“Okay so back to my original question. Why is she the only one who would know why you could burn me?” I asked knowing there was no way of asking that in a delicate way.
“Alright Keira, I will explain everything but first for you to really understand I will have to go back to the beginning and well…”
“Well…?” I prompted when he dragged a frustrated hand down his face this time.
“It’s painful.” I closed my eyes briefly and absorbed what he was telling me. He was about to tell me everything. I knew this but what I needed was to be sure that I was ready to accept it. Because this question was the only one, above all others that I needed answered the most and the one I had asked myself from the very beginning and what had inevitably sent me on a journey that had changed my life.
And that question was simple…
“Why?”
Chapter 37
Truth
I looked at Draven and waited as my simple sounding question grew into a million answers that needed to be told. You could tell he was trying to think of where the best place to start was and like he himself had said, there was only the beginning. So that’s where I started.
“What happened that day you left?” I asked thinking back to that moment outside my house and replaying the same torturous words he had left me with, ones I didn’t trust in after I found out his greatest lie.
“I love you, keeper of my heart.”
I shook these words from my thoughts and turned back to Draven. He was bent over with his elbows to his knees and his head in his hands. I put my hand on his shoulder and said,
“Hey, I get it…I mean I don’t know exactly why but I know it must have been something bad, so bad in fact that…”
“She told me I would kill you.” Draven blurted out quickly and it felt like someone had kicked me in the gut. My hand dropped from his shoulder and I felt the shock penetrate deep inside me like my veins were being flushed through with ice water. I couldn’t believe it! I just couldn’t. It was as if everything I had ever known was crumbling down around me and I couldn’t even find the strength to care enough to put my arms up as protection.
In fact…
It was like my whole world had just ended.
“Keira come back to me.” Draven said reaching out to me and I couldn’t help my flinch. The look of hurt I saw there wasn’t something I could ever take back but I could at least explain it.
“I don’t believe it.” I whispered as if first testing my voice.
“Keira.”
“I don’t believe it!” I said this time louder after he said my name, trying no doubt to sooth me.
“Keira you need to listen to me.”
“I DON’T FUCKING BELIEVE IT!” I then screamed losing it in a big way. I shot out of the chair and after walking a few steps away I stormed back to shout over to him.
“You believed this shit?!” I accused making him wince.
“The Fates themselves told me this and they can’t lie, Keira.” Draven explained but I was beyond any reason that wanted to take me to a calm place.
“Oh yes they fucking can!” I bellowed not caring one bit that I was swearing, in fact I was just letting the foul word fuel my rage and give it greater depth.
“I need you to calm down.” Drave said standing and reaching out for me. I spun away from him and said,
“Calm down, calm down…you tell me about the biggest load of bullshit the Fates ever told you and that you believed it enough to fake your own death and you want me to calm down…have I got that right!?” I ranted wanting nothing more than to hit something. I knew I was taking this out on him but part of me was utterly devastated that he would have believed something like this from the very beginning.
“I need to explain.” He tried saying, coming an extra step closer to me.
“Actually I don’t think you do, in fact I have a bloody good idea who exactly does need to explain, the Oracle that’s who!” I said folding my arms and he took this opportunity to make his move. Before I could utter a shocked yelp I was trapped in his arms and struggling became useless.
“Calm down and I will explain everything. I know you are upset…uh huh.” He said when I tried to speak silencing me before carrying on.
“I left you that day with no knowledge that I wouldn’t be coming back to you. Pythia really did go missing, only what I didn’t know at the time was that it was planned. They needed to get me away from you and keep me that way and unfortunately for us both, they succeeded.”
“But why would you believe them?” I asked in a quieter but no less whiny voice.