Blood of the Infinity War (Afterlife saga Book 8)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “Tell me little Lamb of mine, where would you have run off to if I had let you leave?” he asked.

  “I don’t know!” I snapped back and then tried to pull from his hold.

  “Ssshh, easy now, for I do not want to hurt you, so do not fight me,” he said, in softer tones this time as he didn’t like seeing the distress in my eyes as I tried to pry his fingers from around my neck. Again, he wasn’t hurting me but if I started fighting him, then we both knew it could happen accidently.

  “Would you have fled the city?” he asked next and I panicked as I knew I couldn’t lie but that didn’t mean I didn’t try.

  “No.” Oh yeah, his snarl said it all.

  “You would have left!?”

  “You told me to get out, what do you think I would have done?” I shouted back, telling him that he was the one who drew that line, not me.

  “You are never to leave the palace, do you understand?” he ordered after thinking about what I told him, feeling no doubt somewhat better that that had been my reason.

  “So, what then, I go back to spending the rest of my days locked up in your damn harem as now you don’t want me, but you keep me from the world so no one else can!?” Hearing this he wrapped an arm around my waist yanking me hard to his chest. Then his hold on my neck loosened as he tilted my face up to look at him.

  “What a foolish little Electus I have found myself, for indeed if you think I would ever simply let you walk out of here and straight into another man’s arms. Your beauty is for my eyes only, your body only mine to touch and your soul destined for me to own by the Gods themselves. Yes, you are foolish, if you think I am a man who would share you with the world, let alone the one you call Draven, for you will never see him again!”

  “And what of my heart?” I asked him after straightening my back. My question took him by surprise but I could see it the moment he chose to use anger to mask his true emotions.

  “What of it!?” I flinched at his harsh question.

  “Do you not wish to own that as well, for everything else I have maybe taken as easily as you say, but a heart has to be given freely and can only be owned after love has been earned,” I told him thinking that I was getting through but then his eyes hardened and he asked me the dreaded question, one I should have foreseen.

  “And this Draven, do you give him your heart as freely of which you speak?” I sucked in a sharp breath and hated how far this had gone and knew this was the time to confess…the point of no return. I felt tears start to build as I thought back to my Draven. The man I had left behind waiting for me in naive bliss as to what I was doing now. A woman who should have been drinking champagne getting ready to put on her wedding dress, spending time with family and surrounded by my bridesmaids. I should have been stood in front of a mirror looking at my reflection and telling myself that I wanted nothing more than to walk down the aisle with my arm nestled inside my father’s as he gave me away to the only man I’d ever loved.

  No, I could never lie about that.

  “Yes.” I said that small word as if it held the weight of the world upon it and the reaction was as I knew it would be…rage. He erupted into his other side and I slumped down on the floor crying as he destroyed the room around me. I saw little ricochets of things that should have hit me but he must have been putting a protective barrier around me because everything just bounced off in the other direction. Even as I broke this man’s heart he still protected me but just because he would, it didn’t mean he would protect the ones I cared for. So, once he had finished he issued me a promise,

  “Then I will leave you nothing left to love for I will find him and I know exactly who to ask!” he said before storming over to the door and nearly pulling it from its hinges.

  “Get me the Imp!” he snarled out his order and it made my blood go cold.

  “NO!” I shouted getting up and facing him.

  “Yes, my King.” said the guard who had been nice to me in the private garden. He gave me a sad look, that told me he had heard everything of my turmoil, telling me that he wasn’t just a mortal guard as I had first thought. Draven then slammed the damaged door and turned back to me.

  “You don’t have to involve her in this, I will tell you everything!” I told him, almost begging now, for I had no idea what he would do to my friend or the lengths he would go to.

  “You left me no choice Nāzanin, for you have lied to me from the first moment I saw you and I will have no more. Your lies can no longer protect you and neither can your friend,” he told me, this time in a softer tone and no doubt this was at the sight of the tears streaming down my face. The next thing I knew Pip was being escorted through the door and she looked at me with concern. She knew with only one look what had happened. The kind eyes she gave me were like a lifeline to me and I couldn’t stop myself from running to her. Draven had no time to stop it, only to clear a path on the floor so that my feet didn’t get cut. Then I threw myself into her and whispered,

  “I am so sorry! I’m sorry. I ruined everything!” She tenderly brushed back my hair and told me,

  “Ssshh, you have nothing to be sorry about my friend…ever.” Draven let me have this moment before I felt his hand on my arm pulling me gently from her. Then, after making sure there was enough distance between us, he looked down at Pip and demanded,

  “Where is the one she calls Draven?!” Pip never looked at him but just kept her eyes on me when she said simply,

  “I refuse.” I swallowed hard and waited for his next play.

  “You will answer me, for I am your King!” he demanded angrily, obviously getting frustrated now dealing with the two people in the world that would say no to him.

  “Yes, but she is my Queen and therefore I answer to no-one but her,” Pip stated back, keeping calm and I bit my lip, letting the tears fall.

  “Very well. Guards!” he shouted and my eyes widened in panic as two of them came into the room. I looked from them to her and back again.

