Once Upon A [Stolen] Time (Stolen Series Book 1)

by Ahsan, Samreen

  “I heard him.” I looked around the chapel.

  Instantly, I placed my forehead on the mirror. And within a second I pulled back. The sudden jolt almost made me fall. Steve grabbed me by the arm.

  “What happened, Myra?”

  “He is here. He came back.” I couldn’t contain the thrill. I was afraid, but the feeling was above and beyond the heights of happiness, also. “He is right here.” I gestured toward the mirror and whispered. I knew Edward could hear me. I controlled my emotions and composed myself to look again. This time I was prepared for his steel-grey eyes that poured out life and death at the same time.

  His eyes were staring back at me with frustration. Our foreheads touched again. I placed my hand on the mirror and smiled.

  “You came back. Thank you.” I whispered.

  His chest was heaving—taking in my words. I felt like he could explode with emotions any moment. He didn’t raise his hand. His penetrating gaze was melting everything inside me, although he was staring at me with anger. What was he angry about?

  “Talk to me, Edward.” I lifted my hand and placed it on the mirror. He still didn’t do the same. “I want to touch you.” He took a deep breath at my words. If he weren’t breathing, I would have thought he’d actually turned to stone. He wasn’t saying anything; he wasn’t moving at all—only his heart was giving me an indication of his soul. He was still alive; the sun had already set and he was alive. I’d made him stay through this night. If that were what it would take to save his life, I would spend my life standing here—capturing him in this moment.

  When he didn’t say anything for a while, I moved back and looked at Steve. He was looking at me through the iPhone screen. But just as a tear slipped from my eye, he tilted his head and looked at me directly. The video was still running. I shook my head.

  “He is not responding.” Steve was watching me quietly, still capturing my emotions. Was he planning to put all this in the game, or was he conceptualizing the idea of a movie? No one would play an emotional videogame, but it did seem like a movie. What if he was planning to make a movie of it, or to post this video on YouTube? No, he shouldn’t do it. This was our private moment.

  I was depressed. I knew I’d tried. For a moment I thought I was able to make Edward smile. He came back for me, but then he only looked at me with animosity. Was he angry because I tampered with his plans for disappearing?

  “Talk to him before he leaves again?” Steve suggested to me. He looked serious, as if he was actually filming me.

  I took a deep breath again and gathered all my courage to look into the mirror. Edward’s forehead was still resting on the mirror, and asperity had taken a permanent place in his grey eyes. I raised my hand and placed it on the mirror. He copied my act and placed his hand on mine.

  I assayed his behavior. His eyes said so much. There was desire in them, but there was desperation and anger too. I couldn’t separate them. He was befuddled with mixed emotions. Maybe he didn’t know what he was feeling.

  His touch was chancy—it could steal my world away from me—yet I’d take any risk to hold on to this addiction. His breathing shuddered with our contact, and all of a sudden, he entwined his fingers with mine. I looked at our joined hands for a moment and tried to grasp the situation. How could we touch like that? He didn’t give me a chance to fathom the power of this mirror, but pulled me hastily toward him.

  Instantly, the mirror was not a mirror anymore, but a hollow glassless frame that allowed me to travel from the twenty-first century to the fifteenth century in a second. In the blink of an eye, I was on the other side of the mirror, inside the chapel of Hue Castle before it was burned in the mid-eighteenth century.

  As he pulled me toward him, my heart stopped beating. I was frozen in the moment. He had gripped my right hand firmly with his left hand, and his right hand was tight around my waist. He wasn’t breathing. We stared into each other’s eyes for eternity. The moment held its own magic—more powerful than this mirror. It was deep, raw and primal—holding unbridled passion.

  In his eyes, I could see the world, the stars, the sun, the moon, the storms and their calms, the seas and their tides, and all the desires that had ever existed for a woman.

  In his eyes, I was the only woman who had the power to hold him, kiss him and unravel his tangled life.

  In his eyes, I forgot my past, devoured my presence and ignored my future. I was so lost in my present that I didn’t think about the future.

