Once Upon A [Hidden] Time - [Stolen] Series IV

CHAPTER 18

STEVE
19 JUNE 2015

"I can't believe I'm involved in this nonsense with you," DC Khan grumbled. "You seriously think we are receiving messages from the fifteenth century?"

"Do you have a better idea?" I asked, as we clambered the stairs to head to Edward's chamber.

Surprisingly, DC Khan had agreed to dine with me tonight. After dinner, we headed to Hue Castle and made it here by midnight. She had already taken off her work for tomorrow and was willing to spend the night here. Now here we were, unveiling the mystery.

"Edward is the only source from where we can find out how Myra is doing."

"You really love her!" She grumbled.

I halted my ascent of the stairs to meet her curious eyes. "She is my fiancée, Maira. I know she never loved me, but I genuinely care for her."

DC Khan rolled her eyes at me. "If she comes back, will you marry her then?"

Ignoring her, I continued taking steps.

"You didn't answer me, Steve," she complained. "What will happen—"

"What will happen when she returns?" I finished her sentence. "Do you think she'll ever forget that man who was supposed to become the King of England? Do you have any idea what that bloody means?" DC Khan just stared at me. "If he marries her, she will be the Queen—a bloody Queen!" She opened her mouth to say something but shut it again. "I'd be a nobody if she'd gain that power. It would not be up to me to decide if I would marry her. It would be her choice to make a decision. She is a future King's lover, Maira. That man—you've seen how obsessed he is with her." I rubbed the back of my neck. "I could never compete with him."

DC Khan sighed, and we continued walking through the corridor in silence, ignoring the portraits of the bygone kings.

We entered Edward's chamber, and the first thing I did was open the drawer of his desk. I picked up the sheet in which the King was giving her the gift of a book. I flipped it over, and here it was, first, my message:

WILL YOU PROTECT HER FROM THE KING?
STEVE

And he wrote right below it in his beautiful penmanship.

I WILL PROTECT HER UNTIL I BATE MY LAST BREATH. WILL YOU TAKE CARE OF HER IF I HAD TO LET HER GO?
EDWARD

"Blimey!" DC Khan exclaimed. "This is utter witchcraft."

I took a deep breath, staring at the paper. "Bloody hell, it is!" How else could we put together this logic of messages time-travelling through six hundred years if some witchcraft wasn't involved?

We both sat on the bed. My head was spinning. Why was he planning to send her back if he was in love? And how would he send her back?

"Can she really return?" DC Khan asked, as if voicing my own thoughts.

"Bakr told me she cannot return unless there is an equal force of love that pulled her back." I sifted through the papers. "If Edward can pull her into his time, only he can send her back." I rubbed my temples hard. God! This was getting harder every day.

I replied under his message.

WHY WILL YOU SEND HER BACK?

After reading my message, DC Khan asked, "How can he send her back?"

"That's what I want to know, and the question is not how, but why? Does he see any danger for her?"

"The King," she mumbled. "He is the highest authority in their time, so can anyone deny him?"