Page 5 of The Time Of Queens (An Afterlife Story #2)

5

TRUST

“ N O! Wait, Sophia, wait… don’t hurt her!” This time it was Pip’s frantic voice, as she was suddenly there, her hand curled around Sophia’s wrist, holding her back from killing me.

“She deceived my brother, made him believe he is looking for his Chosen, but it is all just a ruse, for she must be a witch!” Sophia snarled down at me, making Pip grip her tighter, as clearly, she was struggling holding her back from killing me.

“No, for what she says is true, I swear it, my friend. She has proven such… please, is it really worth taking the chance when so much is held in the balance? For what if you are wrong? Then you will be the reason for not only ending all hope for the prophecy but also stripping any hope of your brother ever claiming his Electus,” Pip argued, and thankfully it was enough to get Sophia to pull the blade off me, before getting back to her feet.

I rubbed my sore throat, thankful it hadn’t cut me this time.

Jesus fucking Christ, what was with this time anyway?! Just how many times was I going to find a fucking blade at my neck!? To say that I was pissed, was an understatement!

Hence why I snapped at Pip,

“See, I told you this would happen, that’s why I didn’t tell her!”

“Keira, please,” Pip pleaded, making me snap,

“That is not the first time she has tried to kill me, you know!”

Sophia jerked her head back to me and scowled before scoffing,

“Before today, I have never laid eyes on this… this woman!”

“Ha, yeah, okay, whatever you say, Saphira… You tried to poison me with tea when your brother Arsaces, as he was known at the time, wanted to be with me. You didn’t trust me then either!”

Her eyes widened, before she asked incredulously,

“How… how is it possible… how do you know those names?” Her tone was no longer accusing but one of pure astonishment.

“Because I am from the future!” I snapped, far too angry.

“Explain!” she barked back in return, but it was at this point that Pip hissed,

“Oh no! There is no time, Sophia, you have to trust us.”

“I don’t have to… oh, my brother is coming,” she said, stopping herself when she must have heard him coming up the stairs.

“What?!” I hissed. Which was when Pip ran up to Sophia, grabbed her hands, and said,

“Please, my princess, please just trust us and we will tell you everything. Please don’t risk her future.”

Sophia looked over to me, and I held my breath as she started to look at me under a different light. Then she nodded, and Pip and I released collective breaths. However, it wasn’t for long, as Draven was in fact the next one to walk inside the room. The sight that met him was one that made him stop short, clearly not expecting us.

In fact, the look on his face when he did would have been priceless had I not been terrified as to what was going to happen next. Because had it been my Draven from my own time, then I would have just ran at him, and jumped up into his arms, before teasing, ‘yes we are scheming against you, be afraid, be very afraid’. To which he would have laughed and just kissed me senseless, current company be damned.

But as for this Draven, well he first looked to his sister, then to Pip, and lastly to me.

“What is the meaning of this?” he asked, folding his arms, making me want to squirm on the spot. What seemed like the longest seconds of my life passed me by before finally Sophia smoothed her expression and said,

“Apologises, brother, it seems we have a misunderstanding.”

“And I am keen to hear of it, seeing as this was not what I expected to find upon retrieving my other dinner jacket.”

“Oh no, what happened?” Pip asked, making him frown as if this wasn’t important. However, it was still the era for gentlemanly behaviour.

“One of the servants spilled some wine,” he said in a dismissive way, tossing the one he had in his hand off to a chair as if to make his point. It also had to be said how handsome he looked without it. His waistcoat framed his muscular torso deliciously. Okay, focus, Keira, angry Lord of the manner present.

“It seems as if Miss Williams got lost, for Pip asked her to retrieve some luggage that was accidently placed in her husband’s room. Miss Williams simply forgot which room it was and wandered in here by mistake. Pip and I were just in the process of saving her when you walked in,” Sophia told him, and I swear, my mouth nearly dropped, and I felt a strong need for a round of applause. Damn, she was good. Even Pip looked impressed.

However, I quickly had to shake myself from the awestruck expression I was currently sporting, as Draven turned suspicious eyes on me.

“And you, Miss Williams, what do you say? Is this the way of things?” he asked, his voice so stern that I found I had to clear my throat first before daring to speak.

“I… I am afraid it is, my Lord, and I am so sorry. Never would I have dreamed of intruding on your… your personal place… space… I mean persons. I… wouldn’t have dreamed of you… to do that,” I said, stumbling for words and, thankfully, he lost his anger and instead looked amused. He even stepped closer to me, and after inclining his head slightly, he teased,

“Wouldn’t have even dreamed of me… is that so?”

