Page 7 of The Time Of Kings

“Your mother is right; Janus wouldn't have allowed her to pass if it wasn't her destiny to do so,” her aunt said after placing a gentle hand at her shoulder.

“Then why isn't she here with us?” she asked in return once pulling back from my embrace and looking to Sophia for answers. However, I spoke before she could, having my own thoughts on the matter.

“I don’t know, but what I do know is that she will be where the Fates have decided she needs to be, for her own future. She mentioned something about Jared and a portal, perhaps she has a King to save and the only way to do that, is in the past,” I said, feeding that hope I knew we would all need to survive this. And the barest hint of relief on her face told me that it had been what she had needed to hear. As for me, I could only put my trust in this being the truth, as Ella was like a daughter to me. Meaning I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her.

“I hope so… I just hope I did the right thing… maybe if I hadn’t said anything, then maybe she would have…” Amelia started to say, making me cut her off quickly. I did this by taking her face in my hands and before she could play the blame game, starting with ‘what ifs?’, I told her firmly,

“No, Fae, don’t go there… don’t do that to yourself because none of this was your fault. She made a choice, just like we all did.”

She released a heavy, weighted sigh and nodded, now accepting her Fate just like we all had to do. There was no going back now. Hence why I released my daughter and looked around the place, asking the biggest question of all,

“Speaking of which, where are we?”

“Is this England?” Amelia asked, now looking to Sophia, who was basically going to be the expert on the past here.

“Could it be…?” Sophia murmured to herself, and I could see the spark of recognition in her eyes. But even if the scenerythat met us could have been a thousand places on this Earth, I too couldn’t help but feel as though Amelia was right. Right in asking if this was indeed England. A very bleak looking one at that, with its endless rolling green hills looking more ominous than picturesque, thanks to the miserable grey weather.

“What is it, where are we?” Amelia pushed when Sophia didn’t continue. The question was soon forgotten when we realised a vital member of our party was missing.

“PIP!” she shouted, no longer caring for an answer to her question, making me quickly do the same. However, the second we heard a very distinct groan coming from the hedges, we all went running.

“So yeah, not in Kansas anymore,” was the first thing Pip said when we found her sprawled out in the greenery, trying to disentangle herself from the branches. Her swivelled and dishevelled wig would have been comical, had our current situation allowed for the laughter.

“No, we most definitely are not. Come on, we better get moving and try and find shelter out of this rain,” Sophia said, taking charge and lifting the hood of her cloak against the rain, prompting us all to do the same. But then the second she started to scan the area wearily, I couldn’t help but feel as if there was something important she wasn’t telling us.

And speaking of words left unsaid, my own fears were soon realised. Because I hadn’t just found myself in the past once more.

No, I had done so by becoming once more…

A Mortal.

4

BUT OF COURSE, THERE WOULD BE A KIDNAPPING

Ishould have known that finding shelter had been too easy, despite feeling as if I had been half drained of life! But then I guess it made sense. Especially seeing as the first time I had been sent back in time, I hadn’t yet experienced thirty years of being immortal.

Nor had I accumulated decades of Draven’s essence in me to then have it stripped away like I did now. Although, I wouldn’t be saying it like that in front of Pip, that was for damn sure. No doubt, she would have made some ‘super sperm bank’ joke and be questioning just how much over thirty years of having sex daily that would equate to. Okay, so now I was the one thinking about it and that was without Pip planting the seed…no pun intended.

Jesus, but I had forgotten what being mortal was like and right now, I felt as if I had just run a marathon I hadn’t trained for. I had felt like a damn zombie by the time I was helped up into the loft area to sleep, feeling as if finding this cottage had finally been the break we had needed.

Oh, but how wrong I had been!

I knew that the second I heard a commotion outside, making me bolt upright. My daughter’s name was about to pass my lips on instinct, that was until I felt her hand still in mine. The relief was instant, despite it only lasting a few seconds as I pulled myself over to the edge of the attic space and saw our next problem unfolding. And there were Pip and Sophia, now looking out of the windows with concern etched on their faces.

So, with nothing else to do but face the next shit storm situation, I forced my sluggish mortal body down the ladder ready to join them. However, the second I saw them both pull on their cloaks, I was simply left asking,

“Gods giddy aunt, what now?”

“Do you want the bad news or the worst news?” Sophia asked, making Pip pipe up with her optimistic response,

“And here I thought no news was bad news.”

“I think you’re referring to people who want to be famous, and something in this moment, we most definitely do not want to be,” I commented before stepping up to the window and seeing for myself that it didn’t look good.

“Shit, what did the owner of the house do, call the national guard?” I asked when I saw all the armoured guards on horseback approaching down the road, with a carriage to boot. Bloody hell, what time period did we step back into?!

“Don’t worry, we will handle it,” Sophia said calmly, making me frown.

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