Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 2 (Afterlife saga Book 7) (21 page)

So I couldn’t dance. So I wasn’t looking as sexy as the others. But I was the one who’d had the King in my bed last night and I was the only one who could actually claim to be his real ‘Chosen One’. Even if he didn’t know it yet, I knew this gave me a power that the others didn’t have. So let them dance! Let them flaunt themselves in vain! Because a dance lasted all of a few minutes but what I was going to do would immortalise his image forever by my hand. Not many could claim to have the same skill. I could do this!

“You can do this.” 
I whispered my mantra to myself, forgetting myself and that Draven could also hear this. His eyes widened a moment but he didn’t say anything.

“My King…” I said raising my head up and meeting his intense gaze with one of my own.

“Tonight I wish to bestow on you a great gift, one that I hope will last throughout the ages.”

“And this gift you speak of…?” Draven worded it as a questioning sentence he wanted me to finish.

“A drawing of your image, my Lord, one done here in front of everyone whilst you sit and enjoy the others dancing,” I said trying to make my voice steady enough to sound confident. He tilted his head to the side and ran a hand down his beard again as he thought about this.

“So you don’t wish to dance for me?” he asked as though being clear on that and I couldn’t help but blush.

“What good is a harem girl if she can’t dance, My King!?” Someone heckled from the crowd and the others started laughing. Draven looked momentarily outraged and was about to stand when I decided to intervene by coming back with a witty reply.

“Oh I didn’t say that! For the dance I have in mind is for the King’s eyes only and not one I wish to share with the room…that is, if I am blessed enough to be the one Chosen.” Once I finished the room’s ruckus was now sounded out for very different reasons and mainly by the men who shouted encouragements, like, ‘I would pick her!’ or ‘The King is in for a treat with that one!’

“Silence!” Draven roared obviously not liking the idea of other men lusting over me or thinking about my sassy reply. The room hushed in an instant and Draven sat back down from his outburst. It was a real confidence booster to know that I now had the approval of the room and some were on my side. Draven raised an eyebrow at me and asked,

“So you wish to dance for me privately?” I swallowed hard and he watched the motion like a hawk knowing what such a question would do to me.

“If My King wishes it,” I told him bravely making his eyes widen in surprise before growing intense with the idea of it. 

“Very well. I will accept both but for now, you may grace me with your artistic talents,” he said motioning for Ranka to proceed. Ranka bowed and clicked her fingers once to tell the servants to come forward and place their items down that they carried. They set down a small table in front of my cushion and with it a number of supplies which Ranka had obviously been trying to find in time.

“Your station awaits you, my little Artist,” Draven said nodding back to my cushion with a smirk he wasn’t trying to hide. I bowed this time remembering my place and gave him a smirk of my own, looking up and saying,

“I thank you, My Lord.” Then I finished this off with a quick bite of my lip just to tease him. He gave me a look and mouthed the word, ‘behave’ at me before I sat back down. I did so now unable to wipe the smile from my face, which didn’t go unnoticed by the two females in the room who equally wanted to see my head on a spike. Sophia looked disgusted by my behaviour and Bitch face looked ready to rip my head off. Well she was welcome to try herself this time, for she would find a very different type of fight on her hands, as it was her own King himself that taught me how to punch.

I sat back down as the music started again and looked at what I had to work with. Bless Ranka but she had tried to give me a bit of everything in hopes that I could work with some of it. I unrolled one of the sheets of thick parchment paper that was a cross between ancient papyrus and dried bamboo, knowing this would have to do. I had no idea when paper was invented but looking at this and I would have said they were a long way off yet. I also looked at what I had been given to draw with and was happy to see that it looked like thin sticks of charcoal, which had me wondering if Pip had said something to Ranka as they looked freshly made.

