“Rule!” Again I interrupted which I was happy to note seemed to be pissing him off.
“Care! And would you please stop putting words in my mouth, it’s very…”
“Amusing,” I said not even trying to hold back the grin. Even when he growled at me I found myself closer to laughing than flinching.
“Annoying!” I don’t know why but I had the biggest urge to fling myself at him and start tickling him just to get him to start laughing. When Lucius laughed his whole face transformed into a man full of life and sexy ease. But then with the flick of a switch he could turn into a glacier, frozen and without feelings.
“Me? Never!” I said and this time he did smile.
“Caspian is right, you are trouble.” He said, the teasing Lucius was clearly back.
“Oh and you’re a saint are you?” I said before I could think of his past but instead of blowing up he merely shrugged his shoulders and shocked me by saying,
“No, a Disciple but that is beside the point. While you are here you are in my care. I am not ignorant of the prophecy.”
“No, but I am!” I snapped. I was sick of everyone knowing my path in life and expecting me to just live what people knew and I didn’t.
“And that is no doubt for the best, trust me on that my little Keira girl.”
“Trust a Vampire, who haunted my dreams and then kidnapped me to hold me ransom for some bloody relic…yeah, yeah, I will trust you.”
“Other than that one time and holding you against your will, have I hurt you?” I wanted to scream at him about making the deal with Malphas but that would have got Pip in trouble.
“Not yet no,” I said begrudgingly. He laughed and I looked up from staring at my folded arms.
“What?”
“I find you look utterly adorable when you sulk.” I grunted at his teasing and when I gave him a glare, he tried to mask his smile under his hand.
“I have to say I am surprised,” he said as another thought popped in his head.
“I hate to ask, but why?”
“Because when I came in here I was expecting female hysterics.”
“And why would that be?” I asked and grabbed the bottle and spare glass considering it was obviously meant for me. I also decided not to be a bitch and poured him one as well. He nodded his thanks and shot it back as he waited before answering me.
“Well given what you just saw Draven doing in your absence, I think you’re handling it rather well.” I flinched as though I’d been stung but I put on a facade of indifference and said with confidence,
“That’s easy, I don’t believe it’s true.” His reaction put a dint in my beliefs as he looked sorry for me, eyes creased at the sides, full of pity. An emotion I utterly loathed. This made me down my drink in one and thankfully Lucius didn’t start laughing at me when I started coughing at the burn it created.
“You have that much faith in a King surrounded by beauties when his lover is out of his reach?” He said without a thread of the smug arrogance that I would have expected.
“Well you don’t see me banging every Vamp with man bits!” I snapped.
“I would rip them to shreds, so it is a good thing.” He said frowning. I ignored his confusing statement and continued,
“So you don’t have faith in him then?” This question wasn’t supposed to make me sound as vulnerable as it did.
“I know the man well but I must confess, I have never seen the King in love. But I don’t see a motive behind Layla’s actions. She stabbed you so I have no doubt that Draven had sentenced her to be disposed of. I am actually surprised he waited but then he is a man of honour and is ingrained with a sense of duty.”
“You mean giving her a trial?” He nodded and refilled my glass.
“Although I hear Sammael didn’t fare so well.”
“Well, he was trying to kill him at the time.” I added, taking a sip this time as I didn’t fancy a raw throat for the night.
“Yes, so I heard. A fight I would have enjoyed watching.”
“I’m not going to ask which side you would have been rooting for.” I commented, making him raise an eyebrow and hide his smirk behind his tapping fingers.
“You seem to know a lot about when I first arrived, which brings me back to what I really want to know.”
“Which is?” His fingers left his face and motioned me to ask.
“I want to know how long you have known about me and how you knew I would find Draven.” I asked and he hesitated about what to tell me. At one point it looked like he would end our conversation altogether and just leave but he must have thought better of it because he leaned back again and started to swirl the amber liquid around his glass.