  “Toots, look at me,” she told me and I did.

  “It will be okay, trust me,” she said as if secretly trying to get something across to me that I couldn’t see.

  “Take this woman down into the dungeon and lock her in chains until her trial, for she will be charged with treason.”

  “NO!” I shouted stunning the guards as they were about to step forward. I couldn’t let this happen, I just couldn’t!

  “Take her!” Draven demanded and suddenly I screamed,

  “Touch her and I will kill you!” I told the guards with deadly intent, and this time they seemed even more stunned at being threatened by the King’s concubine.

  “Keira it’s okay, I will be fine,” Pip told me softly but I was too far gone to listen. I could feel the tingling in my fingertips and knew that even if they touched her, I wouldn’t be able to stop what was coming next. Draven looked down at me and raised his hand to stop them from approaching. He knew I was on the edge.

  “Are you going to tell me what I want to know?” he asked in a quieter voice this time and I could tell it was because he didn’t think it wise to set me off. I could feel my fists shaking by my sides, getting ready to unleash whatever this was.

  “No, she will not, now take me away!” Pip answered for me and I cried out,

  “NO! No, don’t please, I will tell you!”

  “Keira, you don’t need to do this!” Pip pleaded but I ignored her pleas and told her quietly as even more tears fell,

  “But you’re my best friend.” This time she gave me such a warm look before nodding and her own tears formed before falling from her beautiful forest green eyes.

  “Leave us!” Draven nodded to the door and the guards bowed and swiftly left. He didn’t look happy or satisfied that he had got his way, but instead remorseful that it had come to this.

  “Now I will ask again, where is he Nāzanin?” I sucked in a shuddering breath trying to hold back a sob and looking straight at Pip, I answered him,

  “He is here.” I
don’t think in that moment I could have done this without my friend here with me, as Pip gave me strength when she nodded her acceptance.

  “In the city?” he asked again, only this time sounding shocked.

  “Yes.” I answered again, only this time hoping this was where the questioning ended…

  It didn’t.

  “Tell me, for I find myself at a loss to understand why one would be so willing to meet death if this be the truth, but where in the city would I find him?” he asked after holding the bridge of his nose for a moment as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing or preparing himself to hear next. An answer this time that didn’t come from me but from Pip,

  “He is right here in the palace.” At this Draven closed his eyes a moment as if he had just been told the impossible. Even his wings shuddered and the muscles on his torso tensed.

  “Then your love for him will die sooner than I thought!” Draven said looking disgusted with me and I suppose from his point of view then it was disgusting. I was a woman he had fallen in love with and brought to his bed only to find that I had sneaked another man into the palace, a man I was in love with. No, I couldn’t blame Draven’s action in this moment for he didn’t know the full story. But that would soon change as I shouted,

  “My love for him would never die for it is impossible because I am staring straight at the only man I have ever loved!” Hearing this he frowned and shook his head as if trying to make sense of my words.

  “I don’t…” This time I cut him off and shouted,

  “You are Draven!” Pip took a deep breath and released it as a sigh.

  “What…what did you say?!” he asked taking a step back as if he didn’t know what he faced.

  “You are Draven and I am from…” I paused and saw Pip nod at me knowing I couldn’t go back now, so I finished that sentence, one I never thought I would ever have to say to the man I loved,

  “…I am you’re wife, from the future.” Draven sucked in a staggered breath and looked as if I had just shot him with the truth, not simply whispered it like I had.

  “What trickery is this!?” he snapped not believing me and really, who could blame him.

  “It’s not a trick, I can assure you of that,” I told him bitterly. Draven looked from me to Pip and then snarled,

  “If you both think me foolish enough to believe even greater depths of your lies just to save this man’s life, then you are surely mistaken, for I will tear this city apart in finding him!” Hearing this I knew nothing but proof was going to get him to believe me, so I made the final decision and said,

  “Pip, drop your guards.” Draven looked to her, curling his top lip in anger, knowing that she had been keeping him from seeing all of me. You could see the cogs starting to turn and play back all the reasons he hadn’t been able to get a read on me.

  “Are you sure about this?” she asked and I knew what she meant as this could mean us being trapped here for far longer than we ever hoped. But knowing what the alternative could be, with Pip being held in chains in some prison somewhere, well then, I couldn’t chance it.

  “Do it,” I told her and Pip closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled deeply before nodding in acceptance. Then I shivered as if shaking away an invisible cold veil from my body, one I had only felt for the first time since she had unknowingly put it there.

  The second the last shreds of it were gone Draven took in a startled breath and said,

  “I can see you, I can see your soul and it…it is not of this time.” Hearing this I felt a part of my heart break for him and the tears I shed were for him and what he now faced. But then my concern quickly shifted and it was seeing my friend looking utterly exhausted that held my attention right now. I ran to her just before she would have fallen.

  “Pip!” I shouted her name just as I caught her, cracking my knees hard against the floor as I landed. I felt the pain there but didn’t care, not when my friend’s head lay in my lap.

  “Pip, speak to me! What’s wrong!?” I asked in a panicked voice. She could barely hold up her hand let alone her head.