I decided to use one of the pieces of paper to test the charcoal on and quickly found that I couldn’t use the ends the way I wanted. They just weren’t fine enough as they had all been squared off at the ends making them blunt. I looked around trying to find something to use to sharpen the edges and after finding nothing, decided I would have to try and rub them into a point using the paper.

I bit my lip as I worked, trying to shape the end but it was no good. I looked up seeing if I could get Pip’s attention only to see that the first dance was underway. But what I wasn’t counting on was that Draven wasn’t watching the beauty dancing in front of him,
he was watching me.

Suddenly he was up and out of his seat, shocking everyone as he walked directly over to me and got down on one knee. I had to stop my mouth from dropping open in surprise, which wouldn’t have been a sexy look at all. Meanwhile the poor girl dancing just stopped not knowing whether to carry on or just return deflated and rejected back to her place.

I kind of felt sorry for her but Draven didn’t look concerned for her at all, however for me was a different matter as he had obviously been watching me struggle. Therefore, he knew exactly what I needed and there was a collective gasp from the crowd as he pulled his dagger from its sheath before he handed it to me and said,

“Try this.” I looked dumbstruck at the blade for a few seconds more before taking it from him like it was the greatest gift.

“Thank you,”
I whispered to him and made sure that my hand touched his fingers gently as I took it. He nodded once and then stood up to resume his place on his throne. Then he nodded at the musicians to continue and also for to the girl to do so as she had paused her dancing.

Well if I thought there was gossip before then now the whole room seemed to be talking about the King’s mighty gesture as it seemed for a warrior to give his blade to someone was of great significance indeed. I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks as I tried to concentrate on my task and used the heavy blade to chip away at the end until I had it as I needed it. Then I tested it with a few lines to find that now it would work nicely. I placed the blade down next to me, took a deep breath before looking up at my subject.

As usual when drawing someone I started at the eyes and looking deep into his now was no easy task given the intensity in which they looked back at me. There were so many emotions hidden there that until you started really looking at him like an artist, they just belonged to a handsome man high up in power.

However, once you started breaking each feature down and putting it to paper, then his face almost started to tell a story. There was a respect for his people only seen in the quick glances around the room. There was the soft close of his eyes as he nodded his thanks when being handed a drink by a passing servant. But my favourite was the slight tilt of a smile when glancing my way watching me work and this combined with the small creases next to his eyes had me quickly smiling back at him.

I rapidly became lost working on his face and it was as if the whole room had suddenly evaporated around us. The music became a soft hum in the background, that could have easily become the trees swaying in a gentle breeze or water cascading over the rocks down a stream. There was nothing else in the world but those eyes and the gift I was given in trying to duplicate them. The intimacy found in these passing minutes was unlike anything I had ever known because I finally got the chance to study the man I loved in a way I never thought possible.

I didn’t know how he felt as he was being studied this way but I can tell you that if his eyes ever left me then it wasn’t but for a moment longer than it had to be. And one by one the beautiful girls all got up and had their chance to dance for his enjoyment but I was happy to say that none of them received half as much attention as I did just by sitting here drawing him.

I was just holding out my stick of charcoal, using it to measure the distances and thus gauging the size of his mouth, jawline etc, when the last of the dancers stepped up. I wanted to hiss at her as she walked past me and her grunt of disapproval of my work only fuelled my hatred more. It had been easy up until now ignoring all that had gone on around me and not getting swept up in the jealousy that would have happened had I not been concentrating on drawing Draven. But now that it was Stateira’s turn to dance it was hard to concentrate on anything else. Thankfully, most of my portrait of Draven was finished but either way I decided not to give her the satisfaction of looking her way. Instead I just continued to tweak the picture here and there.

I was just rubbing his jawline with my thumb, creating some more shadowing when I heard the room gasp after Draven thundered,

“ENOUGH!” I looked up to see that Draven was now stood and pointing down the steps back to wher
e
Stateira should have been dancing. She had obviously taken her entertainment too far as it was clear she had been brazen enough to start nearly lap dancing on him. This was obviously an attempt to hide Draven from my view and also me from his as it must have been clear where his attention was focused throughout her dancing.           