  He kept staring at me. One second, his eyes flickered with desire, and the next, they glared. He grazed my eyes, my lips, and the lilacs in my hair with his profound gaze. I couldn’t dissect his mixed emotions. There was a need, a hunger, and a thirst that only I could sate, but still he kept his emotions shielded inside his stone tomb.

  I took advantage of this miraculous moment. He was so close to me. I could see him, feel him, touch him and…I looked at his lips…kiss him. I had never desired any man like this before. I was desperate to feel his lips on me. My left hand was hanging loose, so I availed myself of this opportunity and placed it on his bearded face.

  Instantly, he jerked away from my touch and, without looking at me, forced me to start walking. Before I could take in my surroundings, he made me step down from the altar. I looked back at the mirror. Shit! Steve...

  What would he be thinking? In this lost moment, I’d never thought of him once. What would he say to my parents when they found out? What would they do to him? Would they have Steve arrested? I was sure he would be worried about me, calling my name. He was alone there.

  Could I go back? Or was it a one-way route? I remembered Bakr, the bookstore owner, told me once that there was no turning back. Was he aiming me toward this incident? My heart suddenly started beating faster. Edward was walking quickly. It was hard for me to keep up with his long strides.

  “Edward, stop…where are you taking me?” What if he took me to King Stefan? Oh no no no…he won’t do that. He knows how cruel his father is.

  My fear was making it hard for me to walk, and my bare feet were hurting, as I had left my sandals on the other side of the mirror. I tried to pull away from Edward’s grip but damn it, he was so strong. What would Steve do? How would he go back without me? Was he able to capture my disappearance in his phone and file a complaint?

  A complaint? For what, you stupid girl? I was in another time—I was not abducted by anyone. It was the mirror that stole my present and threw me into a past which would possibly decide my future.

  Edward’s grip and pull were brutal and violent. He wasn’t even looking at me. Lost in my thoughts of Steve, I didn’t realize I was no longer in the chapel. He kept walking and did not realize that he had gripped my hand so firmly. What if he threw me at Stefan and then disappeared? Was I trapped in this time forever? What if he turned brutal with me, or let his father do what he had always done with the other women?

  I felt completely blanched with fear. Where was he taking me? Everything looked so different around me. Although it was the same corridor I had walked an hour ago with Steve to reach the chapel, walking the same path in the fifteenth century felt different. The air felt different.

  I’d risked my life running after this stone-hearted man, and he was doing nothing but ignoring me and taking me to an unknown place. The castle looked completely different six hundred years ago. No, it was not six hundred years ago; I was in the same era now. Why did I keep forgetting that it was not my present but Edward’s present, which was apparently history? But now, his present was my present. At least we did share something.

  With my wild popping brain battling all these fears and paradoxes, I didn’t realize at first that he was dragging me to a stairway that I recognized. I jerked back, suddenly realizing that he was taking me to the tower—the torture cell.

  “No, Edward, you can’t take me there.” Shit! Why was he doing this to me? Who did he think I was? “Why aren’t you talking to me? What are you punishing me for?”

  He
looked me in the eye for a second—questions welled up in his eyes. Maybe he was curious how I knew this was a torture cell.

  He didn’t give me a chance to say anything more, just lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder effortlessly, as if I didn’t weigh anything at all. I tried fighting him, started hitting his back with my fists and struggling to loosen my legs, but damn it…he was stronger than I imagined. The claustrophobic spiral stairs were making me nauseous. I wanted to throw up, but I felt like there was nothing in my stomach. I had seen how all those rooms looked in the past—no, the present—this present. Why did I keep forgetting this wasn’t the past anymore? The past had turned into my present.

  The stairs ended and he hit the wooden door violently with his leg. I still didn’t understand the reason for his anger. I didn’t know what was churning in his mind. Whatever he did and thought in the past—I had read it all. But now, whatever was happening was not written in the book.

  Tonight, at this hour, he was supposed to disappear. But now, he was in torture room number one, which was dark and dingy. From no angle did it look like a tower room; instead, it was more like a dungeon. While the dungeon that I had seen in the book had the amazing library and healing spring instead. Hue Castle was indeed an amalgam of twisted wickedness.

