CHAPTER 3 - When the Past Knocks
The monitor kept beeping.As if it didn't care that the laws of time had just been broken in this room.
Daniel was the first to move. He checked the door. Locked it again. Checked the windows. Empty. Nevil had disappeared just like that.
"He… couldn't have just walked out," he muttered.
Keira didn't answer. Her hand was still wrapped around the hand of the man lying on the bed.
Warm. Alive - yet distant.
"Part of his soul isn't here." The sentence repeated in her mind.
Daniel came closer again. Kneeling in front of her.
"Let's look for a rational explanation first, okay?" His voice was gentle but tense. "Maybe we're both just stressed. And because we're too stressed, it's making us hallucinate."
"We both saw him floating, Niel."
Daniel fell silent.
Keira took a deep breath. She tried to laugh at the situation.
But she couldn't.
Then.
A knock.
Soft.
Three times.
All the blood in Keira's body seemed to stop.
Daniel stood up quickly. "I'm not expecting anyone. I didn't invite anyone."
The knock came again. Louder this time.
Daniel glanced at Keira. "Don't open it."
Keira stared at the door.
Nevil had said: It won't be long before a group of people comes to see you.
Her heart was beating too fast.
Daniel approached the door slowly. Looked through the peephole.
And his body immediately stiffened.
"There are four of them."
"Security?" Keira asked, making sure.
Daniel shook his head slowly.
"No."
Keira stood.
Her steps felt strange. Like walking toward something that had already happened.
The third knock.
Daniel opened the door halfway, his body still blocking the entrance.
And Keira's world stopped.
In the modern hotel hallway with gray carpet and warm yellow lights stood a man wearing a dark crown and silver eyes that were impossible to mistake.
He was King Alaric Valtherion.
Behind him stood three other men, their auras far too… ancient for this century.
Sir Kael Dravenhart.Lucien Armand Sylvaris.Duke Cassian Evermont.
They did not look confused by the elevator.They were not amazed by the LED lights.
They were only staring at one person.
Keira.
Daniel straightened immediately. "Who are you?"
None of them answered.
Because they had never come for him.
Alaric's gaze finally met Keira's.
And the world seemed to shrink.
He did not look like a shadow at the concert.
He was real.
More real than anything in this room.
His gaze wasn't harsh.
Nor was it gentle.
It was the gaze of someone who had lost everything,
and had finally found it again.
Keira didn't know why, but her chest felt tight.
As if there was a name trying to escape her throat.
Daniel spoke again, firmer this time.
"If you don't explain right now, I'm calling security."
Finally, Alaric spoke.
His voice was low. Steady. Like a final note that never wavered.
"We have come to take her home."
Silence froze.
Daniel let out a small, disbelieving laugh. "She's not going anywhere."
Keira swallowed.
Nevil had said: Never connect them to this world.
She had to be careful. Very careful.
Alaric took one step forward.
Daniel reflexively moved, blocking him.
The air changed.
Not because of magic.
Because of emotion.
"Keira Genevieve Rose," Alaric said slowly.
The name sounded foreign in his mouth.
As if he were forcing himself to say it.
Then he spoke another name.
A name that made Keira's heart stop for one second.
"Aelirra."
Instantly, the world spun.
A flash.
White marble.
Blood.
A golden crown falling to the floor.
Cold hands gripping hers.
Tears she had never seen before-
in the eyes of the man now standing at her door.
Keira staggered slightly.
Daniel caught her. "Hey!"
Sir Kael moved reflexively, but Alaric raised his hand, stopping him.
Their gazes locked again.
And this time he didn't look like a king.
He looked like a frightened man.
"Who are you?" Keira asked.
Not to Daniel.
To Alaric.