She was utterly outraged to say the least. She looked back at me, snarled and then back at Draven with fury in her eyes.

“She sits there and insults me!” she shouted and Draven’s eyes became disinterested as he sat back down and said,

“Your own actions insult yourself! Now sit down, for I grow tired of watching you.” On hearing this I couldn’t help but cough back a stunned laugh. She looked back at me again and it became very clear what she was planning. She was angry enough that if she had a blade in her hand she would have killed me right then, in front of all these people.  

“And your actions insult me!” she roared back at him and it was then that I saw something no one else seemed to see. She
did
have a blade, only this time she wasn’t going to use it on me…

She was going to use it on the King. 

Chapter 56

A Cracking End

The second I saw Stateira start to pull that small blade from behind her back, my instincts took over. I grabbed Draven’s dagger at my side and ran towards her just as she raised the weapon high into the air. She was just about to throw herself at Draven when I suddenly yanked back her hair and held the deadly blade to her throat.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I told her in a surprisingly calm voice. The whole room gasped in horror at what was unfolding before their eyes and what had been an attempt made on their King’s life. Well, if they liked my sass before then now they all looked ready to bow down to me and name me their next queen!

“Drop it,” I ordered as she still held on to her weapon.

“Now!”
I warned further, pressing the edge of my dagger harder into her skin making her hiss with pain before she did as I demanded. I looked to Draven who wasn’t looking at all concerned with the mad woman who had just tried to kill him but instead was looking at the ‘crazy in love’ woman who just saved him.

The whole room seemed to be at a standstill, almost as though everyone was too afraid to move.

“You saved me.”
Draven uttered these words in wonder as if having to speak them just to make sense of them. I knew they weren’t exactly true as Draven wouldn’t have been injured by this insane mortal’s hand but still, I guess he knew what the gesture meant all the same.

“Of course. And if it is ever in my power, I would do so again,” I told him honestly. At that moment something very intense I couldn’t read passed in his eyes before they hardened on the traitor.

“Guards! I want this woman in chains!” Draven shouted and within seconds we were surrounded by Draven’s men. I looked around slowly wondering what they were all waiting for when it was Draven who took that step closer to me and said,

“You can let her go now.” I gave him a wide-eyed look before realising he was right, the guards couldn’t get her as I hadn’t yet released my brutal and punishing hold on her head. 

“Oh…right,” I said letting go of her hair and pulling the dagger from her neck, letting it drop to the floor with a clatter. She suddenly fell to the ground, clutching her neck as though I had slit it open and I wanted to call her a pussy and tell her to man up, when all of a sudden she reached for her own dropped blade and swung it at me. She wouldn’t have killed me but she certainly would have sliced me good, that was if it hadn’t been for Draven’s supernatural fast reflexes. He had her arm in a lock before my eyes could fully register the move. It was held twisted out in front of him and she was crying out in pain as he applied enough pressure to get her to drop her knife once more.

“You’re dead, Bitch!” She snarled the threat up at me but this was when Draven’s patience had run dry, for with one swift move, he brought up his knee and broke her arm at the elbow. Now she was really screaming and the sickening crunch of bone combined with the gross way her arm looked as if it had been put on backwards, was enough to turn me green. Draven dropped her to the floor, knowing this time she was not getting back up to attack anyone. Then he took my hand and pulled me closer to him, first walking me around her broken body.

“Get her out of my sight!” Draven snarled down at her, commanding his guards of their new task. Her screams of agony could still be heard long after she had been dragged out of the hall and the doors closed behind them.

“Are you alright?” Draven asked, hooking me under the chin and raising my face up to look at him. He seemed to be studying me to check for any signs of stress and I blushed under such a penetrating look of concern.

“All is fine, my Lord.” I said shyly looking down at his chest.

