Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 2 (Afterlife saga Book 7)

  Draven seemed to be working his way down my body because next he seemed fixated on my hair. I could feel him gathering it up in his hand and stroking it as if he couldn’t believe how soft it was.

  “My golden fleece.” I heard him whisper into my hair as he raised it to his lips. Trying not to react was getting more and more difficult, especially with him calling my hair ‘His Golden Fleece’, something he had also said to me back in my time. It felt like such a profound moment that if I’d have opened my eyes tears would have been seen shimmering on the surface.

  He released my hair, letting it fall to the side and I felt him lean down towards my face. I wanted so badly to suck in my bottom lip, not only from habit but also to stop it quivering. Was he going to kiss me?

  “I know you are awake Little Lamb, for I can hear your heart beating wildly in your chest,” he said above me and my breath caught in surprise. Of course he knew, he wasn’t the human in this scenario, I was!

  “Now open your eyes and look at your King,” he ordered gently and I had no other choice than to obey. So I did as I was told and opened my eyes to find him now sat back looking down at me curiously. Once again seeing him with a full beard, darker tanned skin and a scar on his face was a surprise that took me a second to recover from. It was almost like seeing the man you loved for the first time after years of being apart. However, it was his eyes that were my anchor in this emotional storm as they hadn’t changed. Dark and soul consuming, they still had the same affect over me and I swallowed hard before being able to speak. He watched the motion, not missing a thing, which only made it harder to know what to do next.

  “You have no words for me I see,” he said raising an eyebrow in question and I couldn’t help but blush for reasons unknown.

  “I…uh…what are you…” I started to say and you could see he was starting to wonder where this question was going and for someone of the supernatural I gathered he didn’t get many question of who or what he was, so I quickly hurried on.

  “…doing here? I meant to say what are you doing here?” I asked in a flurry of words that didn’t seem natural at all. He didn’t yet answer me but with his eyebrow still raised I knew now what I had missed in that sentence.

  “I mean My Lord, I meant to say My Lord I promise.” I told him and that expectant look quickly turned to one of great amusement. And wow, if I thought Draven smiling was sexy back in my time, then now with his rough exterior and barbaric look, it was simply off the charts sexy!

  “I must agree with Ranka, you are certainly different and I confess that intrigues me greatly,” he told me honestly and I was left hoping that I intrigued him in a good way, one that would keep him interested for as long as possible.

  “Is that why you’re here…um, My Lord?” I asked remembering at the last second to add on ‘My Lord’. This made him smirk at me before saying,

  “Good girl, you learn quickly.” This of course made me blush and bite my bottom lip which drew his eyes down to the action.

  “Why do you bite your lip like that?” I quickly let it go hoping he would do the same with his question but when he nodded I knew he was still waiting for his answer.

  “You make me nervous,” I told him truthfully and he seemed surprised by my response.

  “Because I am your King?” he asked obviously curious to know. I shook my head and once more told him the truth, which reminded me that the reasons I was about to give him were the same as when we first met.

  “No, because you are a man who could hurt me.” He seemed truly affronted by the idea and sat back putting a small amount of distance between us.

  “You think I want to hurt you?” he asked in a harsher tone that held a hint of anger. I decided to sit up so that I could be on an equal level to him because I couldn’t stand him looking down at me and how overpowered it made me feel. So I pushed myself up with my feet and tried not to wince as it hurt my ribs. He frowned watching me struggling but thankfully remained quiet on what was obviously his displeasure. Once I was sat up and had also put a little more distance between us I replied to his question.

  “Not physically, even given your size against my own. No, there are other ways to hurt a woman and they can sometimes be more painful than being struck…trust me, for I have felt both before this day,” I told him looking down at my lap, not trusting myself to look into the eyes of the man who in my past had both broken my heart and made it whole all over again.

  “Of that I have no doubt,” he said reaching out to lift my face up to look at him so he could caress my sore cheek.

  “Having the face of a Goddess comes with a price as much as being King does. But trust me Little Lamb when I say that I have no cause to hurt you. You will be safe here in the palace as no one would dare touch what is mine.” I wanted to tell him so many things at that point but knew I couldn’t as I hadn’t been here long enough to prove what I feared would come true by being here in his harem. But there was one thing that I couldn’t help but ask,

  “Am I?”

  “Are you what, Little Lamb?” he asked me as his hand moved further into my hairline and his thumb stroked the apple of my cheek.

  “Yours?” I uttered on a whisper looking deep into his eyes and quickly getting lost in them as I’d always done. This was the first time I got the smallest hint of purple that heated his eyes for a second before he answered me with an intensity that couldn’t be mistaken.

  “Yes, you are now mine.” His eyes and his words both held me captive for what seemed like the longest time and we shared a silent moment together that I was too scared to break for what may happen if I did. In the end it was neither of us that broke it but the outside world had other ideas.