  My back hurt, and I realized that he had laid me down on the rack. Shit! I had seen people tortured like this in the book. Would he dislocate my limbs? The dread of what he might do was already driving me crazy. Had it really been wise to take all this risk? Was Edward worth leaving my world behind?

  “Edward…” I tried to control my breath. “What are you doing? Why are you doing this to me?” He didn’t say anything.

  The only time he’d spoken was to ask me who I was when I was soothing my wounds in Steve’s embrace. He wasn’t the same man I’d met two months ago—the man who craved my touch. Now my touch angered him. He acted so distant. Where was the desire that had loomed in his eyes that night? I saw it flicker when he pulled me into his world, but it vanished from his eyes in the next blink.

  “Why aren’t you talking to me?” He was not looking at me.

  He grabbed both my hands tightly and placed them over my head. I struggled to loosen his grip but it was pointless. My powers wilted in the face of his magnetism. Yes, I was afraid of the situation, but I was still attracted to this sexy man. I stopped fighting and let myself go limp. I wanted to see how far he would go. He paused for a moment to try to fathom my decision. But he would never know why I did it. I wanted to see how violent he would get. I knew he would never abuse a woman. It was not in his nature. He just couldn’t do it. Now I was not afraid of him. Instead, I started enjoying the idea of him touching me everywhere. Let’s see what he’ll do.

  I smiled at him. He stole a glance at me and untangled my arms. He came closer to me and grabbed my hand, locking it to the side of the rack with a handcuff. I let him do it. I completely enjoyed watching his frustrated expressions, his furrowed eyebrows, his angry eyes—he still looked sexy as hell. This was what I wanted. I wanted to see Edward up close. It was a dream come true. What was I afraid of? If he hadn’t harmed any woman in his past, why was I afraid he’d harm me?

  His eyes said everything. He was fighting hard to hold on to his emotions, but the beast inside him was howling and trying to break the cage. I knew he was desperate to touch me, but he had kept his emotions locked up for such a long time. He didn’t know I would come into his life uninvited. It was the shock that made him furious.

  He grabbed my other hand and locked it with the shackles. He leaned in and brought his face up to my neck, closing his eyes to take a deep breath. I was certain my perfume was driving him crazy. The look on his face was priceless. It was need and greed with twisted desires. My body wanted to dance on his whims.

  He then pulled off me suddenly and expertly locked my feet in shackles, as if he had been trained for this since childhood. My lilac dress flowed like satin liquid along the sides of the rack. He noticed the silver anklet on my left foot and touched it. It reminded me of Steve. He had given it to me on one of the days we filmed in Hue Castle. Edward’s touch was gentle now. I knew he was trying to gauge his emotions. He could never be violent to me. His hand touched the skirt of my satin gown and travelled up to my thighs and then to my waist. His gentle touch threw me into a pit of lust I had never visited. I had never felt so erotic before. He didn’t need to tie me on the wooden rack to make love to me. I was already his. His hand stopped at my waist, where he tugged my silver belt with his index finger. His touch was laced with hunger, but it was more like an exploration. He was reading me like a book, like I had read him in the past. I took a deep breath when his gaze stopped at my chest. The light was dim; there was just one lantern burning on the wall beside the door. The moonlight from the window behind me was enough for me to see him by—that and the lantern light coming from behind him.

  I let him look at me. It was a new experience for him. Of course he didn’t know I came from the twenty-first century. He had never seen a woman dressed in a contemporary Stella McCartney gown. The dress was sleeveless, and the night air gave me chills, but as he touched my arm and ran his fingers along it, the jolt paralyzed me. I closed my eyes and left everything to Edward. A moan escaped my lips, which elevated his pulse. His heart was running a marathon now.

  His touch on my bare skin was enough to drive me to extremes of amorousness. I wanted to lose myself in this moment.

  The shackles didn’t matter.

  The torture didn’t matter.

  The tower didn’t matter.

  What mattered was his touch on my skin.

  There were only two people in this time. Just me and him, as the world spun into a timeless abyss.

