Page 5 of The Time Of Kings (An Afterlife Story #1)

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BUT OF COURSE, THERE WOULD BE A KIDNAPPING

I should have known that finding shelter had been too easy, despite feeling as if I had been half drained of life! But then I guess it made sense. Especially seeing as the first time I had been sent back in time, I hadn’t yet experienced thirty years of being immortal.

Nor had I accumulated decades of Draven’s essence in me to then have it stripped away like I did now. Although, I wouldn’t be saying it like that in front of Pip, that was for damn sure. No doubt, she would have made some ‘super sperm bank’ joke and be questioning just how much over thirty years of having sex daily that would equate to. Okay, so now I was the one thinking about it and that was without Pip planting the seed… no pun intended.

Jesus, but I had forgotten what being mortal was like and right now, I felt as if I had just run a marathon I hadn’t trained for. I had felt like a damn zombie by the time I was helped up into the loft area to sleep, feeling as if finding this cottage had finally been the break we had needed.

Oh, but how wrong I had been!

I knew that the second I heard a commotion outside, making me bolt upright. My daughter’s name was about to pass my lips on instinct, that was until I felt her hand still in mine. The relief was instant, despite it only lasting a few seconds as I pulled myself over to the edge of the attic space and saw our next problem unfolding. And there were Pip and Sophia, now looking out of the windows with concern etched on their faces.

So, with nothing else to do but face the next shit storm situation, I forced my sluggish mortal body down the ladder ready to join them. However, the second I saw them both pull on their cloaks, I was simply left asking,

“Gods giddy aunt, what now?”

“Do you want the bad news or the worst news?” Sophia asked, making Pip pipe up with her optimistic response,

“And here I thought no news was bad news.”

“I think you’re referring to people who want to be famous, and something in this moment, we most definitely do not want to be,” I commented before stepping up to the window and seeing for myself that it didn’t look good.

“Shit, what did the owner of the house do, call the national guard?” I asked when I saw all the armoured guards on horseback approaching down the road, with a carriage to boot. Bloody hell, what time period did we step back into?!

“Don’t worry, we will handle it,” Sophia said calmly, making me frown.

“I’m coming with you, you will need all the…”

“No, not this time, Kaz,” Sophia interrupted, placing a hand on my arm as I reached for my own cloak that had been drying in front of the fire. I quickly turned to face her, ready to say the hell I wasn’t, when her expression said it all. Because of course, she knew just like I did that I was back to being mortal. Which meant that I couldn’t risk the potential fight. Then she looked up to where Amelia was still sleeping and told me,

“Stay here and protect our girl, this shouldn’t take long.”

I swallowed hard as the bitter truth was forced down my throat and my own history was slammed back into me. Because I hadn’t just been plunged back into a past, one where knights seemed to be an actual job title and were no longer just the stuff of fairytale legends, I had, in fact, been transported back to my former existence. The one whereas I was back to being a human liability, and I couldn’t help but feel the bitter sting that knowledge was wrapped up in.

So, in the end, I nodded in quiet acceptance. When really, what I should have been doing was asking the question…

What is it you’re not telling me, Sophia?

Because there was that knowing look of hers again, as if there was so much more she should be saying. That those men out there were so much more than the future’s version of police trying to keep the peace.

That they were there for something more serious than a simple breaking and entering on our part. And why the carriage?

Of course, in the end, I had no option other than to watch them both leave. The answers to all my questions still hanging in the air like speech bubbles sooner popped than filled with words.

So, with nothing else to do, I stretched out my sore muscles, my body feeling somewhat better after the sleep. This before being left with no other option but to watch as my girls dealt with this problem. Something they did, I was thankful to report, and a lot quicker than expected. Because the second they were seen running through the trees that surrounded the cottage, the men on horseback quickly made chase. The carriage was soon left behind, with only its rider remaining. So, I quickly climbed the ladder when I heard Amelia stirring above, fearing she would alert others to the fact we hadn’t all left yet.

“Mum?” I heard Amelia say as I made it to the loft area.

“Ssshh,” I hushed gently, just in case there were others none of us knew about making their way closer to the cottage.

“What is it?” she asked, whispering as she shifted closer to me, after first ridding herself of the dress she had used to cover us.

“Pip and Sophia heard horses’ approach, they've gone to check it out,” I told her quietly, wishing I could erase the worried frown I knew I also wore. But then the second I started to lower myself over the edge to make my way down to the ground again, she quickly gripped by arm.

“Shouldn't we stay up here, hidden?” she asked, and maybe she was right. But I just couldn’t stay up here and wait, not when my girls could be in danger. I needed to know if they had managed to get rid of them for good. Or had the worst happened and if I looked through that window would I find my best friends being carted off in chains by the small army? Hence why I told her,

“It will be fine… I'm just going to see if I can find them through the window.”

She opened her mouth to argue, making me shake my head and force myself to smile reassuringly.

“It will be fine, Fae. Stay here.”

I didn’t want to risk Amelia being found should someone have slipped through their cracks. But that was the thing with daughters, sometimes they stubbornly took after their mothers, as the second I heard footsteps behind me, I turned around to tell her,

“I told you to stay up there.”

“I know but… Mum, look out!”

This argument ended abruptly with her shouting in panic, one that ended with my own as I saw someone coming at her from behind, before raising their arm ready to lash out at my daughter.

“NOOO!” I cried but just as I was reaching out, I was grabbed from behind and my mouth was quickly covered.

I was forced to watch as my daughter was hit from the side with what looked like a small sack of something heavy. Something the size of a fist. But whatever it had been, it was enough to knock her to the ground, rendering her unconscious. The horror hit me when the flames flickered in the fireplace, illuminating her face enough for me to see crimson.

A sight that made me try so hard to fight.

However, with barely any strength in me, it didn’t have the desired effect it would have had I still been immortal. Meaning I was quickly overpowered by the man behind me. And as for the other one, he looked down at my daughter and asked,

“Should we take this one too?”

I heard Amelia moan, and thank the Gods, it meant that he hadn’t hit her enough to kill her. My relief continued when they said,

“No, we will be quicker with one… besides… He only wants the blonde.”

I knew Pip and Sophia would be coming back and could help her.

And as for me, well, I was left with no choice but to be taken. To be dragged out of the cottage with a single thought now racing round in my mind…

Who was my kidnapper this time?