The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (51 page)

“Wohin?” (Means “where?” in German)

“Schulter” (Means shoulder in German) Ragnar said and nodded towards my neck which made me pull my sweater closer over the four deep scratches that had been burning since they were made.

Again
at this Draven growled a low groan of disapproval and it made me wish Ragnar would just leave to save himself.

“You are not
under
my rule to think for me!
Incompetent fool!
When I give an order I expect it to be obeyed. NOW GO and obey me Ragnarök
. I will deal with you later!
” At this my smooth skin was replaced with bumps and I pulled my legs up underneath me closer to my body. Ragnar admitted defeat and left after his usual
,

“Yes my Lord”.

Now wa
s the part I was dread
ing, time to face the music, time to face the Demon for…

Draven
and I
were finally alone.

Chapter 22

Who Wanted a
Normal Life A
nyway?

I was determined not to be the one to break the
silence first and thankfully I
wasn’t. After a small eternity of playing
‘
W
ho could stare the most?’
He finally looked away and my heart b
roke when it
was
in
disappointment
.

“Come here
!
” Was all he said in a controlled voice but I still didn’t move. This was Draven
’
s way of dealing with things, this was
due to
his high ranking and
now he was pulling rank with me.
He stood with his arms folded waiting for me to obey like all the rest
do
but I just couldn’t do it, this however he took in the wrong way…

“If I didn’t know any better I would say you fear me… is this so?” He raised an eyebrow when I didn’t answer him, so I folded my own arms and looked even more like
a spoilt child before answering,

“NO
!
” Was all I said before turning away from him but not before I caught sight of
a little
smug smile form
on his lips,
which he quickly discarded.

“Good
,
then prove it. Come here
!
”
Again with the orders! If I had been in my right mind then I would have done as he’d asked but I just couldn’t think straight. I didn’t have time or the comprehension for his dominance. I felt like I was drowning in a whirlwind of memories I didn’t want. I saw him stood there like some cloaked God ready to control
his
armies. Ordering the destruction of anyone that got in his way!

NO…no, I wanted to scream out at myself for even thinking it. I was just so confused, my mind was like a box of puzzle pieces that had bits missing. I was trying to convince myself that what I had seen in Draven was a necessity but there was still so much I didn’t yet know. He was waiting for me to say something and I decided to play the only card I had. I just couldn’t let him see how intimidated I was. I needed him to see that I was still his equal
here and not just another servant to obey.
   

“I don’t have to do what you command Draven, especially when
you refuse to let me go home
.
” I said in a weak and unconvincing voice, which made his arms unfold as
he walked over to his desk to lean upon it casually.

“I am not commanding you to do anything unreasonable, you are injured and I want to fix it. As for the going home, that I will not allow because I need to get to the bottom of all that has happened tonight…all that you have seen
.
” He rubbed his forehead with his fingers to express his feelings on the matter. He knew what I had seen and this had been his worst nightmare. I had seen the truth.

“I’m fine!” This was a lie as I could still feel the blood that had trickled down my back but I continued anyway.

“I don’t need your help, all I needed was for you to believe me and the fact that you didn’t
, well…it
speaks volumes
.
” This was also a lie as all I wanted was for him to scoop me up in his arms and comfort me. I had needed nothing but his help throughout my whole experience but when the time came, he had destroyed that need by proving himself the enemy behind my fear. I still couldn’t get out the thought of him killing that girl.

“Is that so… well in that case
,
I will have you taken to the hospital
immediately
,
because
let’s face facts,
I know how much you love it there
!
” He replied sarcastically and I could feel the tears start to rise. As soon as he saw the hurt in my face it looked like he
regretted
it instantly.

“That was cr
uel.
”
I said in a weak little voice to prove it but he knew this already
,
after all
,
he had said
it
for that purpose.

“Yes…Yes it was
...
but I think I made my point. You are in pain and unless you like the feeling, I suggest you come to me
.
” He was right, I was in pain but the pain of his coldness was far great
er
than any gash I had in my flesh.

“I think I will take the hospital
,
thank you
.
” I replied bitterly which made him laugh and not in a nice way.

“What…Injections, stiches and above all questions
?
” He nodded to my covered arms as if to spell out my fears.
I pulled my arms into my body as if to protect them in some way
,
which is where he found his answer.