  I wanted to feel his lips on me. It seemed like I’d waited forever for this moment. His fingers stopped grazing my arm. I opened my eyes to see what was next. He wasn’t looking into my eyes. He was staring at my hairdo. I was sure the lilacs in my hair were scaring him. He wouldn’t touch them. He knew they would wither at his touch. He just kept looking at the neatly pinned lilacs.

  His gaze then travelled to my pearl earrings. I was head-to-toe a designer artifact. Everything was selected exclusively by Mrs. Bernard, except for my ring. Shit! I was still wearing Steve’s ring. I had never looked at that ring carefully. I was never interested in marrying him or anyone. I felt sorry for Steve. I wondered if he was still looking for me or calling me in the mirror, or had called my parents by now. What would my parents do to Steve? They had never wanted him to take me to Hue Castle. Did they know what the consequences would be?

  My left hand fidgeted at the thought of my engagement ring. I’d betrayed Steve. I was such a bitch. He didn’t deserve this. He was the one who had brought me into Edward’s world. If it weren’t for Steve’s game and his passion, I would have never known of my powers over Hue Castle, and instead of crying for Steve, I was lusting for Edward’s touch.

  He then noticed my pearl necklace. He was trying to figure out where I came from. He knew I wasn’t Jasmine. If he thought of me as Jasmine, he would have asked hundreds of questions by now. I knew he was curious about Jasmine’s power. What confused him was…he thought I looked like Jasmine but I wasn’t her. Then who was I, for him?

  “Edward.” I spoke his name softly. He looked at me. His eyes shone with amorous need in the dim lantern light. “You know I’m not Jasmine.” He looked away…toward my silver belt. “I’ve come for you, Edward.” He didn’t respond.

  “Please untie me; I want to touch you.” He might not know it, but people were waiting for him in the dining room. His future bride might be wondering where he was. If I reminded him about the dinner, he would leave me and join them. I wanted this night to be over.

  “Please look at me, Edward. Why are you torturing me?” I had never begged a man to touch me, and this man was testing my patience. “Would you give me to your father?” He shifted uncomfortably.

  At least he reacted. />
  “You know how he is…you wouldn’t do that to me, right?” He was staring out the window, or at something I couldn’t see, behind my head. “I know everything about you. I was the one you spoke to the night Veronica died.” Her name made him stiffen. I guessed I’d pushed him to the edge. No one had dared to say her name after her death.

  “You wanted to talk that night. Please untie me and talk to me.” His breath faltered, and his grip tightened on my waist. “Don’t fight it, Edward. You and I both know what we have between us. There is no war going on here.” I could hear his heartbeat getting out of control. He thought he was stone, but the heat emanating from his body was giving me different signals. No matter how hard he tried to cage his heart—it would not stop beating.

  “I know what you’ve been through. No matter how hard you try to stop your emotions, I know you desire me.” I chuckled. “Your body…” he looked up into my eyes with a deadly stare, “…your body speaks the truth.”

  Suddenly he grabbed my neck. I wasn’t expecting this. He almost choked me. I tried hard to catch my breath.

  “Edward…” I started coughing…he was cutting off my oxygen supply. When he noticed I couldn’t breathe anymore, he loosened his grip. I coughed for a few seconds to regain my breath. What was he trying to prove? I knew damn well that he was more powerful than I.

  “Are you trying to kill me?” He pulled his arm away. “Talk to me, damn it!” I yelled. He wasn’t responding at all. What could I say to make him talk to me?

  “Edward…you need to come out of your tomb.” I tried to think what else to say. He looked out the window and ignored me watching him. “I know Veronica’s death has changed you, but you don’t need to be a stone. You can’t turn your face away from her grave. You need to cry, Edward. You need to bring Emma back. You need to fulfill your promise…” He again grabbed my neck and stopped me from saying anything else. This time his grip was even more cruel.

  “Just shut up or I will cut your throat.” This was the first time I’d heard his voice in person. There were cannonballs firing from his eyes. I knew he wasn’t bluffing. The look he gave me was enough warning. I should shut up or else he’d really kill me. Again, when he realized I could no longer breathe, he pulled his hand off my neck. I breathed hard to regain my life. He pulled away from me and turned around.