The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (103 page)

“And why is that?!” I was a little miffed at the idea of him getting his own way at my expense.

“Because
, i
f you had
drank
any more
,
then I would be carryin
g a
passed out Keira instead of a pissed off one
.
” He tried to control his smirk but was doing a lousy job at it.  

It wasn’t until I look
ed
aw
ay from him that I realised
I knew where we were.
It was the main hallway that le
d down to his room door that was now facing us. I ha
d to smile at the sight of ‘our’ bed
chamber, making me forget that I was a little mad at him.

“Home
,
” I said under my breath
,
but of course he heard it, because he lifted the whole of my body up to his face. I really don’t know how he did it cons
idering he had been holding me
now for quite some time. Talk about superhuman powers or what! He leaned his head to my face and said
,

“Yes
,
you are
.
” His voice was covered with happy emotions as he said this. He walked us inside and placed me gently down on the couch as though I was made of fine china. Of course I laughed out loud when he handed me a steaming, hot mug.

“I think you need this
.
” He said
,
smirking down at me. I looked down to see the thick dark liquid and one smell had me wrinkling my nose as the bitter taste of coffee invaded my nostrils. Draven frowned at me.

“Keira it will help sober you up
.
” He tried to reason with me but there was nothing he could say to get me
to
drink that horrible stuff!

“I think being sick helped with that thanks. But I wouldn’t say no to a nice cuppa?” He rolled his eyes at me.

“I thought that classified as a “Cuppa”” He tried to mimic my accent but I don’t think the mild
Liverpudlian
accent was his forte!

“Oh no, see a Cuppa means a cup of tea, see I’m somewhat of an expert on this
.
”

“Oh really, then please educated me so that I never make such a grave mistake again
.
” He moved to sit next to me and instead of lounging out I moved my legs to give him room. I actually got excited about teaching him something, even if it was all just playful banter. I mean I know I was drunk but I hadn’t completely lost all my marbles!

“Well ok,
but you have to understand... ‘We’,
as in the English people....well, we take drinking tea as a very serious business. See it can’t be any old shit!” At this he laughed at me, which I relished.

“No
,
but of course
.
” He said as if obviously he was in agreement.

“See
, some of the posh
er l
ot of us like something called ‘Twinning’s Breakfast Tea’ b
ut this is not your everyday stuff, more like the stuff you get out when you’re rich Aunt comes to stay, and your mother wants to impress your father
’
s sister
.
” I explained all of this like Draven understood which I doubted...I mean it’s not like he had anyone in his family richer than himself...If anything he was the rich Aunt!

“Ok, so I prefer something called PG tips which has a monkey and a comedian do the adverts or there’s a brand called Tetley
and they have little funny characters that I used to collect as a child with little teapots and...” I took one look at Draven’s face to find him looking highly entertained at my drunken ramblings that I blushed before continuing,

“Anyway that’s not important...where was I...Oh yeah, well
either one
brand
is nice but you can’t buy the stuff here, so I get my mum to send me a monthly supply.... you still with me?” I asked raising my eyebrow and looking to the side. I knew I was babbling on a bit so I wasn’t surprised to find Draven sat there wi
th a
half hidden smile. Half hidden because he had one hand covering his chin. Like this
,
he reminded me of some sexy professor! At this I slapped my forehead as I remembered one vital bit of information...He could hear me!

“Should I purchase some glasses, tweed jacket and a school room for this fantasy of yours?”

“Draven! You need to stop doing that! It’s not fair t
o pry i
n
to
my secret thoughts, not when I can’t hear yours anyway
.
” I said pushing him but he just grabbed my chin to pull me in for a
fierce
kiss, which I stopped.

“Keira
!
” He pleaded
,
but I had my reasons and considering I had not long ago puked up there wasn’t a chance I was letting that happen.

“You have to try and control yourself
,
” I warned making him growl in return.

“
But I don’t want to, in fact I want to strip you naked and bathe in your scent
.
”
  At hearing this I shouted out in shock. Because
,
of course
,
he never actually spoke the words, I just heard them being said in his mind...he was letting me in.

“I heard you!”

“And did you like what you heard?” He asked like a true bad arse.

“ Maybe. Ok yes but I still want my cup of tea...besides this is cold now
,
” I said handing him the mug I still had hold of.

“We can’t have that now
,
can we
?
”  He then reached across and dipped his finger in the liquid. I watched over the brim like a child would have. I couldn’t keep the grin from my lips when the liquid started to move round before turning a lighter shade of brown. Once he’d finished he pulled his finger out and popped into his mouth and sucked it clean. I looked on like it was the sexiest thing I had ever seen.

“Umm... I still have to say I prefer coffee
.
”

“That’s because you’re not English. Which makes me wonder what are you?”