I bravely raised my eyes to look at him and the second they locked, I was swiftly captured in the depths of them. But I wasn’t the only one who seemed to be enthralled, as neither of us could look away. It was only when Sophia cleared her throat that the spell was broken.

“Yes, well, we better let you get back to the dining room, for we will show Miss Williams the way to the right room.”

I nodded my head, and muttered a quiet, shy, “Good evening, sir.”

Then I stepped away from him, where I swear he looked to have been trying to get closer. He even looked as if he might try and stop me but refrained from doing so at the last second. I then made my way to the door, where the other two were standing. Yet before we could leave, Draven had one last thing to say.

“I will see you down there, but before you go, have one of the footmen sort the mistaken luggage, for I do not want Miss Williams burdened with such heavy weight… is that understood?”

“Oh, but it is no bother as I…” I started to speak but he interrupted with a stern look and asked again,

“I said, is that understood?”

I swallowed hard this time and nodded my head.

“Yes, my Lord, thank you.”

He at least looked appeased somewhat before he turned his back on us. Which meant I was free to leave with the others, now hurrying towards my own room. However, before I could, I felt my arm being grabbed as Sophia stopped me.

“This conversation isn’t over,” she warned, but before I could say anything in return, she let me go and walked down the stairs.

“Don’t worry, she will come around,” Pip assured me with a warm smile.

“Pip! Let us not keep them waiting,” Sophia yelled, giving Pip cause to shrug her shoulders and hurry after her. This after first giving my hand a reassuring squeeze.

Well, at least someone liked me here, I thought, quickly feeling a headache coming on. Because now I was asking myself, what was easier, being Draven’s prisoner or being…

His maid?

I missed my bed.

No, scrap that, I missed my bed with Draven in it.

I missed the feel of his arms around me. I missed that nook I used to lay my head against, between his shoulder and his chest. I missed the way he would stroke my hair, playing with it absent mindedly as if I had become a habit of his. The way he would trail his fingertips across my bare skin, the soothing motion easily lulling me to sleep.

I missed it all.

It was no doubt why I tossed and turned now, wondering if prisoners had beds this uncomfortable. Although I knew I shouldn’t be complaining, as it was a damn sight better than the pavilion I had tried to sleep on the night before.

Guilt gnawed away at me as I thought of what I kept putting Draven through. I continued to show up, only to leave again and cause him pain every time I did. It was why I had written him that letter, knowing that I couldn’t go without saying goodbye. Without giving him some peace by knowing the real reason why. My only solace was knowing that these timelines would end the moment we all made it back. But just like in Persia, I had no idea how long that would be.

I just wished that I had been able to get that damn coin while sparing Draven the idea that his Chosen One was finally here. But it seemed that our kiss last night had been all it had taken for him to know the truth. To know who I was to him.

Well, at least Pip’s mojo was working, although it was obvious Draven still couldn’t help feeling something for me, just like he had done back in Persia. Which meant my time here needed to be short, as the longer I had been locked to that ancient time, the more Draven had fallen for me, despite him believing I wasn’t his Chosen One.

Now, I would be lying if I said this didn’t affect me. As it was reassuring to know that we were meant to be together, with or without being his Electus. That he would have chosen me, no matter what the Fates had declared to be prophesied.

I released a sigh and tried to get comfortable once more, however, the second I rolled to my back, I felt a strange presence in the room with me. So, I opened my eyes and jerked when I saw a shadowed figure standing over me. Of course, I was surprised, even more so when a hand covered my mouth to stop my scream.

What didn’t surprise me however was the demonic face of my sister-in-law trying her best to scare the shit out of me. Her cracked skin and large, cut grin with its deadly teeth… teeth that were all spread out in what I once believed to be a horrifying smile was nothing to me now.

A face I had seen many, many times before. So, this may have worked in the early years of when I first got together with her brother, but not now. Which is why I simply raised an unimpressed brow, pulled her demonic hand from my mouth, and asked,

“You finished?” Her face was a picture, even in its Hellish state, and she jerked back from me in shock. As for me, I sat up, yawned, and stretched out my arms.

“What time is it?” I asked sleepily, making her look at me as though she had just seen a ghost.

“You’re… you’re not afraid?” she asked disbelievingly.

“Why would I be? I’ve seen your face like that over a hundred times. It’s part of who you are… now come at me with a tea pot and dressed like a Persian Princess and that might be another story,” I told her, making her jerk back a little.

“You were telling the truth,” she stated, making me say,

“Yeah, I was.”

Her image changed back into the one I was more used to seeing. This before she urged, “Come with me.”

