching for anything, listening, needing something that I couldn’t place. I was walking through a misty white blanket of space. Then I heard it! My name was being spoken…no, not spoken but called.

  I began to walk without seeing. I was calling out with no voice. I smiled when I recognised the voice and thanks to my reaction the voice got deeper, stronger and I knew he was nearby. Draven was searching for me also and the thought made me break out into a run. My legs pushed harder but after only minutes his voice started to fade and I pushed my body even farther. It was almost as if I was chasing him and although I was shouting out, there was no voice that followed the feeling.

  Finally I stopped and stood breathless and breaking. His name escaped from my lips and for the first time I heard it being said. I hung my head down in disappointment. Then my heart flipped over as I felt a hand behind me on my shoulder and Draven’s voice whispered in my ear,

  “Wake up Keira!” It was smooth like drizzled cream over strawberries and this thought had me licking my rough lips. The feel of my tongue going over cracked skin made the fog start to clear and when I could see again, I knew exactly where I was. I was lying in Draven’s bed sprawled out like a star fish. He was lucky his bed was enormous and could probably fit a baseball team in it or he would be teetering on the edge.

  I shifted around and moaned as I usually do in the morning. My limbs felt like jelly but my shoulder felt great. I now knew the reason I could feel a motion on my skin in my sleepy state. Draven was making circles with his fingertips over where I was hurt last night. It didn’t take me long to realise I was naked and my hair was loose and pushed to one side. Before looking at him I raised my head and looked over the edge of the bed. I saw my clothes lying there in a heap where Draven had obviously discarded them. I felt him laugh next to me before speaking.

  “You didn’t need them.” His voice was back to the usual ‘self confident’ Draven I was used to and when I looked round to face him, I saw not only what his voice told me, but that it was now calm waters again. He was propped up on one elbow staring at me. He looked like he had been awake for hours but he also looked bloody gorgeous! He could have been straight out of bed and done a photo shoot for the sexiest man of the year! This had me turning red as a boiled beetroot and fearing what my own appearance looked like. His hand went to my cheek and his lips followed but then after a frown he kissed my forehead lightly.

  “I love it when you blush. However these lips need work…Keira, what did you do to them last night?” His fingers went to the problem in question and he ran his thumb over them.

  “I guess…” I had to clear my throat before continuing, as thanks to the crying mess I was last night, well it had left me sounding like I had swallowed not only a frog, but a toad, lily pad… and hell, any other pond life to go with it!

  “I guess I gave them a rough time.” He laughed and it sounded like a symphony to my ears.

  “More like a massacre! Let me fix them.” But before he could touch them again I had moved away making him growl. I remembered what it felt like last night and I thought after that, I would prefer to heal the normal way. He read my mind of course.

  “It won’t hurt, not this time.” When I didn’t come back to him, he held one of his hands out like he was offering a peace agreement.

  “Trust me…please.” After asking me like that, I think I would have followed him off a cliff…oh no wait we had already done that once. I was going to have to start thinking up new analogies, ones we couldn’t possibly do together, ones like ‘I would have gone naked parachuting with him’ because let’s face it why would he need a parachute, he did have wings!

  I moved back into him and when he pushed me gently on my back I closed my eyes. I felt him lean over me and when he placed his hand over my mouth I couldn’t stop them from trembling.

  “Trust me.” He said again. Then when warmth started coming from his skin they stopped trembling and instead, I was filled with a tingling that made them want to be kissed. It felt like he was generating little lightning bolts from his fingertips, creating a storm on my lips and soon he could feel them smile under his hand. It only took seconds and as usual, when he was finished he asked,

  “Better?”

  I still kept my eyes closed for the moment as I replayed the horrible night’s events back through my tired mind. I felt like Alice that had just fallen down the rabbit hole and had just woken up to find herself under the tree. What did she think, what did she do? Did she just get up and go home to carry on with her daily routine or did she have to go to therapy for the rest of her life? See these are things they don’t tell you in fairy tales…the aftermath!

  Draven could obviously tell that I needed some time here, so he let me carry on with my mental whirlwind without saying a word. However this didn’t mean that he didn’t do anything and the feel of his touch on the side of my face was somewhat distracting. I wanted to put everything that had happened last night behind me so badly, that it felt tight in my chest with every breath I took. But I couldn’t! I knew I could never just pretend it hadn’t happened or even worse …that it didn’t even matter. I needed explanations. I needed reasons, whys and hows. But my fear was…would Draven understand this need?

  “Yes, he would!” Draven’s voice broke up my thoughts and now created new ones. He could hear my thoughts because through the turmoil in my mind, he had gained access while my guard had been down. I opened my eyes to find him back in his original position, propped up on one elbow and staring intensely at me.

  “I know you need answers Keira. I was fully expecting to find you with a fragile mind and a worried heart this morning and I am fully prepared to explain everything you want to know. Last night I regret not taking the advice of not a servant but an old friend. Ragnar was right. He could see, where I had been blind. He knew how fragile you were and was looking out for your best interests. I, on the other hand, just wanted answers and someone to blame…for this I am greatly sorry. I realised in the end, but I fear it was too late. Will you ever forgive me?”

  I listened in silence and with a blank expression as I had never heard Draven not only sound so sorry but so sincere with it too. I was a bit blown away by it all but it didn’t take me long to follow with my answer.

  “Shut up and kiss me!” This he took as a good thing because the kiss was one of the most passionate I have ever received. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any more intense….well it did! The fact that we couldn’t follow it through with mind blowing sex was a bit disappointing but I didn’t know whether this played a factor to how great the kiss was.

  Draven had always excelled in the field of kissing, touching, taking my breath away, well you get the picture. But this time his kiss made me feel like I was a teenager again. Heart pounding in chest, crazy new feelings you couldn’t understand and usually down below. His hands explored my face, neck, back until he finished by holding me so tight to his body that I felt like we were one entity. Once it
finished and he moved back to see my face, he was met by a very different Keira. I couldn’t keep the daft grin off my lips and the sparkle out of my eyes. I was, to say the least, very, very happy again.

  He moved his head back further to take in my full expression and his features turned into confusion.

  “What is it?” He asked me in a comical little tone and I guessed that I must have been staring at him as if we had only just met. As though this was a whole new side of Draven that I hadn’t yet encountered….that of course being the sorry side.

  “Nothing…it’s nothing.” I tried to pass it off as what I said it was and I decided to focus all my energy into rebuilding my mental wall. It didn’t take me as long as usual as something in me just seemed to click. I didn’t need to strain my hearing on other noises or concentrate on what they were. Maybe I was growing stronger? The more I was around Draven the more adaptable I became. Surly that crazy stuff I had witnessed last night should have sent me over the edge?

  I could feel Draven waiting for me to speak but I was too busy running through all the important questions I needed to ask him. This morning didn’t change things just because his frowning face had been replaced by one of sorrow. I still needed to be in the know. He couldn’t shut this all away as being his business as he had done last night.

  I moved a little further away from him and he shook his head slightly to show his disapproval. However I didn’t give in and neither did he make any attempt to pull me back. This time I was glad of it. I had to be stern. I had to get to the bottom of last night so that we could move on from it. I reached over the bed and grabbed my zip up sweater to put on. Ok, so I was making a bit of a statement but it felt like the only control I had, even if it was the most insignificant. I could feel his eyes searching for reasons in my actions but I gave him none. Once comfortable and semi dressed, I pulled the covers around my naked bottom half and sat up to face him.