Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 2 (Afterlife saga Book 7) (11 page)

Chapter 47

We Will Burn

Hearing Draven cursing my choice to leave him as I lay dead in his arms was by far the worst of my nightmares so far. In that moment I could almost feel my heart shatter within my chest as I tried to grip onto it with both hands. I looked down at myself and saw that it wasn’t just my heart that was fading away into a million pieces but also the rest of my body. It was as though I was made from thousands of pure white skeleton leaves and someone had opened a window. I was slowly blowing away in this painted underground tomb with nothing to hold onto but my broken soul.

And as the last pieces of me floated away the memory of Draven throwing his head back and roaring his fury up at the Heavens would stay with me like a punishment for my unintentional sins. It was the way he held my bloody broken body in a crushing hold to his chest as black tears fell from the eyes of a Demon in utter agony.

“No…no…please…”
I pleaded down at him, but it was no use as it was drowned out by his demonic rage. I was floating so far now that it almost felt as though the pieces of me were being carried away by Angels.

“I didn’t want to leave…I never wanted to leave you…”
I whispered down at him because I was desperate for him to know this as my last goodbye. 

“Neither did I, Nāzanin.”
I gasped when I suddenly heard his voice whispered back in my ear as it broke the spell. I tensed my body which was once again whole and when I opened my eyes I was no longer locked in my nightmare…

I was back to being locked in this reality.

“Ssshh now, don’t be scared for I will not harm you,” Draven said looking down at me with concern. Seeing him this way immediately after seeing him in my dreams was like swallowing a bitter pill and having no choice but to force it down just so that I wouldn’t choke. I loved him but he wasn’t the man I fell in love with.

“I…I am not afraid,” I told him after clearing my croaky voice.

“Then why is it you shake like an arrow in the storm?” he asked as he lay me down on his bed made thick from the piles of furs. I looked down at my hands and frowned when seeing them not only still shackled but like he said, shaking like a leaf. I had obviously fallen asleep after he had left me and from how sore my eyes were, I gathered I had done so crying. I decided to answer him with the truth, no matter how childish it made me sound.

“I had a nightmare.” His reaction wasn’t what I expected it to be and when his eyes softened I could relish these few foolish moments to allow myself the time I needed believing I was looking at the Draven I knew…
the Draven from my time.
  It was the same look I always woke up to when he knew I had suffered from what my dreams had put me through.

“Then I am even more sorry that I left you alone,” he told me sweetly after he joined me on the bed and I blushed as he stretched out beside me. 

“Why did you?” I braved asking, too curious to let it go. He had his head propped up on his hand and bent elbow and I was flat on my back so had no choice but to look up at him. At first I didn’t think he would answer me as he seemed too lost in his thoughts to even hear me. He had started playing with strands of my hair and wrapping them around his thick fingers like he had so many times before back in a bed I called ‘ours’.

“Because I know that I should stay away from you as being with me will only bring you a heartache I will never be free to soothe.” The truth of his words surprised me as it sounded like a heartbroken confession. Therefore, I couldn’t help asking,

“You are destined for another aren’t you?” His eyes snapped up to mine with his own shock. He looked thoughtful for a moment as though he wanted to explain but then how would he? So in the end he settled for something else and unbeknown to him, it was equally as painful. 

“The Gods have their plans for us all,” he told me and I wanted to laugh out loud only it would have been without humour and more out of irony. 

“Yes and I often wonder what they will throw my way next,” I told him honestly before turning over and facing the other way, knowing that I couldn’t look at him any longer. I knew I sounded bitter but really, how could it be helped? I wanted to scream out at the same time that I wanted to run away. I think he was also thankful that he no longer had to see the underlying pain in my eyes for he let me turn from him without protest. Instead he put his arm under me, pulled me close and moulded his front to my back, making me feel even smaller than usual.

Thinking about what he’d said and combining this with his actions I knew there was no hope, even lying here in his arms the way I was. He was waiting for his Chosen One and even though he was obviously conflicted with how he felt about me, it made no difference and his statement about the Gods only confirmed this. Because if his reaction after just one kiss was to rip himself away from the moment, then I couldn’t see how we were ever going to take it further?

I couldn’t help but think about how much simpler all this would have been if he knew who I really was.

“I should leave,” I told him as I looked out onto his balcony into the night, wondering how many more people out there felt as lost as I did right then. I felt his arms get tighter before he growled in my ear,

“No, I do not permit it.”
I released a sigh before saying,

“You may not permit it but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t the right thing to do,” I told him softly, wishing the sound of my voice didn’t break the way it did.

“Time is all some of us have in this life and right now, having you here in my arms is enough to consider as a gift and the right thing to do is not ignore such a blessing,” he told me and I was just glad he couldn’t see the tear that trickled down into my hairline. They were such beautiful words but I knew the time he spoke of was only mine to lose, as I was mortal…
he wasn’t.

“Then I will stay,” I told him knowing this was what he wanted to hear, at least enough to make him relax his hold on me.

“Good. Now you can tell me why you were ready to take such a punishment in place of another?” he asked, stroking the hair off my neck and surprising me with the sudden switch in conversation. This time I was the one to tense in his hold and with it he could tell that it was a conversation I would rather not be having right now…
or ever.

“Parmida told me of what happened earlier with Stateira and her threats,” he added after I still wouldn’t say anything. I had a feeling this is what she had needed to speak with him about as it wouldn’t have looked good coming from anyone else, not when so many people had witnessed it. Again I didn’t say anything which no doubt prompted him to roll me around to face him so I was once again on my back with him looming over me.