“I have known of your existence since you were seven.” I wasn’t so shocked at this thanks to what I’d heard in his exchange with Layla on the balcony.
“And how did you know that?”
“The gypsy you saw that day in the fairground was somebody loyal to me.” This did shock me. Lucius had been involved with the day that changed my life forever.
“So she told you, not Draven.” I stated the obvious.
“I went to great lengths to keep you a secret.”
“How so?”
“I sent the gypsy back to you on your seventh birthday and told her to hide you from all of our kind until fate brought you to Draven. Unfortunately it caused the reverse effect for you and gave you the sight of our kind.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“So finally I have someone to blame for making my childhood Hell on Earth!” I shouted wishing that all those bloody supernatural beings would just have left me the hell alone!
“No, I was the reason you survived it!” He shouted back leaning forward like he was ready to spring for me.
“Oh come on! How much damage could a seven year old do?”
“You have no idea, do you?” I rolled my eyes and threw my hands in the air in exasperation.
“Obviously not!”
“Ok sugar, then let me lay it out for you, nice and simple. No Chosen One, then no prophecy, no prophecy then no more living! Get it?” I shook my head in denial. What was he talking about?
“What do you mean no more living?” I asked, my voice now down a few octaves.
“Just as it sounds little girl, no you then no us…what...? Am I not being blunt enough? Try this… if you don’t live then nobody does!” No, he was wrong…this…I, this wasn’t right… he wasn’t right…was he?
When I couldn’t stop shaking my head his frown smoothed out and his tone became lighter, softer and more soothing.
“I told you Keira, it is better that you don’t know.”
“I can’t believe it, you’re wrong…this isn’t right…I cannot…how can I be responsible for whether or not your kind lives or dies?” He looked down as I waited for his answer but I couldn’t stand it.
“Just tell me!” I felt myself breaking, crumbling into a pit of dangerous knowledge that I could drown in. His eyes flashed up at me but his motions were calm and something in his gaze looked too much like regret and compassion mixed as one.
“You’re mistaken Keira, I was not talking about just my kind.”
“I…don’t understand, what did you mean?” I had a sinking feeling in my belly like I had swallowed a snake and it was coiling tighter and tighter inside me.
“I talk about Judgement day Keira, about the end of days.” I shot out of my chair like someone had just lit it on fire! NO, NO, NO! This was not true, this could not be possible.
“You’re wrong!” I almost screamed at him.
“I am not wrong Keira, you are chosen in this prophecy.”
“And what on earth am I supposed to do?” I could barely think, let alone speak, however the heart breaking question was asked and when I heard his answer my legs crumbled beneath me and I fell to the floor in a hopeless pile. But his answer came again, whispered in my ear as he held me close,
“You will prevent the end of the world!?
??
Chapter 25
Don’t Let it be True
“Ssshh, little one, do not stir and do not fret.” A whispered voice penetrated my shadowed mind and I felt like a frightened fawn running through a sinking forest. Then I was right there. The forest was real and I was no longer a skittish creature but a human girl running for my life along with everyone else. Trees came crashing down towards me and I was tripping over myself to get clear from their path. Then what I saw was the earth opening up and the edge of the clearing disappearing like it was falling over the edge of the world.
It was as if some mighty hand of a God was dragging the surface of the planet towards him and nothing could run fast enough to get away from the end. I couldn’t understand why, what had I done wrong, what had caused this to happen? Then I felt it and I doubled over in pain. Like my insides had been stabbed from the inside out. I looked down at myself in the mist of endless destruction and saw my life heading the same way. My stomach had been slashed open and I had failed. My death had brought this hell to earth and I fell to my knees in horrendous defeat.
As soon as my knees touched the ground the world went up in flames the height of the few trees still remaining upright, but it was no good now as the blaze engulfed them.
