Page 32 of The Time Of Queens (An Afterlife Story #2)

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T he moment I fell forward, I cried out as the emotions erupted from me. The last sight of Draven’s anguish was more than I could bare. Tears fell to the marble floor as my head slumped forward, my whole body shaking as great sobs tore through me.

But then that’s when I heard it…

My lifeline.

“Keira!” Draven called my name and I looked up just in time to see him running for me. I was back in the temple, and with no Demons in sight, I cried out again. This time his name spilled from my trembling lips.

“Draven!”

His arms crashed around me, and he was quickly on his knees before me, holding me tight to him, just like he had moments ago. Only it hadn’t been him. It hadn’t been this Draven, the one I had been trying so hard to get back to.

So, I held on, knowing now that I had finally made it home. I had finally made it back to him, my sobs of heartbreak soon morphing to ones of happiness. Because I knew that the moment I left, that timeline would disappear. Meaning the Draven from 1867 would have no memory of who I was. Which also meant my Draven had no memory of it either.

“Gods, Keira, I have been so worried! So, fucking worried about you,” he told me passionately, and as I continued to cry, he whispered down at me,

“Come now, calm yourself for me, sweetheart.”

I swallowed hard, nodding into his neck where I had buried my head. I felt him stroking back my dry hair, despite just coming from the fountain, it was as if I had never left. I was even wearing the same clothes as before I stepped through it. In fact, the only difference was the weight that I could feel at my back from where the bag hung holding the seal. Meaning that Draven had been right…

This had been my Fate.

My once more painful fate, for it was a bittersweet end to falling in love all over again. But in the end, none of this truly mattered, as now I was back to the one who had claimed my heart first.

“Oh, Draven.”

“I am here… I am here, my love,” he told me, cradling my head to him and giving me strength. But it was when he said this that something breached the forefront of my mind, giving me cause to pull away and look up in the wake of that realisation as everything else hit me.

“The girls! Ella, Amelia, where are they?!” I cried out, letting Draven help me to my feet, his expression tense as he led me further away from the fountain. He then turned his head towards where Pip was being held in a tight embrace by Adam. A man who was whispering down at her and looking like a man starved of her touch.

Then there was Sophia in the arms of her husband, who also looked to be consoling her, his relief easy to see. Because I had no idea what they had each been through since I switched times, and it pained me to think of the difficulties they might have endured.

But then as I continued to look around, I saw Lucius running at speed down the enormous hallway. Making me realise, just like last time, that what had been weeks for us, had been only minutes for those we left behind.

“WHERE IS SHE?!” Lucius bellowed in anger, making Draven curl his arm protectively around me as I sobbed out the words,

“I… I… don’t know, she should be… should be home.”

And the heavy tears wouldn’t stop as my watery gaze was rooted to that fountain… waiting… praying… needing my daughter to come home. But before I could question it further, two glorious things happened. The first being Amelia falling through the fountain just like I had done. Her Vampire King was there ready to catch her, as he moved quicker than I had ever seen anyone move.

Even for a supernatural.

Of course, at just the sight of her, I cried out, this time in happiness and great relief, as did Sophia and Pip. Draven’s profound sigh of relief was one I felt against his chest. As he too must have been waiting for our girl to get home. My heart broke for her, and great sobs of anguish echoed in the temple as she clung to Lucius, crying into his neck just as I had done with Draven.

But just before I could voice my other fear, Ella came calmly stepping through the fountain, as if she had just been speaking with Janus himself. As if she was leaving the past with more understanding than when she went in there.

However, the second she saw us both, she ran towards us and Draven’s second sigh of relief was mirrored that of my own. We caught her in our arms as the flood gates opened. The overwhelming emotions we all felt came to the surface as she cried in our arms.

“Oh, sweetheart, it’s alright,” I told her, and Draven did the same.

“It’s alright, you made it home… you’re safe now.”

At this her body shook as she let it all out. Which meant the echoes of tears rang out like bells signalling the end. The end of each of our journeys and turbulent experiences with the past. Each of our own heartbreaking goodbyes to the Fated men we loved. And in truth, that was what we really cried for.

