The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (134 page)

“Your blush only enhances your beauty and makes your creamy skin glow. You must have come from somewhere cold for you to be untouched by the sun, although your hair is the colour of
pure
gold...tell me, where are you from?” He leaned back to take me in better and wait
for his answer. I bit my lip,
not knowing what to say. I knew this was sur
e
ly a dream but I didn’t think in dreams you could experience such real sensations.

“Where am I?” I couldn’t resist the urge to ask. Draven shifted his weight to lean on his arm that made his bicep bulge and the leather strap strained around it. He wore nothing on his torso and as the covers covered his lower half for all I knew he could be as naked as I. He was stunning and I was glad to be the one waiting for an answer because I couldn’t speak for the beauty before me. It was like a Greek God had dropped down for a quickie.  His skin was a sun kissed glow and his hair was the night. Longer than I was used to but tied down his back, braided in
a
leather t
h
ong, causing his features to be all the more striking. His bone structure looked to have been carved by a master of the arts, with a stone jaw and deep set eyes that pierced through me, making my insides turn to mush.

“How is it
,
you do not know or is it because Heaven dropped you at my feet for me to claim
?
” He was closing the space between us and I automatically put my hand out to stop him. My palm remain
ed
positioned flush against his hard chest and it moved to the beat of his heart. He seemed to react to my touch and his breathing became heavy with his closed eyes.

“Please...” He interrupted my spoken thoughts by letting a low growl surface before grabbing my wr
ist from the hand that prevented him from
coming closer. He pulled me roughly towards him and reposition
ed
my arm around his shoulder as he shifted my weight backwards. He leaned down and I now found myself under his huge frame
that was
hovering above me.

“You were saying please?” He brushed his lips across my neck and down my collarbone. I shivered under him but it wasn’t from a chill. I could smell the warm night air surround us from every angle. The room we were in didn’t have walls as such but huge richly, ornate pillars arching up to the golden ceiling above. The room held carved wooden chests and seats the shape of half moons
on their side. Everything smelled
so rich, even the l
acquer that painted the wood it
s rich red colour and the blossoms from the gardens that must be below his open balcony. I could see the blanket of stars in the clearest night
’
s sky just beyond his impressive shoulders.

I could feel the covers moving down from me and I grabbed at them with my hands.

“Why do y
ou keep such perfection from me?
Are you selfish?” He teased making me swallow hard.

“I don’t understand why I’m here...Is it Lucius doing this?” I asked this to both of us but when Draven expressed his displeasure in another growl I sunk back further.

“I will not allow you to speak another man’s name in my bed! You are mine! N
o one else’s. What is Lucius’
hold over you
,
my Goddess?” He was tryi
ng to regain his calm but I shoo
k under him as he tensed his body above.

“He doesn’t! I mean...well...I don’t know...why am I here and not with the
‘
you
’
from my time?” My question confused him as he frowned down at me, looking even more severe than usual.

“What time is it that you speak of?” He was now holding all his weight up on his arms and
any normal man would have crump
led under the strain for so long. I couldn’t think here...I needed to move, to create some distance from this muscle cage he held me under. I decided quickly and turned using all my weight to one side until I knocked his arm out and rolled off the bed. My sudden movements caught him off guard and he fell back on his side as I made my escape. I still had the sheet around me and I got to my feet quickly pulling it tighter around my chest like I would have a towel.

“That was cruel
,
princess” He said full of humo
u
r.

“Don’t call me that, I am just a girl
.
” I said backing away from the bed w
h
ere he still lay. He rolled on his back and laughed heartily.

“Oh No! You are so much more than that! I am a King...did you know that? That will make you my Queen soon enough but f
or now you will be known as my Princess. No other man will
lay eyes on you, no other man will touch you
and no other man will
speak your name on their lips...but wait
, for
what is your name?” This question surged movement from him and before I knew what had happened he was stood up and before me. He wasn’t as naked as
I thought, he had material drap
ed around him like a long skirt tied to his waist by a thick leather belt studded in gold. His wide chest heaved
,
making his muscled six pack tense as he took his last few steps towards me. He was backing
me
up against one of
the pillars and I soon felt it
s carvings pressing into the curvature of my spine.

“This is just a dream
,
” I said aloud to myself
,
making him cock his head to one side. He placed his arms either side of me and leaned down to my ear.

“Then why not enjoy it?” He whispered seductively before kissing my neck. I moaned at the sensations it caused and when he felt my succumbing need he wrapped an arm around my waist to pull me roughly into him. I bent to him and molded myself
in
to his raptures. His lips searched out mine and he crushed against me forcing my mouth
to
open to him. It did...willingly. One strong hand worked its way up my neck, holding it there for a second in a demanding primal way, before travelling upwards to grasp a handful of my hair. There he steered my head to the side to gain better access to my lips. It was like being devoured by a passionate beast, his lips moving, grinding, sucking my own until my legs turned to liquid. He was holding me up to him and I gripped onto his back, digging my nails down his skin under the erotic onslaught I was enduring.