“Explain this to me,” he demanded in a sterner voice. Right in that moment I so wanted to lie but once again I opened my mouth and the truth came out.

“I am not afraid of her.” I told him and this time my voice didn’t waver.

“Then why did you run from her?” he countered and this was where things got complicated. I knew I had to carry on what I had started to say and just hoped that he would keep his temper in check long enough for me to explain. 

“I didn’t run from her…
I ran from you.”
  I whispered this last part not taking my eyes from his. I knew the exact moment he started fighting with his temper and therefore the other side of him which began to show when the tiniest specks of purple started sparking through the black.

“Why?” 
he asked through gritted teeth.

“Self-preservation,” I told him making his eyebrow arch, so I continued.

“After all, it’s like you said, you will only bring me a heartache that you’re not free to soothe…I knew this before you said it, so therefore thought it best to run before I experienced a taste of it for myself,
although it’s too late for that now.”
I muttered this last part even though I knew that he would hear it. Well it didn’t matter if he did or not, he’d already witnessed it for himself when he walked back into the room and found me in the same position in which he left me, only the tracks of my tears were definitely hard to miss.

He obviously didn’t know what to say as he silently stared down at me before shifting to allow me more space. He sat up and it was only now that I could see he was bare from the waist up, unlike before. I quickly realised it wasn’t just the scar on his face that he had kept on his vessel, not allowing it to heal but also the ones on his body as well. I guess when you were injured in battle in front of an entire army, it was a little difficult to explain making it through those injuries without a mark to show for it.

I didn’t care either way, as it wasn’t like I was without my own scars, strangely ones he hadn’t yet asked about. I knew he was frustrated when I saw him bend his head and push all his hair back with both hands. I couldn’t help but smirk having seen this same action a hundred times before and usually because of something I had said.

I decided to move and when I started to pull myself up he shot me a look over his shoulder. As a human who had no knowledge of the supernatural, I would have naturally questioned how he moved his hand so fast when he suddenly grabbed me. It was obvious that with one look he thought I had been about to run, but after seeing that I wasn’t going anywhere he relaxed enough to let me go, so that I could continue to sit up as was my first intention.

“You told me that you think I am dangerous to be around,” he said out of the blue after long moments of silence and he did so without looking at me. I pulled my legs up to my chest and let my head fall back giving me that sense of déjà vu from only an hour ago. I looked up at the flames dancing in the oil lamps and knew it might have been safer putting my hand in one than the fire I was currently playing with by being here.

“You are,” I eventually answered. He looked back over his shoulder once more and the undiluted lust I saw heating up his gaze caused me to gasp. He looked up and down my body as though eyeing up his next meal and once more had I been any normal girl I would have been running in fear from the purple flame I saw spark in his eyes. Did he not realise how much of himself he showed me? I didn’t have long to question it further because he grabbed my ankle and yanked my body down quicker than human eyes could track. In the same swift movement, he was holding himself above me keeping me caged in by his large muscular frame.

“You’re wrong,”
he told me in a tone that gave away far more than his words ever would. No doubt he was angry at his own lack of self-control although he probably wanted to blame me, but in the end he knew that he couldn’t.

“You are the dangerous one, for the power you hold over me feels like a dagger in your hands held firmly over my chest and one simple push is all it will take to destroy…” he stopped himself before he said it but I couldn’t let it go.
Not now, not ever…not with this man.

“Destroy what?”
I asked on a fearful whisper. He closed his eyes and finished his sentence over my lips before falling into his own trap once more and kissing me.

“Everything.”
  I gasped in the agony of just that one word and he swept right in there to taste it for himself. I allowed myself to lose the hurt in his touch for just a few seconds before I could stand it no longer. This time I was the one to break the kiss as I turned my face from his lips and started to push at his shoulders to stop him. It didn’t take him long to get a clue but the look of shock was almost laughable. It wasn’t hard to guess that this must have been a first for him.

“Get off me!” I shouted when he only allowed a few inches between us. He frowned down at me before I lost my mind and gritted out my threat,

“Now.”
Something very serious must have shown in my eyes or heard in my voice because after this he lifted himself off me very slowly. The second I saw the gap was big enough I, on the other hand, flew off the bed like Banshees were nipping at my heels. I could feel the night air cool my bare back but it did nothing to cool my temper. I wanted to hit something and could feel the familiar tingling in my fingertips which told me that I needed to calm myself down. And I needed to do this pretty quickly before I started to give him a show I couldn’t explain. Well, there was my answer as to why I didn’t have my powers, it was obvious now what my catalyst was…

Draven.

Why was it that heartache, pain and anger walked hand in hand and undoubtedly ended up with one fuelling the other?

“I have upset you?” he asked and I snapped, forgetting the part I had to play and this time being nothing but myself.

“You’re Goddamn right you have upset me!” I shouted and the shock in my outburst was easy to see for someone who wasn’t completely lost in their own anger yet.

“You dare damn the Gods because of me?” he asked of me in utter astonishment but I was too far gone to try and find the caution in all this.

“After all they have done to me in my life, you’re damn right I will!”

“You are not in your right mind and know not of which you speak,” he replied obviously trying to find a reason for what he must have considered irrational behaviour. Well this Draven didn’t know me and if he did, he would be the one walking on caution right now.