Page 7 of The Time Of Queens (An Afterlife Story #2)

7

QUESTION EVERYTHING

DRAVEN

W hat was it about her?

The question had plagued me for days, as it seemed I was unable to stop my eyes from searching her out. And why? Why would I care when I had my Electus to find? The woman I was certain was meant to be mine. Was this simply the Gods way of testing me? To throw the first tempting human in my path to see if I would fail or not?

Whatever it was, I could be certain of one thing… it was maddening. I had never felt so unhinged. So unsure. So obsessed by a single being. The memory of having her in my arms, of that kiss, was at war with all others that included that damn lady’s maid!

Keira.

It was a beautiful name, and one that strangely resonated with me. Just like that of her stunning blue-grey eyes that reminded me of a storm at sea. And just like the impending storm, they were dangerous and alluring enough that I couldn’t look away. I knew her hair was fair, the few pieces I had seen framing her face like spun gold. A sight that only made me wish to rid her of those hairpins and release it from its confines, so as I may see it flowing freely around her pretty face.

Of course, her appearance in my household may have rattled my once imperturbable countenance but I hadn’t stopped in my search for the girl. The one with a kiss powerful enough to bring me to my knees and lay my kingdom at her feet. A kiss I could not stop thinking about… that unfortunately equalled to the amount of time I spent thinking about a certain delicious looking maid.

If I could only understand it. Make sense of this fascination I had with her… then I could then spend my time ridding myself of such an affliction. I found myself creating excuses just to get close enough… her scent intoxicating.

In fact, had I not already discovered my Electus, I would have questioned if this maid could have indeed been my Chosen One. But now that I knew the distinct difference, I knew that she was not. I was almost sorry to know it hadn’t been her.

I was furious at myself for even being affected by her beauty when first seeing her emerge from that carriage. The way I had nearly hurried to her aid as she slipped when missing the last step. It had to be said, she was certainly a clumsy little thing. Yet instead of finding the lack of grace an annoyance or off-putting, I found myself feeling the opposite. I found it endearing.

Perhaps it was because it gave me an excuse to put my hands on her, so as to steady her. Every time we touched, I felt a jolt of something so powerful, I would have believed her to have bewitched me. But then hadn’t I had that same thought when thinking to my tasty little intruder?

Like I said, it was maddening.

After searching her out when she had spilled tea on herself, I told myself swiftly that I would stay away from her from that point on. Why, then, did I find myself standing outside her door well past the midnight chime and once all others had retired for the night? Why, then, did I find my hand placed upon the wood, only feeling calm and reassured when hearing her heart beating its gentle rhythm within? When hearing the softly way she breathed in her sleep, wishing to have heard it whilst lying next to her.

My hand curled in frustration, making a fist as I lowered it to my side, before forcing myself to move away from her door. Because I knew if I remained for any longer, I was in danger of stepping inside and doing something I would regret. Like scooping her up into my arms and carrying her back to my own room before laying her out on my bed.

Instead, I walked back alone, not needing any candle to guide my way. As for the girl I just walked away from, I felt as if I could guide her anywhere, if she would only let me. Just like when gripping her waist after she bumped straight into me earlier today.

I had actually been on my way down to the service wing to check on her. The sight of the red skin I hoped not to find blistered. But then I also questioned the marred skin I had spotted the edge of her sleeve before she had snatched her hand from mine. In fact, I had been foolish in mind to demand she let me see her hand, but then she had collided with me.

After that, everything but the feel of her overtook all else. But then she had started to choke, and my thoughts centred solely on her wellbeing. I hit her back so as to force the obtrusion up from where it was caught, seconds away from using supernatural means. But despite taking care enough not to apply too much pressure and hurt her, she brought it up.

The most adorable look of horror swept across her face as she stared down at the piece of fruit she had been choking on. But then she started coughing and my concern was back, giving me the excuse to touch her again. I didn’t know why, but my need to care for her seemed natural, whereas the feeling should have felt far more foreign. Even more so, the temptation to tease her, anything to entice that delightful blush to grace her pale skin. A tone far paler than my own, for I questioned if she had ever even seen the sun. It was like she had been bathed in milk.

I resisted the urge to lick my lips at the thought of tasting her. And as for teasing her, well how could I not when I saw where she thought it best to hide the evidence of her choking?

Gods, she was fucking adorable.

Gods, she was fucking dangerous!

I stormed inside my chamber and growled, my frustration mounting enough for me to swipe some glass figurine from my mantle, smashing it on the floor. Then I dragged my jacket from my shoulders and made for the secret passageway that I now cursed the Gods for ever existing. Walking up its steps, I asked myself how the girl had known of its existence.

Once I was on the rooftop, I released my wings and took to the sky. For I just needed to feel free from all that remained. The walls were like a tome I needed to escape from, for it held nothing but bitter memories. The girl who slipped through my fingers and now the girl I was not free to claim. A labyrinth for me to get lost in, as my mind churned with new emotions I could barely make sense of. Each choice for me to make was nothing but a new wall for me to find myself up against.

I was a fucking king!

A king in shackles.

I landed with a resounding thud in the dirt, now faced with where Vincent had told me he had found her curled up sleeping. The thought twisted in my gut, for I couldn’t stand to think of her out in the cold. What if she got sick, what if she wasn’t eating… what if she got attacked? All of it plagued me on a constant loop, and the only thing powerful enough to disturb it was another face that replaced that of one I hadn’t yet seen.

Keira.

Where would she get such a name?