She swiftly left the room, leaving me to scramble up from the bed and follow. I wasn’t really worried about what I was wearing, as it seemed people in this time wore floor length full sleeve dresses to bed. Now how they didn’t feel suffocated, I didn’t know. One of the greatest joys in life was taking off your bra and getting into bed naked or in soft, comfy PJ’s.

In fact, if I were to stay here, I reckon I could double Draven’s fortune by inventing the first fleece pyjamas with kittens drinking coffee, because, well, I doubted most English people from this era would know what a sloth was or had eaten an avocado, for that matter. My first customer would have most certainly been Pip, she would have lost her freakin’ mind!

I continued my pointless PJ musings as I followed Sophia, and not surprisingly into a vacant bedroom where Pip was waiting for us. This made sense, as I knew Zagan was most likely still asleep in their own room. Most gentlemen may have had their own bedrooms in this era, but Supernatural couples were a different matter. They certainly wouldn’t have slept without their wives, proper society be damned. Adam, for one, would have no doubt gone crazy without his wife for a night. Making me wonder whether she had tied him up again, as she was certainly a dab hand at escaping him.

Poor bastard.

I had lost count of the amount of times he had burst into a room, with shackles on his wrists, broken chains trailing behind as he searched the space like a mad man. Which made me believe that we wouldn’t have long… unless this time she told him exactly why she was sneaking out.

“Time to explain,” Sophia said the second the door closed.

I looked first to Pip, who was sitting cross legged on the bed, her nighty being a damn sight shorter than mine. Bloody hell, what did she do, just rip the bottom half off? It looked frayed and uneven at the edge.

Power to the sisterhood and all that!

“Go on, give it to her,” Pip encouraged, making me take a deep breath before laying it all out for her.

“Okay, so I used the Janus gate, jumped into the fountain, and it brought me here… well, not here exactly but… okay, not important… the point is, I am married to your brother back in my own time. I am his Electus and I travelled back here because Fate needed me to. And, well, it wasn’t my first time, hence how I knew so much about you from two thousand years ago.” Again, she looked astonished. But then she got back to her feet and said,

“I need to inform my brother at once.”

Unsurprisingly, Pip’s reaction was the same as mine, as we both rushed to the door and stopped her.

“No!”

“You can’t!” we both shouted, making her startle backwards.

“Why not?”

I released a deep sigh before explaining to her.

“I am not of this time, Sophia, which means I can’t stay.”

Her eyes widened before narrowing in thought.

“But surely if this is explained to…”

My laughter cut her off, the frustration easy to hear when I told her,

“Time Traveling 101, if Draven finds out I’m his Chosen One, he doesn’t let me go. Trust me on this, Sophia, I have been a prisoner twice now by your brother’s hand, and each time I have had to escape him in order to try and get home. So, tell me, do you really think your brother in this time will be any different?”

Now this made her take pause before admitting,

“Perhaps not. Alright, so we agree to keep this from my brother… for now.”

A relieved breath left me, one echoed by Pip, despite the undercurrent of doubt in Sophia’s last few words.

“Now tell me, what is your purpose here?” she asked, making Pip say,

“Oh yes, that’s what I really wanted to know also.”

Sophia’s head snapped around as she asked,

“You mean you don’t know?!”

“Well, not really, no, but I know she needs my help getting home,” Pip offered in a helpful tone.

“Yes, we have established as much, but there must be a reason for Janus bringing her to this time… so, what is it?” she asked me, making me shrug my shoulder before admitting,

“Well, I followed our daughter back in time as it was really her prophecy to…”

The sound of Sophia’s shriek stopped me short.

“Daughter?!”

“Whoa! Did you say daughter?!” Both Sophia and Pip said, making me look to the door and hiss,

“Yes… jeez, keep it down.”

But Sophia didn’t look like she was listening, as she deflated back into a chair, a beaming smile morphing her stunning features into something breathtaking.

“A daughter, my brother will have a daughter… I will have a niece,” she sighed, making me do the same as I couldn’t help but place a hand at her shoulder and say,

“That is not all, for he will also have two sons.”

Her eyes widened even further and before I could say another word, she was up out of the chair and hugging me.

“Then it is true, my brother will finally know happiness.”

I couldn’t help but feel my chest swell as tears pricked my eyes.

“Which is why I must get back to my family.”

She pulled back, holding me by the tops of my arms long enough to say,

“And I will help you, in any way that I can.”

“Thank you, to both of you,” I replied, my heart feeling lighter with the burden of the task ahead.

Just knowing that I was not alone made it easier to breathe. But it meant even more to me when she took my hand in hers and replied,

“You are welcome…”

“…My Sister.”