“Not yet it is not, but it soon will be,” he replied cryptically. Then he spun me around to face the room and placed his hands on my shoulders. Seeing as I was the shortest girl in his Harem and he was a very tall man, he could easily still address the room by looking over my head.

“Tonight we feast to honour not only my new Chosen One but also the guardian the Gods have bestowed upon me, gifting me with both her beauty and loyal courage! I give you my new Head Concubine!” he shouted before spinning me back around to face him and bending me back slightly to kiss me in front of everyone. The whole court roared with their cheers and clapping, loving their King’s open display of affection towards me.

I didn’t know if this was a common thing for him or not but at that moment I didn’t care. I simply let myself get lost in his kiss and the happy knowledge that I had gained his favour once more…now all I had to do was keep it.

Draven finished his kiss and set me back to standing straight but when I turned to step down, ready to retake my seat he wouldn’t let me go.

“Oh no, you’re not going anywhere Little Lamb, for your place is now here by my side,” he said pulling me backwards to his chest before putting an arm across my torso from behind.

“Where you will remain,”
he added, whispering the promise in my ear and making me shudder against him. Then he decided to reinforce this decision by picking me up and walking back up the steps to his throne. Once more the room looked utterly shocked to see such behaviour from their King but it was obvious he didn’t care, just as he never did in Afterlife.

He turned around with me in his arms and faced the room as if daring anyone to reproach him on his actions but not only did no one say a word, they actually all got to their knees and bowed down to us both. This was obviously what Draven had been waiting for because it was only after this that he sat us down himself, readjusting me so that I was comfortably on his lap.

Therefore, I couldn’t help but wonder about our fate and ask myself the question, was it rooted in our destiny to always be this way, no matter which time in history we were to meet? Would Draven always find himself acting this way towards me whether he knew who or what I was?

I didn’t have the answers from his viewpoint as I only had my own feelings to go on, but using that logic then I would have to say yes. Because no matter which Draven I faced, my heart had no will of its own but to give itself over to the man without question. It was as if I was hardwired to fall in love with him over and over again, no matter how many lifetimes we lived through.

And for Draven, well one look around the room and you could tell he was acting out of his normal character. And looking up at him now, it was blindingly clear that he didn’t give a damn about the world or what they thought. He was willing to deny his own people their Prophecy’s Chosen One so he could have his own Chosen One. The fact that they were one and the same in this case, just didn’t matter because he didn’t know. To him I was just a human girl he was falling in love with and it was a strong enough force to get him to give up everything he had ever known…it was enough to get him to forgo his own people and even his own morals. His own rules. His own judgement. Everything but his own heart.

So my conclusion, 

Love was without a doubt a powerful force, no matter which time we lived in.

“You look deep in thought, Little Lamb.” Draven said bringing me back to the room.

“I don’t think your sister approves.” I said nodding to her empty seat. Sophia must have crept away at some point and whether this was before Stateira’s attack or after, I couldn’t say. All I knew was that her seat now remained empty and she was nowhere in sight. Draven sighed and looked to his side where his sister should have been.

“It is complicated,” he told me and I wanted to laugh and say, ‘yeah no shit,’ but thankfully refrained.

“I understand,” I told him and he shot me a surprised look.

“You do?” He probably wondered how on earth I could understand such a thing, considering as far as he knew
I
knew nothing of their world.

“Can I ask you a question, my Lord?”

“But of course,” he said looking intrigued.

“Now I am not fishing for a compliment when I ask this but…”

“Fishing for a compliment, upon my word little sweetheart of mine, I have never heard of such a thing!” he said clearly very amused by my comment.

“It’s just a saying I use sometimes and means…”

“I can comprehend what it means sweetness, but you are the very last person I would say fishes for anything, let alone for compliments,” he told me before I could finish. I blushed making him laugh,

“To begin with, an easy blush like yours doesn’t appear through modesty but more through lack of confidence.” I frowned at him causing him to laugh at me again before explaining,

“Don’t misunderstand me, you hold a courage to rival my generals as you must be the only female I know who would run towards the blade, not away from it.” Well he had me there.