He only released me when he knew my need for air. I was panting in his arms as he kissed my hair line.

“Such passion that flows through your veins, how responsive you are to my touch...like you have felt it before?” He was looking back at me, taking in my face for his answers. It didn’t take him long to find them.

“You are mine from a different time aren’t you?” I simply nodded.

“Then I do not have long to keep you
.
” He said to himself. He nodded once before making up his mind and then took my hand in his.

“Then come, come and see the reason you are here
.
” He turned towards the open walls that were so symbolic to my current situation. Was this why I was here? My open walls to Draven’s mind. Was this still my sleep...my dream being controlled by another?

I let myself be walked to the edge of the balcony and I breathed in the warm air that made me feel so alive, like it was pure energy. He pulled me to stand before him and held my shoulders from behind. I gasped at the sight before me.

“It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen
,
” I said in a gasp. My hands were at my face holding in my utter overwhelmed surprise. A golden city stretched out before me as the night sky slowly gave way to the coming dawn. The sand coloured structures rolled down the hill from where we stood at all different shapes and sizes. A large turquoise dome was in the centre surrounded by high walls of ornate stone carved into petal points at the tops of arches. It took me
back to Draven’s home and the T
emple that lay at its core...its heart. It was rimmed with gold guild and smaller domes were dotted around within its walls. These must have been the smaller buildings where ancient priests lived.

“You like your new home princess?” He murmured in my ear before tilting my neck to one side to kiss the skin more easily.

“Is this....?” I didn’t finish as his mouth released the words
,
harder to believe from my own.

“This is Persia
!
” He ceased kissing me when I gasped.

“What is wrong?” My mouth hung open and no power could make me close it and take all of this in. How was I seeing this as though from
a
perfect, flawless memory. He held me tighter waiting for my answer, one I couldn’t find in this madness.

“I think I had better go home now
,
” I said as though being able to stop a video that was playing.

“Then you have found enough peace in my time?” The question made me close my hanging mouth and turn to face him. He ran a finger the length of my jaw and lifted my face up when he reached my chin.

“Then grant me with a kiss before he takes you back
.
” I closed my eyes as I let confusion seep over me. I felt his lips graze mine before lingering there long enough to allow a surge of lust to build. He crushed himself to me and kissed me until I felt as though floating in air. The smell of his skin
’
s musk changed and the air around me grew a few degrees cooler. His touch grew less firm and more like soothing fingertips trailing along my skin.

“Keira...Keira...Time to wake
,
my Princess
.
” Draven’s voice echoed in the dark and I realized I was still living in the shadows of my mind. I called out his name as I opened my eyes to find I was lying down in bed. This time it was one I was familiar with.

“I’m here Keira, no one will harm you
.
” I felt like saying “You said that before
,” b
ut didn’t. After all it wasn’t his fault Lucius had come for me. If I hadn’t been so stubborn then he would have never had the chance.

I saw Draven looking down at me,
his
face trying to mask the worry that lay there. I tried to sit up but Draven held me still.

“You need to rest more, your body is still weak from regenerating itself.”

“But the dream! I dreamt of you...but it wasn’t you now...it...it was...” I was babbling and sitting up despite his warnings. I had to tell him but he was making it difficult.

“Hush now, calm yourself. I know what you dreamt Keira
.
” He admitted
, as though
he was responsible, which hit me...

“You put it there!” I accused shifting to see him better.

“I did
.
” Was all he gave as an answer.

“But why...how?”

“Because you needed peace. I wanted to give that to you the only way I knew how. I took you back to that time with me and
gave you something further than
what
Lucius showed you. A time when
you would have been mine
,
before his interference. I saw how you worried about me in your dream and I want
ed
to make it as if you had never disappeared from my arms. I wanted to share with you my home....my first home
.
” Now I understood, where Lucius had used the past to take hold of me, to gain control...Draven had used it to ease my pain, to show me a part of his life before mine had begun. He wanted to share a part of himself with me to help me find the peace I had so desperately been searching for.

“Thank you
.
” I said before throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him like it h
ad been an age since we had been together. He was certainly taken back but soon his surprise
was replaced by eagerness.

“But wait!” I shouted half in his mouth
,
making him groan.
I pulled back and whipped off the
plain black top I had been dressed in. I even had a white cotton bra on but I wasn’t looking at that. No
,
I was searching my arms for new scars or pieces missing
from my elbows. All I found were the
old ones.

“The
y’
re fine!” I said as if it was another dream.

“Of course, I healed you Keira. The flesh and skin regenerated as though it never happened but the infection was harder to remove
.
” He looked away briefly as though remembering the sight of me screaming in agony beneath him.

“What infection?”

“The Demon presence he left behind
,
but Keira I do not want you to think about it anymore. It is finished and I won’t let anyone come that close again...it is over
.
” I couldn’t help it, I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him.