The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (95 page)

“She will do what is good for her. She may fight me on it but she will come around. I wi
ll take her somewhere safe so
that no bounty
hunter
will find her. I will NOT allow what happened today to happen again! She was so close to breaking, so fragile that I fear the damage done is beyond repair. I am going to lose her if she keeps seeing this side of
me...the fear in her eyes
,
brother...” At this I did open my eyes only to see Draven
sat down with his head in his hands. I wanted to shout out to him but I knew there was more for me to hear.

“Dom, the girl loves you and that fear
,
you mistake for fear of loss. She will not leave you,
if anything I think she fears
yo
u leaving her.” Vincent must have
gained a great deal of information from my mind, more than Drave
n had, rather that or he was a hell
of a guesser!

“
I never would, not unless it was to save her life! I tried to leave her alone in the beginning and look where that got me! I became a s
hell
of myself and only when I have her do I become whole! I can’t let her go, I won’t!” He was wo
rking himself up and it was almost
unbearable to hear.

I couldn’t stand to have Draven feeling so desperate,
so lost
in feeling
s that
he wasn’t alone in. I
,
too
,
felt like I would lose him if my situation didn’t get better. I almost wished that he could have taken me away...away from anyone that wanted to hurt me, anyone that wanted to separate us. But I couldn’t do it...his sibling
s
were right, I still had a life of my own to live. I couldn’t just walk away from it all...not again. I had Libby and Frank, I had a little niece or nephew on the way that I didn’t want to miss out on. NO, I would have to stay and fight! I would have to rise up above it all and take each knock
as it came
...I would get back up and stand up for what I believed in. And hopefully I would have Draven by my side to catch me. 

“What am I to do if I can’t e
ven protect her here in my home?
They were so close to taking her...
too close. If Leivic hadn’t
seen her leaving
,
then she might have been lost. It would have been too late!”

“What was she thinking, going outside by herself? Was she being controlled?” Sophia asked
,
but Vincent was the one to answer her.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself...I believe she has been awake now for some
time
?
” His voice held amusement and when I knew I had been busted I opened my eyes fully to see everyone staring at me. I was on Draven’s bed wrapped up in a warm blanket with my wet clothes now missing. They had been replaced by soft cotton pyjamas in navy blue. I had never seen them before. My hair had been plaited to one side
, I guess thanks to Sophia’s nim
ble hands
,
and her smile told me I had guessed right.

Draven stood up and pushed the hair back that had fallen forward from looking down at his hands. Vincent was standing amused
,
with arms folded and Sophia stood in between them making her tiny frame look even smaller next to her brother
’s larger ones
. The staring silence was starting to make me feel uncomfortable, so I shifted in the bed into a sitting up position. This was Draven’s cue to step towards me.

“I think
Keira
and I
need some time alone
.
” I don’t know why
,
but the way he said this made me gulp. The other two left without saying a word. Draven came to the bedside very slowly, almost like he was expecting me to scream at any sudden movements.

“It’s alright, I’m not going to freak out
.
” I tried to give him a genuine smile but I’m not sure it fully made it.

“I would not blame you if you did
.
” He sounded like his voice would crack, being pushed to breaking po
int. He knelt
down on one of the steps next to the bed and leaned forward so that our faces were level. It reminded me of how you would usually
approach
a child.

“Well
,
I’m not going to, I think I did enough of that earlier
.
” Draven didn’t look convinced with my brave little act and was still waiting for me to crumble next to him.

“Keira
.
” He said my name edged with doubt and riddled with worry.

“I’m fine
,
” I said looking away from his intense glare that was trying to pry secrets from my soul.

“You are anything but. What you have seen...all you have witnessed...It is more than any of your kind can endure. So to say that you are
fine
is not only doubtful but also unbelievable!” He placed his palm round my cheek to bring my face back around to his view, but upon his touching me he found my damp skin there.

“Is this what you call fine?”  I didn’t answer his question but bit my lip instead. Wh
at did he want me to say? NO I
wasn’t bloody fine! I was just nearly kidnapped an
d then watched my boyfriend
rip a van to pieces before turning on the people behind it all. Then to find that it was all down to a bounty on my head that wasn’t just going to get old and make people forget about the whole thing!....Umm no
,
I don’t think I was fine
,
but it’s not like I was about to give up on life for it all either! 

“That’s more like it! For a minute there you had me worried!” Draven said
,
shocking me enough that my mouth opened to say
,

“E
xcuse me?” I mean he had obviously just read my mind but was all of what I just thought a good thing?

“Keira, und
erstand me. If you hadn’t been a
ffected, then that would have made you numb and that w
orries me more than having you ‘Freak out’ as you put it
. You know more than most
,
that to bury deep feelings, no matter how horrific, is not the way to deal with them. You first have to face them before you can truly let them go or they will remain with you and eat away at you until they’ve consumed every ounce of you!”