It took away everything but me. I still remained untouched but waiting no less to die from my mortal wounds. The falling world behind me was getting closer and closer as the tremors increased, causing my bones to rattle. I raised my head up at the red sky that mirrored all of that below it and screamed,
“WHY?” And then my reply was more than I could take. It was the sound of a baby’s screaming all around me.
That is what finished me off as I finally died.
I sat bolt upright and my body was wracked with soundless sobs. Immediately arms wound around me and covered me in a safe haven. I found a shoulder and never wanted to move. The male scent engulfed me and wrapped around every inch of skin that still trembled. “Ssshh sweetheart, it won’t happen. It was just a dream.” Lucius’ words sunk in and when I finally was able to breathe without dragging in the air in gasps I pulled back. At first I didn’t think he was going to let me but after another minute of holding me to him he let me go enough to stare into his soulful eyes. I couldn’t stop my hand from reaching up to his face and cupping the side in my palm. He surprised me by closing his eyes and leaning into it.
“You know what I dreamt?” I asked, my voice hoarse from the sore throat.
“Yes.” His answer was simple but his shuddered reaction spoke volumes. It was obvious the regret he felt in telling me of my fate. He still kept his eyes closed and in turn I still kept my hand to his face. We remained like this for a while, each drawing from it the comfort we both needed. Like two statues under the moonlight that filtered through the glass windows. In this moment, if any other was to witness our position they would think of us as nothing short of lovers, captured in a symbolic embrace.
I still wore my dress and all at once it felt constricting against my hot, sticky skin. Lucius still wore his trousers but nothing else and like this, his skin matched the moon’s glow. He was perfect, as though every last bit of him was sculpted by an artist of the Gods, carved into white marble that gleamed in this dark room. I didn’t even try to prevent my hand from moving from his face down his neck. My fingers curled round his shoulder, not surprised at the strength it found there. With a mind of its own it moved down further still and the tranquillity of both his body and the room was making my every movement scream out.
He still kept his eyes closed and the long, thick eyelashes created little shadows under his lower lashes. I heard him suck in a jagged breath when my hand continued its forbidden journey downwards. I felt the hard contours of his chest and then lower still on the firm lines that marked out the strength in his hardened abs. I traced each line with a butterfly touch and when getting down to the lowest set of his six pack his hand bolted out and seized my wrist from further movement. His eyes flashed open and for a few moments our locked stare was the only communication that was needed.
“There will be a point of no return between us Keira, but that point is not today,” he said through husky tones. Then he did something so out of character I froze. He leaned down and when I saw his hands come up to frame my face I thought at first he was going to kiss me and if that had happened I knew no power would have made me stop him and no power would have made him stop me. But he didn’t. Instead he just lent his forehead to mine and held my face to his.
“Why did you have to make me feel again, Keira?” He asked me and the large lump I swallowed could be heard clearly in the silence. I didn’t know what to say…Hell, I didn’t know what to think? What did he even mean by that?
I was just getting ready to try and find some words, any words that would slice through this confusing moment that had stopped time. Anything to get it to start up again, as it felt as if I was locked to him and just one word from me would break his private prison.
“I…”
“No Keira, don’t speak…don’t speak the words, not now…not ever.” He whispered into my skin and his thumb caressed my lips, getting ready to apply pressure if I didn’t take heed of his warning.
“I want you to close your eyes, can you do that for me Keira girl?” I found myself nodding without thought.
“Good girl!” He leaned to my ear and his whispered praise filled me with warmth. I did as I was asked and then felt his hands at my shoulders pushing me back with ease. I knew it was foolish but I trusted him. I trusted not the Vampire above me but the man trapped beneath the evidence of God’s punishment.
I felt his presence held over me waiting for I didn’t know what but if any more time passed he would soon find me trembling.
“Luc…Lucius?” I couldn’t say his name without the waver in my voice. He didn’t reply to my unspoken question but he knew his answer and at the sound of my dress being ripped open I found his reason. I shrieked out and tried to move but found the sheet quickly covering me, calming my racing heart. I never once opened my eyes and now more than ever I didn’t want to.