  “I demand to see who is there! There were strict instructions. Now let me in there!” We both heard Parmida’s voice ordering the guards outside and I winced knowing this wasn’t good. I looked to the doorway and then back to Draven to see his eyes had grown hard and it was a chilling sight.

  “Let her enter,” he ordered sternly and I jumped at the new tone in his voice.

  “I told you Little Lamb that you were forbidden to…Oh My King!” She stopped her scolding as soon as she saw the King turn his head to her, realising her mistake. She quickly dropped to her knees in the doorway and lay her forehead to the pillows.

  “Forgive me My King, for I had no idea to expect you or I would have prepared her for you, I beg your forgiveness for she is not ready to…” She started rambling her apologies and the King quickly put a stop to it with a curt,

  “Enough!” This made Parmida jerk in fear and seeing Draven this way was enough to make me want to shake in fear right alongside her.

  “I am not here to take her to my bed odalik, for I am aware that she is injured.” On hearing this I knew I was slightly insane for feeling disappointed that he didn’t want me that way yet and how crazy was that considering that he was also currently scaring the shit out of me!

  “Yes my King of Kings, of course you did, forgive me,” she said getting up when he motioned for her to raise the top half of her body, so that he was no longer talking to the back of her head.

  “Tell me of her injuries,” he demanded in that harsh tone but then when he looked back at me he did so with softer eyes.

  “It looks as if she has been kicked hard by a mule in her stomach and ribs but the bruising should heal quite quickly, My King.” Draven’s eyes hardened when he heard this and he motioned with his two fingers for me to come closer. I wanted to as much as I didn’t but in the end knew I had no choice but to do as he ordered. I scooted forward a little, shifting my bum down the bed.

  “Lie back,” he ordered and again I swallowed hard at what that commanding voice did to me.

  “Do as your told, girl!” Parmida shouted behind him and Draven turned his head to the side in a threatening way to glare at her over his shoulder.

  “You do not speak to her in my presence again, am I understood odalik?”

  “Oh yes My King, pleas
e forgive…” Draven ignored her grovelling apology and turned back to me to cut her off.

  “Don’t fear me, my Lamb,” he said nodding for me to do as I was told and this time I quickly lay back. He seemed pleased and I could tell that he wanted to say something more but thought better of it whilst we had company. However, what he didn’t think better of doing was reaching down to my waist and pulling free the loose knot of silk at my side. He slowly pulled up the material through his strong hands and my heart stopped beating for a moment. Then once it was free he started to pull it back, about to reveal my body to him. I don’t know what came over me but in that second I forgot which Draven I was looking at and my hand shot out to grab onto his hand that still gripped a fistful of silk.

  Parmida sucked in a horrified breath that I had just restrained the King from doing as he pleased, but right then that sound was lost to the both of us. Because this was the first time I was touching him of my own free will and there was something so profound in that single moment in time that it’s strength affected us both. A first and simple touch for lovers destined to be together for the rest of all eternity was a powerful thing indeed, even if only one of us knew the real strength behind it. Looking into Draven’s eyes in that moment and I knew there was an unmistakable connection that was unfortunately something he didn’t understand.

  And that’s when it hit me. This was just like history repeating itself only now the roles were reversed. When we had first met back in my time he knew what I was to him and he knew the importance of that first meeting. But to me, I was left in the dark and feeling confused at the intensity of it all. Well looking at Draven now he was experiencing that first touch as I had done. And when he looked down at my hand over his it was as though he was trying to figure out what it was he was feeling.

  “I know you won’t hurt me.” I told him softly, hoping that only he could hear my words as they were just meant for him. He looked back up at me and for the first time it was as if he was seeing me as the girl who was always meant to be his.

  He nodded as if he didn’t trust his voice and I removed my hand from his, breaking the connection for a short time. But when he pulled back the silk and revealed my body underneath then the connection was back in the way of invisible sparks that seemed to crackle between us like little electric forks that licked out at our skin.

  His eyes scanned up over my body as if he was trying to burn the sight to memory and I blushed at how lustful his gaze became. Then after spending enough time looking at my breasts with heated eyes, his look hardened once more when his gaze returned to my wrapped torso. He ran his hand along my side and I squirmed making him stop.

  “Did that hurt?” he asked me with a rough edge to his voice.

  “No, sorry My Lord, it just tickled.” I said giving him a little smile which was nowhere near as powerful as the grin I received in return.

  “I will have to remember that,” he said smirking at me and once more proving that sometimes two thousand years didn’t change a man from being who he was. I blushed again and when I went to bite my lip he placed his thumb on it and shook his head.

  “I don’t think my restraint will last, Little Lamb,” he confessed and I felt my cheeks get even hotter.

  “How long before she is well?” Draven asked Parmida after turning his attention back to my wrapped stomach.

  “A month,” she stated and I almost choked when swallowing. A month! I couldn’t wait around here for a bloody month, I would turn into a raving lunatic!

  “You do not agree, my beauty?” Draven asked me and I must admit, I preferred it to Little Lamb.

