Page 87 of The Time Of Queens

“Don’t worry about me, but you must take this. Take the seal, give it to me in your time and I will know what it means. This is your reason for being here, Keira… it must be, for Fate has made it so.”

He passed me the satchel from around his back, making me grip on to it tightly. Then just as the sound of the Demon army got louder and louder, he gripped my face and told me,

“Every minute of every day, I will think of you, and I will love you for an eternity waiting for your return back to me.”

Then he kissed me, our joint tears a salty reminder of our combined heartbreak.

“Goodbye, my love,” he told me, and just as the first wave of Demons crashed through the doorway, spilling into the temple, I took the last few steps backwards, telling him,

“I love you, Dominic,always and forever.”

Then I took the last step needed before disappearing into the water.

The last sight I saw tore through me as Draven fell to his knees as his own heartbreak…

Consumed him.

32

HOME

The moment I fell forward, I cried out as the emotions erupted from me. The last sight of Draven’s anguish was more than I could bare. Tears fell to the marble floor as my head slumped forward, my whole body shaking as great sobs tore through me.

But then that’s when I heard it…

My lifeline.

“Keira!” Draven called my name and I looked up just in time to see him running for me. I was back in the temple, and with no Demons in sight, I cried out again. This time his name spilled from my trembling lips.

“Draven!”

His arms crashed around me, and he was quickly on his knees before me, holding me tight to him, just like he had moments ago. Only it hadn’t been him. It hadn’t been this Draven, the one I had been trying so hard to get back to.

So, I held on, knowing now that I had finally made it home. I had finally made it back to him, my sobs of heartbreak soon morphing to ones of happiness. Because I knew that the moment I left, that timeline would disappear. Meaning the Draven from1867 would have no memory of who I was. Which also meant my Draven had no memory of it either.

“Gods, Keira, I have been so worried!So, fucking worried about you,”he told me passionately, and as I continued to cry, he whispered down at me,

“Come now, calm yourself for me, sweetheart.”

I swallowed hard, nodding into his neck where I had buried my head. I felt him stroking back my dry hair, despite just coming from the fountain, it was as if I had never left. I was even wearing the same clothes as before I stepped through it. In fact, the only difference was the weight that I could feel at my back from where the bag hung holding the seal. Meaning that Draven had been right…

This had been my Fate.

My once more painful fate, for it was a bittersweet end to falling in love all over again. But in the end, none of this truly mattered, as now I was back to the one who had claimed my heart first.

“Oh, Draven.”

“I am here… I am here, my love,”he told me, cradling my head to him and giving me strength. But it was when he said this that something breached the forefront of my mind, giving me cause to pull away and look up in the wake of that realisation as everything else hit me.

“The girls! Ella, Amelia, where are they?!” I cried out, letting Draven help me to my feet, his expression tense as he led me further away from the fountain. He then turned his head towards where Pip was being held in a tight embrace by Adam. A man who was whispering down at her and looking like a man starved of her touch.

Then there was Sophia in the arms of her husband, who also looked to be consoling her, his relief easy to see. Because I had no idea what they had each been through since I switched times,and it pained me to think of the difficulties they might have endured.

But then as I continued to look around, I saw Lucius running at speed down the enormous hallway. Making me realise, just like last time, that what had been weeks for us, had been only minutes for those we left behind.

“WHERE IS SHE?!” Lucius bellowed in anger, making Draven curl his arm protectively around me as I sobbed out the words,

“I… I… don’t know, she should be… should be home.”

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