“I want you to be comfortable in sleep pet. Your body was overheating under the lace, from your nightmare.” He said softly and he was right. The sheet cooled my skin and felt amazing.
“Turn over.” He directed me with his hands on top of the material, rolling me onto my stomach. I tried to breathe normally but when I felt his hand snake under the covers I tensed and dragged in a heavy breath.
“I promise I’m not here to take advantage of you my girl, I just want you to sleep peacefully that is all, I will not look again.” I felt his hands undo my bra and slip it from my arms, all the while keeping his promise which included keeping my body hidden. I lifted my body to help him remove the satin cups from underneath me but I shuddered at the feel of his hand as it brushed the side of my breast.
“So soft!” He purred in my ear, making me shiver as he then kissed the sensitive spot there. Then I felt his weight removed from above me and travel further down to my waist. He straddled my legs, sitting back on my thighs and his hands came at me from either side, gathering up the sheet as he inched closer to my hips. I couldn’t help every time that I felt his touch, flinching like being scalded, cold hands to warm skin that unbelievably created even more heat.
He hooked his thumbs into the elastic of my underwear’s waistband and so, so slowly, with his palms and fingers holding the rest of my flesh, he pulled them down, feeling every part of me as he went. God, what his touch was doing to me! I felt so betrayed by the need I had growing at my core that just one touch would be all it took to have me begging to be taken. I was so utterly ashamed of myself and my wanton need, that I had to bite into the pillow just to stop myself from begging to be given blissful release by Lucius and being left alone in order to achieve it by myself.
Thankfully Lucius tucked the covers securely round my body, tucking it into each curve. He pushed the loose strands from my face and kissed up m
y jawline and down my exposed neck only to kiss his way back up again.
“Dormir avec ma touché attardé assurer votre sécurité” (Means ‘Sleep with my lingered touch keeping you safe’ In French) His foreign words were like fingertips being dragged across my sensitive breasts right down my belly and through the damp curls he would find at the junction between my thighs.
“Lucius?” I said his name but it was too late, he was gone. And I was both glad and disappointed. However the ache inside me didn’t recede with his departure, if anything it started to increase and my hand went down to relieve the yearning. I turned back round to face the ceiling. I then started breathing faster as soon as my fingers made contact and when I saw Draven’s hands in my thoughts it wasn’t my body that he was touching…. It was Aurora’s.
I cried out in pleasure as the hands changed to those of Lucius and I shamefully came hard, crying out his name in nothing short of frenzied rapture. I lay panting still with my eyes closed but when I heard another person breathing, my eyes shot open. There, in the shadows, was a male silhouette breathing just as hard as I was, watching every move I made. My hand was still at the place of pleasure when I had called out the name that brought it crashing to its height and when the figure walked forward the same name escaped my lips once more.
“Lucius”
Chapter 26
Shameful Inhibitions and Ultimate Betrayal
I woke the next morning after one of the most mind boggling nights full of emotional roller coasters, most of which I didn’t want to think about. I had learnt so much in one night but none of it had done me any good, if anything I just felt even more vulnerable than I did before. I lay on my back and found myself just staring at the ceiling trying to make some sense of the last thing that had happened. The last name on my lips I whispered again and my heart started pounding like a jack hammer.
“Lucius!” Just the name made me bolt upright with the memory of last night’s mistake. I realised I was still naked and couldn’t help but groan as more images of the man flooded into every corner of my mind. It was as though I could still feel his hands on me, those confident fingers gripping the material of my dress and ripping it away from my skin. I felt my cheeks get hot and I started shaking my head in shame. I had pleasured myself to the thought of Lucius touching me and I didn’t know what was worse, that I felt like I had somehow betrayed Draven or that Lucius had stood there the entire time and witnessed everything.