Irish in its origins I had discovered, and ironically meant ‘dark’ which was amusing considering how much her soul was like finding a light in the storm. Although its edges seemed to hold a trace of something I couldn’t explain. As if its intensity were being contained and what I was getting was a muted version. A filter held over the sun so as not to blind me.

Question was now… who was holding her back?

The next day, I found my temptation had only grown. The sleepless night did nothing to aid my foul mood as my frustration was most certainly mounting. More of my men had returned with nothing to show for their travels. Not a single sight, mention, or lead that would aid in discovering where my Electus may be.

In fact, it had only been the sight of the little maid that had calmed me enough. For I had just slammed shut the door to my office on the way to speak with my brother when I hear her little gasp. Our eyes met and, like always, I found myself under her spell. One she had no idea she cast, for she seemed to be under the same influence. Although this time, her eyes were wide and a little unnerved… no doubt by my abrupt behaviour.

“My apologies,” I said, which was so shocking that I ended up shaking my head at myself as I walked away. What in the Gods holy name was I doing, apologising to a maid! I was a fucking King, I didn’t apologise to anyone, let alone hired help!

I was losing my gods be damned mind.

“You need to have that maid of yours do something more constructive with her days here!” I barked at Pip the moment I joined them in the drawing room in hopes of finding Vincent there. My sister and Pip shared a tense look before Pip agreed.

“As you wish, my Lord, what would you have her do?”

“I do not know! Just something that takes her from lingering around the house all day!” I snapped, leaving as Vincent wasn’t to be found. However, I only made it a few steps before I found myself stopping. Then with a sigh of frustration I walked back inside the drawing room and told her,

“Nothing too strenuous, mind you… and nothing that takes her too far from the house. In fact, perhaps some dusting or such… unless she has allergies?” Pip looked as if she was trying not to laugh, and I suppose I had to commend her for not giving into the impulse as she was a daring type of soul. But being married to who she was, then she had to be.

“No allergies that I know of, my Lord,” she told me with a smirk.

“Good, then perhaps that would do her better. For it looks like rain,” I added, something that ended with me frowning at my sister, who snorted into her tea.

I left with a grit of my teeth and a barely restrained growl. Especially when I heard my sister and her friend burst into laughter at my expense.

Damn it, but I needed something to kill.

Or at the very least to pummel with my fists.

Now where the fuck was my brother?!

“Is that for the master’s lunch?” The second I heard her voice inside the dining room, I stopped my search and found myself getting closer, listening in.

“Yes, why, what is it to you?” one of the maids scorned, not sounding all too happy at being asked.

“Oh, nothing much, just that he hates cucumbers, is all,” she said in a blasé tone before walking from the room, and I found myself slipping behind the wall so as she wouldn’t see me.

“What are we hiding from?” My brother’s voice actually made me jolt in surprise, as he was right next to me. But then when he saw her walking past, he made a knowing sound.

“Ah.”

“She knows of my dislike for cucumbers,” I said for no other reason but the surprise I still felt.

“I must confess it is not wildly known,” he teased, and normally I would have taken the bait in the form of punching him in the gut. However, I found my mind elsewhere, asking myself why hearing such had made me… what was this emotion… touched? Satisfied, perhaps?

“Good lord, it is worse than I thought,” Vincent commented, finally enough to have me taking notice of him… or was it because she had now disappeared from sight?

“What?” I asked, giving him cause to raise a knowing brow. This before he turned away, shaking his head at me. “You have something to say, brother?” I prompted, folding my arms, my foul mood quickly returning.

“Oh, I have a lot to say, but none of it is what you would wish to hear,” Vincent replied with a scoff.

“Just speak your mind and save me the time wasted in getting it from you.”

“Fine, you wish to know what I’m thinking, here it is. Leave the maid alone.”

I rolled my eyes and walked to the decanter that was on a side table. I poured myself a large glass of port and downed it in one. Of course, it wouldn’t take effect, as I would need to consume a whole crate for that to happen. Perhaps it was time to chase the green fairy, for I had a few bottles of absinth in my office, despite it being banned.

“The maid is not a threat,” I finally told him.

“Are you sure about that?”

I slammed the glass down hard enough for it to crack but not shatter. “I am.”

“I have seen the way you look at her, brother,” he argued, making me grit my teeth.

“Yes, and how is that I look at her?” I asked, my tone nothing short of a sneer.

“As if she was the one you lost.”

I scoffed.

“Then I would say that your enhanced sight is failing you… perhaps it is time to tie another female to your bed… or should I say two of them, as isn’t that what it usually takes to sate your dark tastes?” I threw back, trying to rile him. But it was a foolish endeavour, as this was my brother I faced. Hence why he smirked, for he knew he had scraped a claw down my nerve.

“Yes, and when was the last time you partook in the indulgence? For perhaps you too, brother, need reminding of who you are allowed to take to your bed.”

I snarled angrily.

“You dare speak to me of our laws when I am the one who fucking makes them!” Again, his imperturbable countenance only riled me further. The way he shrugged his shoulders made me grit my teeth yet again.

“Even Kings need reminding of them.”

I released a sigh and warned,

“Leave it alone, Vincent.”

“I will, when you leave her alone… if this is merely a case of wetting your wick…”

I slashed my hand down furiously.

“I said leave it!” I snapped, tossing the glass into the fire before turning around and promptly walking away.

Fuck! But I was in two minds to take to the skies and fly away or try and go in search of a bottle and drink myself into an oblivion.

However, when making my way to my office, deciding on the second option and knowing exactly where I would find a bottle of the green goddess, I ended up finding something else entirely,

A delicious little maid I was undoubtably obsessed with.

One who was hiding…

Under my desk.