Page 11 of The Time Of Kings

However, the second it became very still and deathly silent in the room, I knew it didn’t look good for me. Not when it was as if someone was trying to listen out for something they thinkthey might have heard. I even tucked my head to my chest and held my breath, trying for a short time not to breathe. Something that must have worked as the next thing I knew, I heard the door opening and closing again, telling me they had finally given up and left.

When I braved another look and could no longer see any feet, I couldn’t help but sigh in relief. Especially knowing how close I had come to being caught. Which was why I stretched out and tossed my shoes out from under the bed first. Then I quickly followed, and I shimmied out on my belly by dragging myself forward.

But then I soon realised my mistake. However, it was too late as I cried out in shock when two booted feet landed right in front of me. Something that gave me no other option than to try and scramble back under the bed. A hasty retreat that didn’t exactly go to plan when a man’s large hand reached down and grabbed a fist full of material by my shoulder. Then he used this hold on me to easily slide me from my hiding place and haul me upwards to standing.

Jesus, he was strong.

But then I wasn’t surprised. Not when I soon found myself looking up at the last face I expected to see here. One I was equally thankful for as much as I wasn’t.

Hence the second I felt the blade held at my neck, the first words out of my mouth couldn’t be stopped. Not when I looked at my husband’s furious face and said…

“Ah bollocks.”

6

TIME FOR ANOTHER DRAVEN

The moment he heard me say this, he tipped his head slightly to one side, as if it had been the very last thing he expected to hear coming from me.

But then after he had pulled me up to my feet, at the same time rising fully from the bed himself, I couldn’t help but be transported back thirty years. Back to all the times where Draven intimidated the hell out of me. Because right now this man was as far from the man I now called my husband as he could get. Just like my Persian King had been. And like then, it looked as if I was right back to dealing with a completely different king than what I was used to. And let’s just say that the blade held at my neck once more was a clear indication of that.

“Looks like I just found my thief… albeit a short one,” he added, looking me up and down, his eyes widening the moment he clocked my breasts as he must have thought I was a man to begin with. Although, with a face full of mud and wearing what would be considered men’s clothes, then I couldn’t say that I entirely blamed him.

“You’re a woman!” he shouted, and I would have laughed at how quickly he dropped the blade the second he realised this.

“Last time I checked, yes,” I said, now stepping away from him after he let me go. Again, I would have chuckled at the astonished expression on his face, that was if I wasn’t too busy trying not to gawk at him. Damn, was there ever a time that Draven lived through where he didn’t look hot as holy hell in a heatwave?! Jesus, a girl had no time-traveling hope. In fact, I felt like looking up to the Heavens and shouting,

“OH, COME ON!”

It was like they just wanted to toss temptation in front of me dressed like some living period drama, sex fantasy, and then popped the corn ready to watch the show. Now just give the man a lake to pull himself out of and my underwear would self-combust into satin dust.

He wore a fitted, double-breasted, black tailcoat with a high collar and a bone-coloured waistcoat. He also wore black knee breeches, and high, cuffed black boots that were far cleaner than my own mud-stained sneakers. His perfectly tied black cravat was a stark contrast to the pristine white shirt he wore underneath the suit, one that fit his wide shoulders and muscular arms like a glove. But even like this, there was no way to hide that powerful frame of his. One that was making me all hot and bothered just thinking about seeing it naked again. And it was no wonder, because Mr Darcy had nothing on him, and neither did my other period drama fantasy man…

Mr Rochester.

I found myself having to look away, as if this would help in cooling down my libido. While avoiding his gaze, I took in the room in more detail than when first running in here to hide. Naturally, being Draven’s bedchamber, it was a large room with two windows that faced the valley next to the castle and the same road I had been chased down.

A huge four poster bed was situated against the wall facing the windows, that were each dressed with thick red drapes. Eachone tasselled with twisted gold threads. This matched the bed covers and the rest of the grandeur of the room. A theme that continued, with red velvet upholstery adorning dark spindled chairs tucked beneath a round table with three clawed feet.

Even more dark furniture dominated the space, just like Draven did, and even more so when my eyes kept creeping back to that incredible bed of his.

It was made from wood so dark, it almost looked black. The back and canopy above were carved with panels that held detailed scenes of a war between Heaven and Hell. Winged Angels were dressed like knights, aiming their swords down at the Demons emerging below. At the end of the bed were two large square columns about waist height that were topped with spindled bases. Above these were carved urn-shaped pillars that held up the other side of the canopy.

It was a beautiful bed, if not a little intimidating. But then I also knew that Draven certainly had a particular taste, even in our modern lives together. And speaking of Draven…

“Who are you?” he asked, folding his arms and, again, forcing me to take another step back before telling him,

“Well, I am certainly not a bandit, that’s for sure.”

He scoffed and said, “Nor do you look like a lady.”

Now it was my turn to scoff, despite seeing my own reflection numerous times and thinking the same thing.

“Well now we have established that I am neither a bandit nor, in your opinion,a lady, you won’t mind if I just see myself out,” I said, emphasizing the word ‘lady’ with a good deal of bitterness while trying my luck by making my way to the door. However, despite this hope to make it out of here as easily as that, I unfortunately didn’t get far. Not when Draven was blocking me in a second by slamming the door shut from behind me.

In that same second, I could feel his powerful presence millimetres away from my back, he was so close… something that turned out to be a bad thing for me as I inhaled in the delicious natural scent of him.

“That will not be happening, little thief,”he hummed in my ear, momentarily making me close my eyes and give in to the temptation of pretending, just for a second, it came from my husband. But in the end, reality was the elephant in the room, making me huff before turning around to face him. Then I told him sternly,

---