Page 21 of The Time Of Kings

“The door… it is locked?” I asked, knowing it would be odd if I didn’t.

“It is,” he stated in a firm tone, and when I asked the obvious question, I could see the slight tick of annoyance in his jawline.

“But how?”

“It matters not… now stop evading the question I asked.”

“Oh, but it’s okay for you to evade all my questions, is that right?” I threw back at him and, again, I could see his frustrations mounting.

“It is simply a matter of importance, and in this, my question takes precedence,” he replied after nodding to my arms, making me tug nervously at the bottom of my sleeves. Something I hadn’t done in decades.

“To you perhaps, but I find my being locked in a room with a man I wish to leave as a serious matter.”

He jerked back ever so slightly, as if I had pushed him. This was before then standing straighter and folding his arms in his anger. I had to force myself to take my eyes off those delicious muscles bunching at his arms when doing this. His suit jacket did nothing to hide his impressive build.

I had always thought that Draven never looked quite so masterful than when he did this. It was such a commanding stance that it honestly had me saying, “oh to hell with it, just jump on him and distract him another way”. Because clearly, we both knew what we wanted. And he knew this, hence why calling bullshit on my wanting to leave…

“And pray tell me, do you kiss everyone you wish to leave with such unbridled passion?”

To which I beat him at his own game and snapped,

“Oh, and you wish to truly know that, do you?”

His frown deepened dangerously, telling me I was close to pushing too far. I might have known what my own Draven’slimits were in regard to jealously, but as for this one… well, I knew I needed to walk a cautious line.

“You purposely provoke me to lead the conversation down the path in which you choose, but I am telling you that it will not work… now tell me who hurt you, and therefore who I need to hunt down and punish for committing such a sin.”

I forced myself to save rolling my eyes until I was looking back at the window, taking in the rolling green hills and wishing I was anywhere but here.

Needless to say, I didn’t exactly want to divulge in the dark and depressing history behind my scars, nor did I want to have to deal with Draven’s murderous temper. Which was why I told him,

“In that case, you can rest easy, as I can assure you that anyone involved was already punished enough.” Myself included, was the part I didn’t add.

“Yes, well unless this punishment you speak off was of the torturous kind, one that ended in a long, painful death, then I believe our versions ofpunished enoughis a different concept entirely.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong there.

“Different or not, it is of little matter now.”

I heard him growl, making me flinch, and not just because it would have looked odd had I not reacted. So, I looked back at him, and his dark gaze narrowed in anger as he told me,

“If you think seeing the evidence of you being hurt is ever to be of little matter to me, then it is a lesson better learned now, before you find my sword imbedded in the chest of anyone foolish enough to think they could ever hurt you and live a single day after.”

I released a deep sigh and turned back to the window, hating that so quickly we had reached this point again.

At least the last time I was sent back to a different age, I’d had Pip there with the ability to mask my scars so they hadn’t been an issue to face. That was until she had dropped the magical shield that was preventing a Persian King from discovering I was his Chosen One.

Well, it looked like this time that ship hadn’t even had chance to set sail as it had never existed in the first place. Not when it was clear that Draven knew who I was to him straight from the word go.

I knew that every moment I spent here was getting more precarious by the second. Because if I knew anything of Draven’s of the past as well as I hoped I did, it was that they all had one thing in common. And it was the one thing that, in the end, the Draven of my time had not had the heart to do. And that was making me their prisoner.

Clearly, time had played a factor in my own Draven’s choice not to have me locked up in his Scottish castle and the tower, the one he’d once admitted to having ready for me. My Persian King… well, he’d had me put in shackles and denied me any hope to leave. And as forthisDraven, well, I hadn’t been here even a day and I had already found myself tied up. I was tired now after being tossed over his shoulder and finding myself behind locked doors.

So here I was, in just another castle, in a pretty cage and looking out the window, wondering how I would get out of this one. Perhaps luring him into a false sense of security would be my only option, despite how wrong it felt. Not that I had ever needed to fake anything when it came to Draven. Especially not the emotions he freely provoked from me. But it was the lies that I knew would have to follow where my greatest challenge lay.

It was the heavy weight of guilt that bore against my soul, knowing that I would be presenting a future to him that I knew never could be. Because this wasn’t our time like he hoped, andthe pain felt by that fact could only ever be a one-sided burden to carry.

Mine.

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