“No
,
I thought not
.
”
H
e shook his head as if he was very tired of all of this and it made me do the same.

“I fear that my patience cannot take much more,
so for what I am to do
,
I apologise
.
”

“
Apologise for what?” I snapped back at his lack of compassion in his
‘
sorry
’
.

“For this
!” Both his hands
came out and I thought he was motioning for me to come to
wards
him again, of course it was only when the arm
chair I sat in
started to shoot
forwards towards
him
,
did I realise the reason behind it. It moved to
o quickly for me to move from
as it travelled across the room and before I knew it
,
he was towering above me, getting exactly what he wanted…total control. He could see me calculating my
next move and before I could move
from him he had me caught by the waist.

“Oh no you don’t! Just behave
!” H
e lifted me up and perched me on the desk before spreading my legs to step closer into me. This way I couldn’t go anywhere and even when I tried to push him away it felt like an impossible task. It took me back to when he had first kissed me
and I had tried to push him away before. Of course back then that had only been because of a guilty conscience, one that had been unjustified as he had me believe he was engaged to Celina. No
w
I was doing
it for very
different reasons and expressing myself
was very much a part of that. I was trying to express my unwillingness but when his hands circled both my wrists and held them still, it was the end of that.

“Keira be still
!” he barked at me and finally I
obeyed. He sighed
in
relief when I gave up and his eyes for the first time softened when they met mine. He let go of my wrists before finding my shoulder and when I cried out in pain he froze. I couldn’t see his face as I had closed my eyes to help stop the tears but I could feel his hands now gently removing my sweater. The feel of his touch on my bare skin had me coursing with a familiar feeling and I couldn’t help wanting his lips to find mine. Talk about mixed emotions!

I open my eyes finally to find him frowning (No changes there
!
) but
he wasn’t looking at
me, he was examining my torn
shoulder.
He didn’t ask like last time, he just grabbed a handful of material before tearing it from me. I was left with half a t shir
t and ha
lf a naked
top half, which also exposed the damage. I saw him shake his head before saying
,

“This isn’t good
.” A
t which
I wanted to reply
“Wel
l durr!” but I didn’t think it w
ould go down well
,
so I op
ted for
the silence route.

“What did this to you?” He asked through gritted teeth and I could see he was trying hard to keep his anger under control.

“A wall of hands grabbed me
!
” This made him swear out in another language and I wondered if I had just heard the F word in Latin?

“Draven
,
that isn’t going to help!” At this he rol
led his eyes and decided not to respond. He lightly pushed my hair back and carefully pulled the bits that had stuck to the bloody mess, making me wince as he put the red clumps to the other side of my neck. The
n
he started to get ready to do something as h
e slipped down my bra strap which
was in the way.

“Unfortunately this is going to hurt, try to relax
,
ok
?
” Relax! Was he joking? After what he just said, that’s as bad as climbing to the top of a mountain and telling some
one
afraid of heights not to look down!
I knew what he was going to do but I couldn’t understand why it would hurt. He had done this to me twice before and it never hurt, it actually felt kind of nice. Like funny tingles lighting up my blood
stream
.

“Ready?” H
e asked and when I nodded
,
I found out just wha
t pain he was talking about. He placed his four fingers at my back and traced the cuts made in my skin. As he moved, he fused my skin back together and the burning felt like someone else was behind him pouring salt and vinegar into them. I closed my eyes once again so that he couldn’t see the pain in them but I couldn’t help the screams that came, making it more than evident at how this was feeling. Luckily it didn’t last long and by
the time my breathing had got
heavy,
I was in his arms being held. Hi
s head was above mine and his
hand held on to the back of my head,
keeping me close to his body.

“Shhh…I know it hurts but it
’s
all over now
. Just breathe…that’s it
...
deep breaths
.
” He was trying to calm me down and with each new breath I took
,
I was starting to feel better.
All that was left was an itching where the new tissue had been formed (or so I guessed)
.
 
He could feel it to so he manoeuvred my head so that I could look up.

“Better?” He asked and I opened my eyes at the sound of his voice, only when doing so I wasn’t faced with the human Draven
,
I was now looking at the purple energy that flowed through his veins. His huge wings looked blacker than they did all the other times and when looking at them this close I could see
that
each feather coursed with the same energy.
He took note at where my eyes were staring and I saw them ruffle slig
htly as if he was uncomfortable with being studied.