“You sound like a man of experience from this type of thing?” I asked finding it hard to believe.

“Keira
,
I have many regrets in my long everlasting life. I have sent soul after soul back to where they will most certainly be condemned, over and over again until it soon became second nature to me but that does not mean I do not feel remorse. Of course some deserve it more than most but if I felt nothing then who would I be? Where would be
my
balance? Good does not exist without the evil and right does not hold weight without knowing the wrong.”

“So what you
’
r
e
saying is to feel something, even pain, is better than to feel nothing, even if the pain is spared
?
” I knew what he said made sense and I was taken back to the sight of Draven saying a prayer after sending Agnomen to face his eternal judgement.

“For a being to feel nothing and live in this world with no emotions, well that would be a frightenin
g thing indeed. Do you not agree
?” I nodded in agreement.

“Keira
,
I
want you to do something for me.
” Draven said this without any tones of authority but it did not lack a certainty that he would get his way.

“What is it?” I asked nervously.

“I want you to come away with me. Somewhere I am sure to keep you safe
.
” He asked me so seductively it was hard not to give in to him for anything he asked of me. But luckily I knew Draven well and all of his tactics. I pulled away from him putting space between us.

“NO, I am not running away!” He grabbed out to me to pull me back to him but I moved quicker for once. This made him get on the bed to my level. Here, in one quick motion, he pulled me under him and held me trapped.

“You would not be running away, do not view it like that
.
”

“Then how should I view it? It is what it is!” I said stubbornly.

“It would be both of us going somewhere together where we could be alone, alone from everything and
everyone who
wants to take you away from me.” He looked like he was close to begging me but I remained firm.

“So we will
both
be running away
?
”

“Keira
,
I will not allow my pride to be my undoing! If that is what you want to see it as, then I will not stop you
,
but my love for you runs far deeper than my pride ever will!” He was getting angry but I think it was mainly aimed at himself.

“I won’t leave Draven, I did that once before and although it caused me to find you, I don’t want me leaving here to be fo
r the same reason.
”

“And that reason is
?”

“Fear
!
” I said the answer as simple as that. It was always for fear, it always had been. It can be labelled as a new start, starting fresh, findi
ng myself but all the while it wa
s just down to a simple fear. A fear so strong it can change the course of your life. The first time it turned out to be for the better but next time? What the outcome could be wasn’t worth exploring. As far as I was concerned, life with Draven couldn’t get any better.

Ok
,
so maybe being with him and not being hunted would be good, but what was the guarantee that evil wouldn’t just find us again. I couldn’t just leave Libby and the life growing inside of her.
Frank and my new friends who ac
ce
pted me even though they all kne
w something abo
ut me wa
sn’t quite right. That un-blinding faith in me that the ones I loved had in me was something I couldn’t walk away from. I had to stay...I just hoped Draven would stay with me.

“Then let
it
be for love not fear.” He tried one last time and held my face still when I started to shake my head.

“Are you saying that if I loved you I would go with you?” This he didn’t answer but he didn’t need to.

“I could say the same.
I could say “If you loved me, then you would stay with me
here
, because you know how much it means to me
.
” But I don’t need to do that because I know you love me and I know you will stay with me...
here
.
” He lowered his head in defeat.  He let out a breath showing signs of his lost battle and his exhaustion from it.

“And if I took you by force...I take it you
would never forgive me for that?
”
He asked bitterly.

“Draven!”

“I thought as much. Right,
the
n an even more paranoid boyfriend it is then!” He said while rollin
g off me and I knew he was acting
spoilt from not getting his own way.

“There is no reason to over react Draven
.
”

“You know
,
it’s a shame, I think you would have made such a sexy little prisoner
.
” He teased and then before I could make a comeback he shut me up by kissing me so passionately I forgot everything we were talking about. We were starting to get carried away, which was fine by me
,
but Draven was starting to fight with himself. He kept stopping and shaking his head but then he would allow himself one more kiss and his resolve would go out of the window. His hands were searching out for my skin and as soon as he got there we both moaned.

It was like a happy haze that enveloped my mind whenever Draven’s skin came into contact with mine. He remained on top of me but felt his way down to hook one of my legs round his waist, causing his want to press tightly against my need. We were now locked together and we both knew how to seal the union
,
but Draven kept hesitating
, t
aking little stops to calm his breathing.

“Are you alright?” I asked after the third time this happened. He looked down at me with half shock and half guilt.

“Yes... no...I shouldn’t be pushing you after all you’ve been through today
,
but Keira
,
I feel that if I don’t take you now, then I will explode!” This confe
ssion
had the added effect of rippled muscles that tensed as his last shreds of control were fading away.