All our painful goodbyes.

But for Ella, it was a far bitter ending, as unlike the rest of us, there was no Jared here to catch her. No Jared to hold her close and prove that happy endings still existed.

Because for her…

The end of her Fate, was still left…

Unknown.

After this emotional reunion, we had made our way back to Afterlife. Although Ella had remained in the temple as she said she needed time alone. I could understand it, as she may have returned, but unlike the rest of us, she had returned feeling as though a piece was missing.

In truth, the same could be said for us all, as each of us had no doubt left a piece of ourselves behind. I didn’t know what was harder, the idea that the timelines we left no longer existed, or that they could have remained. That the memories made there would only belong to us and no other.

Of course, as for the Draven I returned to, I knew he was furious. Something all our men were. But, like their king, they were also keeping a lid on it until the time was right and we were no longer feeling as fragile. Draven’s comment about having the doorway into the Janus Temple sealed up was met with agreement by the men, making Sophia and Pip roll their eyes.

We had already had our teary hugs, but one had been missing from the start and I knew why.

Amelia.

Lucius had taken no time at all before whisking her away back to Afterlife before us all, as her heartbreak seemed to be the worst. I feared about what she had gone through, but as she clung to her Vampire, I knew that time with him would no doubt heal it all.

Meaning it was Ella I was truly worried for, as she looked completely lost. Like she had no idea where to go from here. Because she quickly explained that Jared had been taken, prompting Draven into action, promising that he would soon have his own men on the case so they could search for any news on where the summoner could have taken him. No, she wouldn’t be alone in this, despite where, for the time being, she wished to remain.

Inside the Temple.

I soon realised that this had been her hope all along. To enter the fountain and go back in time a few days so she could have warned him. Yet this hadn’t happened. So, the most I could do, was hug her tight and tell her,

“Fate’s a fucker.”

She had pulled back and laughed through her tears. Then I wiped them away as I framed her beautiful face and added,

“But there is a reason for everything it puts us through… yeah?” At this she nodded, telling me she understood. So, I pulled her in for one last hug before leaving her to her solitude.

Which left the rest of us all in the library, something that felt strange as it was still full of Christmas decorations, that yes, admittedly, I had gone a little OTT on this year. Of course, Pip was the first to notice, saying,

“Oh yeah, I forgot it’s still Christmas.”

“No chance at forgetting that now,” Sophia muttered, making me narrow my eyes at her, as she had been teasing me on my Christmas madness since the beginning of December. Of course, she simply winked in response to my pointless glare, as she knew it hadn’t come with a shred of malice.

Pip, Sophia, and I were just all happy in the knowledge we were back, and we had, for all its faults, seemingly accomplished what we had set out to do. Although it was true this couldn’t be one hundred percent confirmed until we spoke with Amelia. But one thing that had come to light, was the part Draven had played in Ella’s past. Hence why he went to speak with her.

Because she had admitted to me that she believed we had switched times. Although I didn’t have much time to explain that I had instead been shot forward into the future past. Christ, but no wonder my head hurt, I didn’t know how Marty McFly had kept track of it all.

What had come to light was that she had made her way to the fountain and that despite her not wanting to say, I knew that Draven had been involved. Because it wasn’t hard to piece together the rest, especially if she believed I had switched places with her. And so as not to make her feel bad, I had simply nodded, allowing her to believe this had happened. When in fact, the Draven of her time had accomplished nothing but disappointment.

Because unlike mine, her timeline had remained intact, even after she had left it. As Jared had remembered his encounter with her thirty years later. Of course, I had no idea why she was the exception, only that it must have something to do with Fate needing Jared to recognise her decades later. But who was I to question Fates’ plan, when the proof of why I landed myself in 1867 was still sitting in a bag over my shoulder?

Of course, as soon as Draven had returned from speaking with Ella, the battle of the sexes had begun. Although what had been most surprising was when the HellBeasts had turned up after first finding Ella. Or at least, this was the way Pip had put it. Meaning Draven had been quick to look down at me and warn,

“This conversation is far from over, troublesome little wife of mine.” Of course, my reaction to this was to roll my eyes and mutter,

“Oh goodie.” Something I could get away with now I was back in my own time.

