The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (52 page)

“Does it bother you…seeing me like this?” His deep purple eyes searched for the truth in my own and I wondered if my face had given me away. This had been the first time he had ever asked me anything like this before and I felt sad that he thought it would have ever affected me
.
Even
after everything that I had seen, this was one of the things that never bothered me. Surprise yes
,
but not in a negative way.

“No
,
it doesn’t bother me but what does, is when you don’t trust me!”

“Here we go
.
” He said in a condescending tone and then moved backwards to give me space.
The air
that was created by his wings turning quickly
blew my hair back
.
I jumped down from the desk making him say “Careful
!
” But I ignored his remark and use
d
the desk for support rather than a seat. I crossed my arms acr
oss my chest once again and it
was only
then
when I notice
d
my near nakedness. I angrily pulled the rest of my top off and reached for my sweater from where Draven had thrown it but before I could get there he had it in his grasp and was handing it to me. I noticed the blood stains inside it and let out a groan but when I tried to put it
back
on
,
he stopped me.

“Wait…you need cleaning up first
!
” I was about to protest but he
was already close to my body again and
had
produced a bowl of water with
a soft wad of material. He
was
looking down at
me again
making my body start to yearn for his touch
and
when
his
hand
rested on my
good shoulder
I started to bite my lip at the feeling it created.  His other hand
was
soaking the cloth in the water
and
I had little option to do anything but remain still. I watched him ring out the cloth
with one strong fist
before placing it on my skin
,
making me shiver.

“Cold?”
He asked and
I just nodded
ma
king
him place a finger in the bowl and re-dampen the cloth before continuing cleaning my back. It was now warm.

“Thank you
.
” I whispered and he looked happy to receive it. We remained in silence until he was done and when his fingers left my now pink skin I wanted to pu
ll him back to me. He
stepped away
once again
and let me put the sweater back on
, with
out
looking at me.
I decided that
if we were going to have this ‘talk’
then I couldn’t
keep staring at him in his other
form
.

I closed my eyes and listened to the noises around me until I heard something to pinpoint my thoughts on. I heard footsteps not far from the door and a bird cry out into the night. I wondered if it could be Ava and then realised that I hadn’t seen her
since that night by the cabin.
This was all enough to chang
e Draven back to his human form as when I opened my eyes
again he was back.

“All normal again?” He had known what I had been doing and for some reason I
felt guilty but when he laughed at my frowning face I let it go.

“So what now
?
” I said just to fill the silence that he seemed content with.

“Why don’t you tell me how
this all started. What on this E
arth
’s plane poss
essed
you to find your way down to my
Temple?
” The hairs on my neck stood on end at the sound of the demanding Draven that had
found his way
crashing
back.

“Oh
,
so you finally believe me now
?
”

“I might if you tell me what actually happened but until then I will try to reserve my judgement!” Grrr! This made me so mad that I could have screamed at him, which is precisely what I did.

“What horse shit! Your
judgement
?
” I’m not some bloody servant of yours that is about to be punished for not serving drinks properly or that poor girl down there that you murdered!” This last part certainly got his attention al
l
ri
ght, I thought he would burst into flames
with anger.

“You know nothing about that “GIRL” you seem to think of as so innocent!”
He was trying to control his temper by tensing his muscles and I could start to see his veins bulging along his arms.

“I know what I saw!”

“Oh and what was that, me murdering an innocent human girl
as some kind of sacrifice to the Devil
himself?
” He let out a
roar like laugh that chilled me to the core.

“Don’t mock me! Do you have any idea what I have been through tonight
,
you…you
,
”

“What?
”

“Jack arse!” At this he let out
a
sigh before holding the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

“Is that why you thought I was Lucius?”

“Yes. I didn’t think it was possible for you to be even involved in something like that
,
let alone be in control of it
.
” This must have hurt because he dropped his hand to his side and looked at me in disbelief.

“Right… Well if that is the case
,
why NOW are you so intent on believing me some leader of an evil cult that murders young girls, for what…pleasure
?
”

“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 ‘
Dangerou
s 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. S
he 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 l
ying 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 t
he 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 chanc
e of me finding that…that place?
” I flung my arms up to emphasi
s
e
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?
” O
k
,
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 m
e
,
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 seem
ed
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 w
ere 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 ch
oose to have one of my most faith
ful 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.