Page 93 of The Time Of Queens

And then there were what he obviously classed as more valuable items to him. The ones that had their own glass display cases. Like the letter I had written to him, displayed with the long length of my plaited hair that lay on a purple cushion beneath it. Or all the special outfits I had worn over the years. My dresses displayed on expressionless mannequins. Even my wedding dress had its own special case.

I remember once asking him if we had a storage room once so as I could clear out some things in my closet, that dress included. He had simply told me, ‘I will take care of it’. And now I knew what that had really meant.

But there was one piece that fascinated me the most. The symbol of when it really all began. I walked closer, unable to help reaching out and trailing my fingertip along the case that held a black velvet jewellery stand. Yet this wasn’t to display the family jewels or any diamond necklace.

No, this one held a simple…

Punk style tie.

The first thing Draven ever took off me. One I believed I had lost all those years ago. It had been after Layla had stabbed me and Draven had healed the wound. It had been the start of so much between Draven and I, and clearly this piece meant something dear to him.

“Draven… what is all of this?” I asked, astonished by what I was now seeing. It was like some shrine… no, much more than that, a collection of everything that was… well…

Was me.

“This… this is…” I stammered to speak but it didn’t matter, as Draven had found his voice, now stepping up behind me, his reflection seen in the glass.

“The depth of my obsession with you,” he said simply, yet it was far from simple. It was his heart. It was the depth of his love for me,

I turned around, unable to contain it anymore. I threw my arms around him and cried into his chest, whispering,

“Oh Dominic.”

He wrapped his arms around me and cradled my head to hold me to him. Then I pulled back to look up at him, my eyes held suspended, my gaze coated in a watery hue.

“I had no idea,” I told him, and he started shaking his head, his eyes full of tenderness when he spoke.

“How could you not know how much I love you? For you are my everything. The reason I welcome my lungs to breathe in the morning. The reason I know now what it is to truly smile. To laugh…to hunger for your touch,”he added, giving me a squeeze before continuing.

“But more than anything, you are the reason I know what it is to be afraid.”

I frowned at that, before realising what this was. Why he had told me it was time. Why he had brought me here after all these years.

“I have never known fear until the day I met you. The fear of losing someone I loved so fervently, I would rather die than know that you are not of this Earth…that you are not of this time.”

My tears became too heavy and fell, others quickly following when he asked,

“Do you understand now?”

I nodded, unable to say anything more than a whispered,

“I’m sorry, Draven.”

After this he pulled me back into him and said,

“I know… I know, my love…as am I.”

“What do you have to be sorry for?” I asked, sniffing and wiping my nose on my sleeve like a child.

“That I wasn’t there to protect you.”

“But you were!” I exclaimed, giving him cause to shake his head down at me.

“No, Keira…I wasn’t.”he said, emphasizing what he meant and making me feel bad, until I decided to prove a very good point. So, I reached up on tiptoes and told him,

“No, but you’re here now and you know what I think…”

“What?” he asked, a small knowing grin playing at his lips.

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