However, as for time, Jared had his own problems. He explained all he had been through, before Draven admitted the part that he had played in Ella’s Fate. Although, I hadn’t had a chance to correct him on the assumptions he had, that Ella and I had switched times, something he would soon learn hadn’t exactly been the case.

But really, with all that was happening, when did I have the time? Since coming back, it had been a whirlwind of information. Most of which, I still had yet to tell. And speaking of an information bombshell, one started to explode as the HellBeast’s story unfolded, giving us even more to worry about.

I felt mentally exhausted after the men returned from ensuring that Jared, Ella, and their band of merry ‘Woohoo we are now out of prison’ men, left in the cars Draven had provided.

Which was why the moment Draven returned, I had my argument all ready for him, hoping to get this over with quickly.

“Before you start with all your… how could you, Keira…? Here…” I said, pulling forward the bag at my side. “You… well, past you… wanted me to give you this. Something I assume must be important enough if Janus let me bring it through,” I told him, pulling the square piece of jade, with its corner of gold, out from the satchel and handing it to him. His reaction was pure astonishment, as his eyes grew wide when taking it into his hands.

“The Heirloom Seal of the Realm,” he said, his voice distant and clearly stunned.

“If you say so,” I replied, only knowing of it as the seal.

Although when Pip whistled and Sophia gasped, I gathered thirty years in the supernatural clan wasn’t enough for me to know it all. Damn it, did this mean Draven was going to recommend more studying? I hoped not… or did I? As I certainly enjoyed all those times he got to play professor and I his unruly student. Although it also had to be said… I didn’t exactly learn much. Not unless you could count the study of his desk and learning just how sturdy it was. Okay, so definitely not the time. Hence why I ignored Pip’s knowing grin as I blushed. Something she told me once was a clear giveaway to my wandering naughty thoughts about my husband.

“How did you get this?” he asked in amazement, jarring me back to the now and not past Professor Draven dressed in tweed, wearing glasses and looking like Clark Kent.

“Like I said, you gave it to me, but this was after all the Demons arrived and started attacking Witley Court,” I said without thinking about it… because yes, my mind was still in the classroom.

“Demons!” he shouted, making me wince.

“Well, they set it on fire first,” I replied, not knowing how this was going to make things any better, but I stupidly said it anyway. Something that had him yelling for a second time.

“Fire!”

“Where… oh, I see, wrong time,” Pip added after looking around to see we were safe.

“You went back to the year 1937? But I thought you had replaced Ella?” Draven asked, making me frown at the question, as this shit just got a lot more complicated. The year he mentioned was when the fire had actually occurred in my time. Jesus, and there comes that headache again.

“No, I went back to 1867… but that’s right, I forgot the fire was much later… anyway, forget that… the year was definitely 1867 and I would have told you that but I wanted you to speak with Ella first,” I told him.

“Gods, 1867!” he hissed, making me grimace once more.

“That would make sense, seeing as this was the same year it was found and then lost again,” Zagan offered, making my husband tense.

“Wait, you lost the seal shortly after finding it?” I asked, making Draven frown, before arguing,

“I didn’t lose it. It was taken, there is a difference.” This last part was directed at Zagan, who looked like he was trying not to smirk, as Sophia muttered,

“Still sensitive about it, I see.”

“Okay, so who took it?” I asked, directing Draven’s scowl from his sister who, like her husband, looked like she was trying not to laugh.

“We never found out who, and despite expecting the fallout of it being taken, it never happened. To this day, our search continues.”

I grinned, lifted up his hand the seal was still held in, and said,

“Tada! Found it… Yay me, right?”

He groaned down at me, while Pip tossed up two thumbs my way. Well at least someone was proud of me.

“Not when this means there is potentially now two of them in this timeframe,” Draven added, making my mouth drop.

“Oh,” I muttered, making him comment dryly,

“Yes, oh indeed.”

“Well, I don’t know! You shouldn’t have lost the first one and besides, if Fate didn’t want it here, then none of this would have happened,” I pointed out, making him scowl down at me.

