The Butler's Master

Savior - Part 3

[Savior – Part 3]

Kiera continued to keep her eyes closed just in case the sole survivor from the fight –she could hear exactly one pair of footstep walking calmly closer to her and the car –was not her savior. She might be weapon less and sporting a bullet wound, but Kiera was still prepared to do whatever she could to ensure the young master's safety.

"Kiera, are you conscious?" The calm words spoken were the same as the ones given in an order to her shortly before, and though she did not let her guard down completely, she opened her eyes and used the support of the side of the car to drag her upper body up to a leaning/sitting position.

"I am not letting you get in the car until you tell me who you are and prove the origin of your loyalty." Kiera wished she could have sounded threatening, but the matter of the fact was that she had actually been whispering her words from the pain, and that she was completely vulnerable without a weapon.

"I admire you for your bravery, Kiera, but I was sent here by Keyron." The man answered, and now that he had knelt down before her a safe distance away, she realized that he was exactly as suspicious as their attackers had been. The man was wearing a facemask that covered his nose and mouth, and sunglasses over his eyes. A baseball cap covered his hair, and though his black clothes showed off a body that was closer to being lean than muscular, Kiera knew better than to underestimate a man who could have dragged someone out of the car minutes ago with just one arm.

"Prove it." She answered, unfazed as she spread her arms out to show her determination to block the car doors. "Prove that you work for the Greaves-Crawford Household."

"I don't work for the Greaves-Crawford Household." The man's answer was short and simple, but before Kiera could reply with anything else, a –surprisingly –gloved hand reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out something, holding it up to her sight. "Keyron lent me this to help convince people that I'm on his side."

It was a piece of very good evidence: the official coat of arms of the Crawford Household. It was an expired crest –Miss Louise had stopped using the old crest of her maiden family right after she married her husband –but Kiera had seen this crest often back when she had been dating Keyron, and her husband had been sporting the coat of arms of both Greaves and Crawford Household individually before the two families combined into one.

"Okay, I can't protest against that crest." Kiera nodded because her husband had told her a long time ago that there were only two such coat of arms left sporting the Crawford crest –one belonged to Keyron himself for keepsake purposes, and the other had been left in the safe that held all of the belongings of his late twin brother, Kyrano.

Kiera had never met Kyrano in person before –the man had passed on before she met Keyron. But she knew from stories that Kyrano had been dearly loved and cherished by Keyron, Brandon, and most importantly, Miss Louise. It was impossible for Kyrano's coat of arms to have been stolen given how tightly it was guarded, and thus if someone –even suspicious with all his facial features covered –could show Keyron's old Crawford coat of arms, Kiera knew she could trust the man.

"Is the Young Master okay?" The man pocketed the coat of arms quickly, inching closer now that he had been given the go-ahead.

"Nobody has come close to the car since." Kiera answered, letting her arms fall back to the side.

"How are you with the pain?" The very calm and polite way that the questions were spoken reminded Kiera of her husband, and even though the man was clearly not Keyron, she could not help but feel just a little bit safer.

"I will survive. Giving birth to twins was worse." Kiera looked down to make sure that the blood was not spilling at a too-alarming rate. "I was lucky he didn't try shooting further up."