The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (48 page)

The minutes felt like hours before anyone said anything. I wasn’t sure whether he was waiting for me to speak first or if he was just giving me time to process all that had happened.
I found myself unable
to look at him. All I could see was the black cloaked image plunging a blade into a naked girl’s body until it eventually went limp. This was the worst nightmare of all. Everything else that I had seen tonight had been a light summer breeze during a skip in the park compared to this.

“Keira, look at me
!
” His voice cut through the silence like an impenetrable force and I had to supress the urge to shudder. 
I finally made myself look
from the floor where I had done
all my thinking. He towered over me like an impending doom and I didn’t know what I feared the most, losing the Draven I knew
,
or meeting the dangerous Draven that I knew
he could be. But as soon as I m
et his intense eyes
,
I knew
I had nothing to fear but the temper that I had witnessed
so
many times before, like looking down the barrel of a smoking gun, the danger over but it could still leave a nasty burn once touched.

His powerful hands came to his head and removed his hood so that all his face could
now
be seen. His features told me he was less than happy but concern was evident in his expression. He started to study me and found my cried out eyes all puffy and red. My pale skin looked white with fright and my hair was now loose from where it had been pulled and tugged at from the wall of souls. So in short
,
I was a mess.

His hand came to my face and for a minute I found peace with the feel of his
gentle
touch on my cold cheek. He traced my jawbone before getting to my b
itten lips and his frown
brought me back to my situation.
I moved my face away from his hand and stepped back, once again into Ragnar’s solid frame. This made all the muscles in Ragnar’s chest tense as I could feel it
ripple
through my back. This wasn’t
the only reaction it caused as
now Draven looked furious. 

“Would
you like to explain to me
exactly what she is doing
down here?” His anger echoed off the T
emple walls and it took me a minute to realise his question wasn’t directed at me. Was he really going to blame Ragnar for this mess? My answer came in way of Ragnar’s sorry voice.

“My Master…I do not know
.
” It was the first time that I heard Ragnar sound anxious.

“You failed me! Find me the one that granted her access…NOW!”
This was by far the most extreme I had seen Draven
’
s temper get
,
as the solid stone walls seemed to vibrate enough
so
that stone dust fell from various parts of the room
. Ragnar just nodded and bowed before shouting his own command at some nearby guards. I watched as he walked from behind me towards them and it was only when I felt my own arm being taken hold of
,
did I turn and look to find Draven pulling me
off
to one side.

He swung me round so that he
could back
me against a stone statue of a warrior on horseback. I now stood at the base of the horse’s legs and when I looked up I saw the huge animal
’
s head looming over me. My eye line begrudgingly came back down to meet Draven
’
s cold dark stare, which had me soon wishing I was on the horse
’
s back next to the warrior.

“Who
brought you do
wn here?” His question took me
back.

“N
..
n
…nobody
,
” I stuttered out in a timid voice
.

“Keira
,
do not try my patience, WHO?” His shouting didn’t help matters and it made me want to shout back but for some reason I had lost all fight in me. I had resorted back to that same Keira that I was when I first met him. I had r
eturned back to my pathetic way
of being intimidated and controlled. I could feel him invading my mind for the answers and I knew that I would have to find the control that made me different from the rest. I swallowed hard and took a deep breath bef
ore answering his interrogation
.

“Like I sa
id, nobody brought me down here.
I found my own way…regrettably!” I added bitterly.

“You’r
e lying! I warn you Keira do NOT
lie to me
!
” He was getting more irate with each word from my lips but I had to defend myself.

“Am I?
” I snapped back.

“I am going to give you one last chance
!
” One eyebrow raised and he folded his a
rms but with his fists clenching as the seconds ticked by I found myself looking over towards Ragnar for some comfort.

“There is no use looking at him for help, if
he
would have done his job properly the
n this would have never happened!
”
He barked out.

“Don’t blame him! He had nothing to do with any of this. And I am tired of trying to te
ll you that I came down here on
my own!” At this his eyes
flamed deep purple followed by a change into
his Demon form. The last time I had seen him like this was in a very different light but to be on
the receiving end of his rage made me want
to cower to the floor. However my dignity wouldn’t allow me to react to such extremes, instead I just backed away until my body was flush against the cold
stone. This
however
,
wasn’t the only reason for the cold chill that travelled down my spine.

He looked as though
he wanted to explode
,
but then a figure behind him came into view and his twisted face started to calm
. He turned his head as the cloa
ked figure approached but his body still rem
ained facing me, all tensed,
ready to pounce.