“No, little queen of mine, none of this would have happened had you not been so foolish as to step into the fountain to begin with… again!” Draven bellowed, making Sophia mutter,

“Oh, here we go.”

“You stay out of it. I should have known you two would be involved!” he snapped.

“Yes, so you have already said,” Sophia muttered in a bored tone, as she was right, he had already verbally lashed out at them just as Ella had arrived with Jared.

“Hey, are you hearing this, Pookey?!” Pip exclaimed, but then when turning around, she found Adam with his arms folded, looking down at her disapprovingly. Oh, and with the same hard frown that Draven was currently directing my way. Something that shut her up, real quick.

“And what was I to do? Just let our daughter face this alone?!” I snapped back once more, as I too had already pointed this out, making him sigh angrily, before replying harshly,

“No, as her mother, you should have done the right thing and stopped her from wanting to use it in the first place!”

I gritted my teeth at that.

“In Kazzy’s defence, that’s exactly what she did do,” Sophia argued, making Pip shout,

“Yeah, what she said!”

I put my hands on my hips as I looked up at my angry husband. Part of me was elated to witness the proof I was really back, as now I was fully at ease in telling him what for. I had never shied away from sparring with my husband this way.

“Then you should have told me, and I would have…”

“What? Locked her in a tower?!” I bit back, quick to interrupt him.

“That isn’t fair, Keira, and you know it,” he replied as if wounded, but I was too far gone to let the guilt take hold.

“No, what isn’t fair is interfering with her Fate and letting her live everyday with the nightmares of being terrorised by a mad King and living with the guilt of having an entire army of lost souls relying on her to free them!” I shouted in return, finally making him sigh enough that his shoulders slumped. But I wasn’t done.

“You have no idea what each of us has had to endure and would do again if it meant freeing her from that mental torture! But it was all worth it, the sacrifice, the pain…”

“Alright, Keira…” Draven said, failing to get me to calm.

“I mean, Jesus, Draven, you kidnapped me… twice! Technically. And then some cook tried to beat me up, although I kicked the shit out of her but again, that’s not the point… and then you wanted to throw me out the house because you thought you had found your Chosen One, only it was really me pretending to be Pip’s lady’s maid…” The way his expressions changed as he took in all this information was like flipping a flicker book of Draven emotions.

“Calm down, love,” Draven said, despite his shock and then concern for my explosive rant, one I still wasn’t yet done with.

“…Which I have to say, you got a real hard on for me being a maid, despite thinking your Fated was galivanting off somewhere in the Worcester countryside. But then, you hunted me down and forced me to be your personal maid, your brother hated me but then he liked me and then you made me ride that bloody big horse of yours…”

“Aww, I miss Samson,” Sophia added.

“And then, and then…”

Draven stopped me quickly, tossing the seal to Adam so he could take my face in his palms and kiss me. Something that managed to shut me up quickly. I melted into him, feeling as if I was home all over again as we finally connected. His arms enveloped me as the kiss intensified. Something that ended far too soon, in my opinion, but it was clear he had something to say. So, he pulled back slightly to tell me softly,

“Alright, my love, you have made your point.”

I nodded the once, happy to have won this battle.

“But I must know, why didn’t I know who you were to me?” he asked after tucking me by his side and wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

Before I could say anything, however, Pip put her hand up and waved, telling him,

“At a guess, I would say I had something to do with it… which means I am just gonna say it now and get it over with… My…”

“My bad, we know.”

“My bad, we know,” Sophia and I said at the same time, making Pip look all puppy eyed, before adding,

“Aww look, the team’s back together.”

I grinned and said, “Technically, I had my team there, as you were both…”

“Uh uh, nope, don’t want to hear it. That wasn’t me,” she interjected, making me argue,

“It was, Pip.”

“No, that was society me, posh me… borrrring me,” she argued, making me shrug my shoulders and say,

“Fair enough.”

“Well, we are all here now, and that’s all that matters,” I said, and at this Draven turned me to face him, before tipping my chin back and telling me,

“And back where you belong, where…”

“You will forever stay.”