  “It is not my place,” I said because I knew it was the right answer to give in this time but he raised an eyebrow again and this time it was joined with a playful smirk.

  “I am making it your place,” he told me and at that moment I wished we were alone again so we could continue the playful banter.

  “Then in that case I don’t agree.”

  “Good because I cannot wait that long. Make sure to have her ready for selection in three days’ time,” he demanded and Parmida looked as if she was choking on a bug.

  “But my King, it cannot be done, there is still so much work to be done and she is…”

  “Perfect as she is.” Draven finished off her sentence for her whilst looking back to me and once he saw me go for my lip again he shook his head silently telling me of the risks in doing so. I was almost tempted to push and see where it got me…underneath him I hoped.

  “Then you are pleased, My King?” Parmida asked in a hopeful voice.

  “Indeed,” he answered, making Parmida relax her tense shoulders.

  “Now leave us for a moment but wait for me outside for I wish to speak further on a matter that concerns me.” Parmida nodded and said,

  “Of course, My King.” Then she rose up and quickly left the room, leaving us alone once more. Draven looked back down at me scanning my body once more and when his eyes reached mine he surprised me with his honest question.

  “What are you?” In that moment I wanted nothing more than to tell him who I was, or more importantly what I was to him. His Electus. His Chosen One. But even greater, that I was his wife from another time. I wanted him to know everything, but I knew that I would also be risking everything if I told him any of these things.

  “Your servant, My Lord,” I told him trying to keep as much pain from my voice as I could. He gave me a look that told me he very much doubted my words and panic almost set in…did he know something?

  “You are something to me it is true, but I am not sure if it is as my servant yet…but we shall soon see,” he said as if talking to himself and trying to understand our connection, which again begged the question…why hadn’t he figured it out?

  “My Lord?” I said playing the part as a naive little slave girl, one I could tell he was quickly trying to unravel to find the real girl underneath.

  “I will take my leave of you now,” he told me and my face dropped. I didn’t want him to go…I never wanted him to go.

  “Now what is that face for?” he asked obviously liking the idea that I was disappointed that he was leaving me.

  “Do you have to leave?” I braved asking him and his grin told me I hadn’t made a mistake.

  “No, I am King and can do as I wish but as a man looking down at a broken body I want to take to my bed, I know that in order to heal such wounds then what my Little Lamb needs is rest and plenty of it…and as your King it is my command, understood?” he added sternly and I knew I couldn’t argue as I would have done in my time. But this was his time and he was my King, one I had to obey if I knew what was good for me.

  “Yes, my Lord.” I told him in a quiet voice and it was obvious to him that even though I said the words he wanted to hear, I still didn’t like it. He grinned enjoying my neediness. Then he leaned down getting closer to my face and I could only hope that the night would at least end in a kiss.

  “I can see that your hidden defiance will amuse me greatly and your reluctance to see me go is even more pleasing, but be warned my little beauty…” he paused, this time getting closer to my ear so that he could whisper his threat,

  “…once I have you in my bed, I may not want to let you out of it again.” I sucked in a breath showing him without words how much his own had affected me.

  “Goodnight…My Golden Fleece,” he whispered over my lips without touching them and I was tempted as never before to reach up and kiss him, knowing that once I did, I would capture him as he often did to me. But I couldn’t risk it, not yet, so instead of acting on my impulse I let him lift himself up off the cushions and watched as he left my room. I didn’t want him to go and after seeing this softer side of him that I knew before, my mind was at least put more at ease from when he had been holding a knife to my throat. Yes, I would definitely say this was a big step up from our first encounter.

  I listened for a moment and scooted closer to the entrance so that I could hear what was being said
.

  “Ranka has concerns for her safety and believes I should have her moved out of the Harem.” I heard Draven say back in that stern voice he obviously used when speaking with his servants. I heard Parmida cluck her tongue against the roof of her mouth before saying,

  “What does a warrior know of such things? Your Harem is a peaceful place, my King.” I would have liked to have seen Draven’s face if I’d have acted on my impulse and stuck my head out through the curtain to say… ‘Uh, I beg to differ with that one’.

  “That is quite a different account from the one Ranka expressed to me a short while ago. I believe Stateira was involved?” ‘Yeah I’ll say’ I thought frowning at the way that bitch acted. I could tell by the way Draven asked this that he had his arms folded and no doubt was trying to catch Parmida out to see if she was lying or not.

  “Nothing but a bit of healthy competition for your affections, My King and after all, Stateira needs to state her position as head concubine. She is known as your favourite and has been for some time, so I believe this was all she was doing.” I held my breath and waited for Draven’s response, hoping that he would deny this claim and at least give me a small shred of hope that her position wouldn’t be what it was for much longer. I was almost cocky with it, grinning behind the fist that I held at my lips. Surely any minute now he would tell her his obvious feelings for me.

  “Whatever her reasons for this hostility are not my concern but her actions are. I want her kept away from my new concubine, is that understood?” I smiled hearing this, but it turned out to be too soon.