“Dom, calm yourself. Why would she need to lie
?
” Vincent’s voice had an instant effect bringing his glowing body back down to his normal olive skin colour and this was when I realised that sometimes even without my gift
,
that if they wanted to, Angels and Demo
ns could make you see their true
forms. This I had never known until now and it answered some of my unasked questions. I watched wide ey
ed as his human form returned and
his anger subsided.
I found myself mentally thanking Vincent and when I saw him wink at me
,
when Draven
’s
gaze fell back on me
, I
knew that he had heard me.

“Then explain to me brother, how d
id she gain access through the T
emple doors?” He didn’t take his eyes off me while he addressed Vincent
,
but Vincent was the one person that wasn’t intimidated by his brother’
s temper. If anything he had lain
witness to it more than anyone else.

“I am sure the answers will soon reveal themselves in time
,
but until then
,
why frighten the girl you love into telling you something she clearly doesn’t know
?” His words hit their
mark and almost instantly his features softened into the Draven I knew. I stood deadly still like a caged bird as I watched another figure emerge and even though clo
a
ked from head to foot, I knew it to be Sophia. She didn’t speak but now that we had a bigger audience Drav
en let out a sigh before barking
his next command.

“Ragnar
,
take Keira back to my chamber
, I will be there shortly
.
” He turned his back to me and this is when I finally found not onl
y my voice but also my own temper
.

“NO! I am going home
right now
and you can’t stop me!” I stepped forward at this and I could almost
hear everyone hold their breath
as I made my millionth mistake of the night. He stopped dead and swooped his head round slowly adding to the dramatic affect.

“Oh can’t I?” He said calmly looking me squarely in the face
,
but I stood firm.

“N…no! I am not one of your desperate prisoners or one of your…your frightened servants that has to obey! I’m… I’m my own person and I want to leave!” Everyone looked stunned and all I could hear was my heart beatin
g as though
it was about to explode out of my chest and into Draven
’
s arms.

He closed his eyes for a second, like he was also living his own personal nightmare and for a minute
,
I thought he was going to let me have my way but then he motioned for Ragnar to come closer.

“Very well, s
o be
it! Ragnar take Miss Williams
to my chamber
, even
against her will
if need be! A
nd by no means
let her leave…Do you understand?
” This wasn’t a question
but
more like a threat.

I was left dumbfounded!
I couldn’t find the words
that
I wanted to scream out at him. This was the first ti
me he had ever referred to me using
my last name and the coldness of it hit me l
ike a sledgehammer. How dare he
! This time he did walk away from me and only when Ragnar came behind me to edge me forward did I react.

“YOU CAN’T DO THIS!”
I started to run after him but Ragnar caught me before I
even had a
chance. I wanted to hit him, to pound my fist
s
against his chest and
make my palm come into contact with his
arrogant
face!

“Oh and Ragnar
...
do not
dare to
fail me again!”
This was the last thing he ordered
before walking back into the Temple.

“No
,
my Lord
.
” Ragnar said through gritted teeth and it was the first sign that he was about as happy as I was
,
with our situation.
Ragnar seemed to take no pleasure in forcing me to go the way he wanted me to.
I struggled and wriggled which was pointless against Ragnar’s iron grasp. He directed me towards a door I hadn’t
yet
been through and it
made me wonder how big this honeycomb
of
endless
ancient
rooms and corridors
really
was?

W
e
walked
through into another room that l
ooked more like a massive cloak
room and this was the first time I had seen one full of
actual
cloaks! All
of which were
hanging down like lifeless bodies with their backs to us. They
were
all in order of colour and I guessed this was down to rank as I saw ones in red, purple and even white but there was none in black and I knew why. Draven was clearly the Master
of this little T
emple
’
s
cult
and therefore only black was meant for him.

As soon as the door closed behind us
,
Ragnar had obviously had quite enough of me making a fuss
,
so he w
h
ip
p
e
d
me round to face him and when I was expecting to see an angry face
,
I was shocked when I was met with one of hurt and regret.

“Please stop
making this more difficult than
it has to be. I take no pleasure in forcing you to do something you clearly do not want to do
,
but
considering your regard for others I will ask you to ob
ey…just for once, make this easier
for me
.
” This had been the longest sentence I had heard him s
peak and it wasn’t without its e
ffect. I felt sorry for him. He didn’t want to be my bodyguard any more tha
n I wanted him to
but we were stuck with each other and through this mutual suffering
,
it seemed to bring us closer or at least on the same page.
So
I just nodded
my response and turned to walk by his side instead of in front with him gently pushing me.