Unexpected: Forever His (Book 1)

Chapter 18: The Directed Path

The soft beating of a drum in the distance brought me out of my deep sleep. My eyes fluttered open to a sea of green. The willow tree branches seemed to blow around me as if they were arms cradling me under their protection. Their leaves rustled together in whispers that spoke of their adoration. I felt it. My bare feet tingled with it. Even the grass tickled my feet with its servitude.

The drum still echoed in the distance and I stepped in the direction it was coming from. The willows pulled their branches apart for me as I passed and I smiled in gratitude. The warmth of the sun met my skin as I stepped out from the trees and glanced around at my surroundings. I was looking down onto a small house that seemed still at first, but when I looked closer I realized that there was movement on the inside.

I started to step towards the house, but before I could take a full step, I was in front of the window. I blinked as my attention fell to the window and I looked inside. It was only then that I realized the drumming I was hearing was a heart beat. A woman who appeared to be in her mid-forties scurried throughout the room setting the table for what appeared to be a dinner, although from the looks of it, there was very little as far as food went. There were a few pieces of flat bread on a plate and a bowl that contained something of the consistency of grits and it looked entirely inedible. She set a last plate down on the table, making three places altogether and looked up. She snapped her fingers and turned around and lifted a small plate with an equally small cake on it and set it on the table.

There was one small candle on top of it and my heart echoed with sadness that it was a birthday cake, however pitiful it seemed. I watched as she stepped over to the outside door and called for whoever was on the outside. I instantly tried to conceal myself around the corner of the house, although I wasn't sure that I could have been seen anyway. "Come and eat. Our meal is ready."

I peered around the corner as I heard footsteps come closer from around the other corner of the house. When the two people finally came around the corner of the house, my heart felt as if it stopped in time. In front of me was Alexander and Damen, only their skin was not the paleness I had come to know. Neither were their eyes a sapphire blue, but hazel and light brown. I gasped as I realized that I was in a time when the King Alexander that I knew was still a human along with his brother. Alexander paused briefly before he got to the door and looked in the direction I was in, but if he saw me he did not give any indication that he did, so I stayed where I was and watched.

The door was left open and the three of them sat down at the table. After only a minute or two, Alexander stood and stepped over to the door where I had slowly made my way to and looked out as if he were expecting someone. "Are you looking for someone, dear?"

Damen answered as Alexander turned his head and glanced behind him at them. "Of course he is, mother. Alex has made a deal with the devil himself! Donovan Kovington offered to pay a dear price for his allegiance as his apprentice!"

"And what would you have had me tell him, Damen? If I had declined, he would have come and destroyed our home and probably taken our lives."

The woman, who I now understood to be their mother, glanced down at the small cake and wiped a single tear away. "Your father dreaded the day that Lord Kovington would come and seek you out. I can't tell you that you made the wrong choice. One day there will be a need for a great leader in our world. One day, there will be a darkness that will try and overtake everything good. When you were born, Alexander, a prophecy went forth. The seer told Lord Donovan of a daughter that would unite the world in peace during an uprising. She will be the queen over all queens. Even kings will bow under her power and weep at her beauty."