“I’m a Demon/ Angel half breed K
ing of the supernatural world
.” He said it as though
he had been doing everyday of his life but then again I couldn’t really see Draven saying this to himself every morning in front of the mirror. This thought once again had him laughing. 

“I’m Persian
!
” He then
said proudly as if
it was common knowledge.

“Oh...so no tea then?” I said taking the first sip of my very own bee’s nectar. 

“So is that like the Prince of Persia?” I continued but he just stared back at me blankly.

“Sorry?” He obviously didn’t understand the joke. Not a game fan clearly.

“It’s a video game
.
” Once again he was frowning.

“There is a game people play called this?”

“Yeah, us people play stuff like that. It was cool but I was hopeless...I kept dying, falling off walls and such but my ex was really good at it
.
” As soon as I mentioned a
n
ex I realised my flaw. Note to self, never mention the ex’s and what’s more never praise them! Draven’s eyes turned darker and his frown made them look lost in a deeper rage.

“Oh come on don’t go all Demonic
on me, it’s not like you ever have to meet them like I do!”

“Lucky for them
.
” He said coldly and when he saw my face, only then did he start to unclench his fists. We sat in silence for a bit while I finished my tea because in truth I didn’t know what to say next. It seemed everything out of my mouth was just going to anger him or seem very childish in his ancient eyes.

“That’s not true, I love to hear about what your life was like before I met you. It fascinates me to hear you speak. But feel free to leave out past lovers won’t you.”

“Deal. What do you want to know?” I said turning more to face him after placing my empty mug on the floor.

“What was your childhood like, was it a happy one?” I laughed at the thought of me as a child, all tomboy and scraped knees. Messy, wild, golden hair that grew more upwards than it did downwards. Dirty finger nails from digging worms in the garden and racing snails up my mum’s clean windows. Running into the wooded area near our house just after it rained because I loved the smell of wet earth and dripping leaves. Climbing trees and crying one day when my favourite one was ripped from the ground to make way for a new development of houses.

Making marble runs and our own board games out of crisp boxes, finished toilet rolls and sticky tape with my sister.  Spending time with my best friend on the school wall talking about boys we fancied. Going to the school disco and having my firs
t real kiss by the Maths room,
from a boy I fell hard for..... Yes... apart from seeing Demons and Angels walking the earth with me, yes it was a happy one indeed. Of course I didn’t need to voice my answer, I had just shown him everything by accessing my own memories.

“And yet seeing my kind never prevented you from finding such happiness, how is that?” He spoke so softly as he ran his fingers along my jaw line and up to my cheek.

“I don’t know...I guess I just decided that it was better to live with it than not living at all
.
”

“Good answer
.
” He said this but he still looked sad for my early experiences with his kind. 

“Do you wish you’d had a childhood?” I asked not meeting his eyes.

“It’s hard to wish for something you don’t fully understand. In my position it is not practical to be a boy with power. Innocence is not a wise virtue to hold in my world. I had to be strong from the beginning just as I have to remain so now but...” He hooked my chin up so that he could see my eyes before he continued. 

“But?” I asked shyly.

“But being here with you is like being the child I never had the chance to be. Here with you is my chance to feel a happiness I have never felt before. I have never had moments like this Keira. I have never had someone to speak
like this to, stories to tell and t
o hear in
re
turn...It is all so new to me and yet I find that I could be happy to do it for all eternity and the rest of my days!”

“Oh trust me, you would get tired of hearing my voice!” I joked and although he laughed it was for a different reason.

“That
is impossible. I could listen
to you until my ears bled. I especially like this new
,
no bounds Keira that speaks freely and full of an adorable Northern English accent, thanks to a little...
well a lot of, what is it usually called...liquid courage
.”

“You just like that because you can hear my thoughts
.
” Again I was making him laugh.

“Yes well
,
that too. Have I told you lately how much I love you
?
” He said pulling me closer until my head tucked under his chin.

“Even when I throw up over your balcony and talk drunkenly about tea and video games?”

“But of course! And what is it with that balcony that makes you want to throw up all the time
?
” He was making fun of me and it was working as my cheeks went cherry colour.

“Umm
,
that blush of yours could warm any man’s blood to boiling point.” This wasn’t an exaggeration as it didn’t take long before I could feel his blood boiling for myself...down below that was.
So much so that I had to shift
myself to one side so as to give him more room down there.

“Can I ask you a question?” When I said this he lower
ed his head and kissed me on
my forehead after smoothing some of my hair back.

“Anything
.
”

“You might not like talking about it
.
” I warned and this is when he moved back to look at me.

“I will answer your questions even if I don’t want to
.
” He promised making me grin.

“It’s about what happened to me today
.
” I said
,
making his jaw tense at the subject. I think he was hoping that this afternoon was just going to evaporate into nothing and not have chance to make a memory.

“One can only hope.” He
said bitterly before continuing,

“What is it you would like to know?”