“Yes, but I had your blade,” I told him but he just smiled back at me and tapped my chin twice saying,

“You did but are you trying to tell me that if you hadn’t then you would have run away or would you have attacked her anyway and taken the chance?” I didn’t need any time to think because I knew he was right, and he knew it too.

“Exactly. You are a fighter. It is rooted in both your heart and in your soul…
I can see it,”
he told me, whispering this last part to me as if it was a secret and I guess it was. Because he
could
see it in my soul. It was something all supernaturals could see. They could read your soul as easily as though they were reading it from a manuscript.

“You may blush all you want, as the colour undoubtedly suits you, as it did last night when you
came all over my hand.”
Hearing this teasing I completely forgot myself and where I was. So just being myself and being around my Draven I turned around and smacked his arm playfully and hissed,

“You can’t say that!” I didn’t realise that I was actually hitting a King in front of his court. My eyes widened for a second as realisation seeped in and I waited for his reaction. He looked shocked for a moment as did everyone else in the room who had witnessed it, but I think his next reaction they were most surprised at, as it beat mine.

Draven suddenly threw his head back and burst into uncontrollable laughter. His reaction forced me to grip onto him tighter as I was being bounced up and down on his knee but thankfully before I could fall off, he pulled me closer to him.

The room soon followed suit and even though they may not have understood the reasons for him laughing, they were simply responding to their King’s happiness…that was,
all but one.

I was scanning the crowd when I saw him. One person who was watching us both with no expression on his face whatsoever. I had never seen his face before but I knew I would never forget it. Those cold dead eyes seemed to pierce straight through the crowd and I frowned back at him, telling him silently that he was caught. I had seen him and the second he realised this he backed away and slipped back into the crowd before disappearing altogether. I didn’t know who he was but I knew enough to know that he was sent here with one purpose…

He was a spy. 

“Oh you will pay for that one later, little warrior of mine,” Draven told me, his voice still thick with humour from his outburst. I was in two minds whether to tell him about the man I’d seen in the crowd but decided it would sound more paranoid than anything else and besides, the man was long gone now. So not wanting to kill his good mood I smiled back up at him.

“I wouldn’t underestimate me if I were you.” I teased back.

“Oh I wouldn’t dare. The lack of confidence I speak of was referring to the shy girl I saw standing opposite me, terrified she would have to dance for me.”

“Ah well, yes.” I had to agree with him there.

“And any girl who knows her own beauty as you should, knows the worth of the power she holds. So when given the opportunity to show off such beauty in the form of a dance, she will take it. This isn’t rare to see…” He paused and placed a hand to my cheek and continued,

“But what is rare to see is a beautiful girl who uses the strengths of her mind and of her heart to reach her goals…” He let his hand run down my neck and tapped on my heart when he said this before then letting his hand run gently over my breast when getting to his next point, 

“…She doesn’t use them to manipulate, as Stateira does using her beauty.” This he was referring to the way she was dressed with most of her body on show.

“Men can be easily fooled by such a woman but a real King doesn’t want to be led around on a leash whilst letting himself believe he is free. For a King may pick such beauty to look upon but only a foolish King picks such beauty to sit upon his throne with him…do I look like a foolish King to you?” He finished by asking me this question and I finally understood what he was saying.

“No, you don’t, my Lord,” I told him making him grin back at me. This was his way of explaining to me why in the past he had someone like Stateira as his Concubine. Which made me question, had tonight’s ‘Chosen’ been merely a test of character?

“But I do believe you had a question for me,” he said reminding me that he was right, I did have a question for him, one that tied in with our current conversation. 

“Out of all your other Concubines, have you ever had them sit upon your throne with you like this?” Draven looked taken aback by the question and raised an eyebrow at me.