  “It’s…ok…ay,” she murmured in a small voice, one that spoke of being anything but.

  “What’s wrong with her!?” I demanded looking up at Draven, who for a moment looked as if he was still trying to process it all.

  “Please help me…please Draven,” I asked him, no longer caring about what name I called him. He registered it but in the face of what was happening now, he ignored it. Instead he came down to me and placed a hand on Pip’s head, as if trying to get a read on her.

  “The power being absorbed back into her body has simply tired her vessel, for she needs rest and days of it at that,” he told me and I bit my lip as I cried for my friend. I felt my chin being raised and Draven told me softly,

  “Don’t fret, for she will be fine…I promise you, Keira.” Finally, he said my name and on hearing it being spoken in such a tender tone I closed my eyes at the overwhelming pleasure it brought me.

  “I will take her back to her room and call a healer to care for her,” he told me as he took her from me, lifting her small frame into his arms.

  “Wait, can you…can you ask your sister to care for her?” At this he paused and raised an eyebrow in question before realisation hit him.

  “She came with you?” I hated that I was getting her into a world of trouble here but I knew that if I was going to be honest, then I wouldn’t be able to hold anything back. So, I nodded and said,

  “I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath and replied,

  “You and I will speak of this when I get back and be warned little lamb, for I will know everything, for this time, nothing will be between us.” Then he looked down at his new little sleeping burden and I knew what he meant, as Pip had taken away any defence I once had.

  “I will explain who I am… I promise you,” I told him and for a moment my heart soared as the look he gave me was utter relief, for I had eased his worrying and heartbreak. He bowed his head to me and then before he left he closed his eyes for only a moment and I watched in amazement as the room righted itself again. It was like watching the carnage in reverse. Weapons flew to walls and remounted, what were scattered splinters reformed into wooden chests and broken pottery puzzle pieces found their way back together again. I looked down to see the floor clear and free from any dangers.

  “I won’t be long,” he told me and for a moment it seemed as if he didn’t want to go.

  “And as always, I will wait for you, my Husband,” I told him softly and his eyes widened hearing it. At first, I thought it had been the right thing to say as the warm look he gave me could speak a thousand words. But then he abruptly walked out of the door, now leaving me thinking the complete opposite and that I had offended him. And as he left me standing there like some lost soul, hugging myself, I was just about to let my misery overwhelm me when suddenly he reappeared through the door.

  I was about to speak when his actions stopped me as he stormed over to me and taking my face with both hands he whispered the sweetest two words,

  “My wife.” And then kissed me with such tender passion I found tears streaming down my cheeks and overflowing onto his hands. It was a blissful end to such a turbulent turning point in our parallel lives that I found myself melting into him and not wanting to let go again, for fear of who I would find myself facing when he came back. I wanted this Draven, the one who loved me and didn’t look at me with utter betrayal. But after this kiss I realised that the real root of his anger had solely been focused on jealously and his belief that I had loved another but him. I couldn’t say that I could blame him for look what I had done when faced with Aurora, back when I thought that he had picked being with her over me.

  In fact, I had very nearly killed the bitch and if I had known of the part she would play in our future then I would have done so without an ounce of regret or a single moment’s thought. But that had been beside the point, for at the time all my actions were all focused around j
ealously and nothing more. And with his next words, I knew he felt the same as I had done.

  When the kiss ended he placed his forehead to mine and said softly,

  “Have no thoughts of worry, for when I return, you will not find me angry.” I think after he said this he could tell that I was relieved because he smiled when I released a big sigh.

  “I am sorry I have caused you pain,” I told him and in return he pulled me in for a hug, holding me close as he whispered in my hair line,

  “Ssshh, for we will speak on matters soon. Now I must go and attend to your friend.” I nodded and let him go, knowing that when he returned, it would be as he said,

  Nothing between us…

  But the future.

  Chapter 20

  Time Travelling Truth

  I don’t know how long I waited but I must have fallen asleep on the bed in my emotional exhaustion for I felt my subconscious being tugged at by a soft, gentle touch down my cheek.

  “Draven?” I murmured his name forgetting where I was and as soon as I said it I internally panicked as memory assaulted me of where in time I was. My eyes snapped open and I was momentarily surprised to find him looking down at me with a small smile playing around the edge of his lips.

  “Easy sweet one, for I find I no longer loathe to hear the name, not now I know who owns it,” he said smirking and no doubt remembering each time it had slipped from my lips. I let go of my held breath feeling relieved. I looked outside to see it was still dark and he took this action as a silent question.

  “I wasn’t gone long but my sister now looks after your friend at your request.”

  “I am glad Sophia is with her,” I said without thinking and he raised a brow at me before saying,

  “Ah, yes, Sophia is her name in your time.” I winced just thinking of what she’d had to endure from her brother now he knew, which was why I was surprised to find him suddenly laughing.

  “You’re not mad?” I asked disbelievingly.

  “Not when she told me of her reasons for being here and from what I understand it was lucky she was.” I thought back to the Sophia of this time and knew that was certainly the truth, as I doubted I would still be breathing now.