by Eve Newton
“I will be fine but thank you for your concern.”
“Just looking out for you Lil’ Sis. You have grown on me.” She shrugs.
“Hm, can’t say the feeling is mutual,” I mutter, and she narrows her eyes at me.
“That’s not very nice.”
“Well, work on your attitude and maybe you will grow on me too,” I say, and she sneers at me before she disappears.
I check my phone but no calls or messages from Cole. I send him a message begging him to call me and I hope that he does. I need him to realize that he has thrown everything away by being hasty.
“Liv?” Sebastian says from the doorway. “Constantine says you want to talk to me?”
“Yes, I do, but not here.”
“We’ll go to my suite. I have some things I want to say to you as well.” I gulp at his tone and his blank expression.
“I’ll just tell them I’m going.”
“I’ve already told them,” he says.
Oh.
He Teleports out without me, leaving me to follow. How rude.
I find him staring thoughtfully out of the window. “I should have known it was too good to be true,” he states the second I get there. “I mean why would you come to me because of me?”
“She did though,” I say.
He spins around. “I mean you, Liv. Not her,” he spits out viciously.
“Sebastian, in her world the two of you are in love. Of course, she was going to come to you, even though it was wrong of her to pretend to be me, I understand it. You have a connection with her, the likes of which I have never seen or felt. You know why, don’t you?” I ask hesitantly.
He just stares at me for the longest time. “I don’t care about them,” he says. “I don’t care about their connection.”
I frown at him. “But their connection is what ours will become,” I say slowly.
He frowns back at me. “What are you saying?”
“When you touch me, what do you feel?” I ask instead, stepping closer to him. He must know. He has to.
He closes his eyes and steps back. “Don’t come any closer.”
“Sebastian, tell me what you feel,” I say, stepping closer again.
“Like it is meant to be,” he whispers, opening his eyes and I see his sorrow and his pain. “I feel like we belong together. Which is ridiculous because I barely know you and you belong to our sire,” he says, losing his temper and stepping closer to me now. I don’t back down though but look up at him.
“We do belong together,” I say quietly. “You know what I am. I know you do. I know you feel it.” I reach out to him to touch his bare arm and sparks fly. He flinches, staring down at me and shakes his head.
“No, it can’t be. How can that be?” he asks.
Fate? Destiny? Who knows? “I overheard them talking in the other world. You said that we were the two people in the whole world, born nearly two thousand years apart, who actually do belong together.”
“No,” he says. “Liv, stop this.” He walks away from me and adds, “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I want you to know. I know you are hurting over what happened and I just need you to know how things are.”
“Hurting?” He turns around to face me. “Hurting? You think this is hurt? She came to me and said she wanted me, I took her into the bedroom thinking all the time it was you and made love to her as she did to me. It was perfect and beautiful. Just how I wanted it. Just how I have always wanted it. I told her I loved her, and she said it back. No, I told you that I loved you and she said it back. Then I find out it wasn’t you at all but some stranger from a different world!” He is yelling at me now and I let him vent. “This isn’t hurt, Liv, it feels like someone has a hold of my heart and is crushing it slowly and I can’t breathe, and you saying all these things is making it worse. You say we belong together, that we are in love in the other world. Are we married?” He doesn’t wait for an answer as he continues, “No, of course we aren’t because you are married to him. I will always lose out to him because that is the way it has always been and will always be. Here, there, the other there. Fuck! This is all so fucked up!” He sweeps his arm across the end table sending everything flying and crashing to the floor. “I touch you and I want to die. Right there because nothing will ever come close to what I feel for you and what I feel when I touch you. Tell me why that is, Liv. I want to hear you say it because the only reason I can come up with, is not possible.”
“Because you are Aelfric’s son and I am Drake’s daughter,” I say and he closes his eyes and sinks to his knees, shaking his head.
“The Chosen Two,” he says.
Chapter 7
“The Chosen Two?” I ask with a frown, sinking to my knees in front of him.
“You are Drake’s only daughter?” he asks me instead.
I shrug. “I don’t know, Seb. I know very little about this. Only what Corinne said she suspected and then the little I got from when I was over there. You must know more?”
He shakes his head. “It’s impossible. You can’t be. You can’t be Dark Fae. You have no Powers that I can tell, and you don’t even look like them.”
“Look like them?” I ask.
“Corinne told you he was your father?”
“Yes, and then it was confirmed by other you and other Constantine. And I, she, had these markings on her arms. Like the ones on your back but with thorns instead of leaves. And she could walk in the sun I think, like you can.”
“How do you know about the markings on my back?” he asks suspiciously.
Oh, oops. “I, err, had a sort of vision awhile back. It’s not important. Tell me more.”
He stares at me, then takes my hands and pulls me up. He leads me to the sofa, and we sit. “How are you Drake’s daughter?” he asks.
“My mother had an affair with him,” I say. “Obviously.”
He looks at me, abashed. “Obviously,” he repeats.
“Seb, I need to know what you know.”
“It is destined in the stars that the first-born son of the Light Fae King would marry the only daughter of the Dark Fae King and their child would be the future ruler of a united race.”
Again, with the uniting. “I take it you are Aelfric’s first born then?”
“Yep. Only I don’t see how this can possibly come true. I am a Vampire and so are you. It makes no sense to me.”
“Me either,” I mutter.
“Not to mention that my father banished me. I haven’t been back to Court in two thousand seven hundred and sixty years.”
“That opens up a whole bunch of questions, like are Faeries immortal? I suppose they must be, and if this supposed starry fate is inevitable, how or why would he banish you? Don’t they need you?”
“To answer your first question, yes, Faeries are immortal. The Fae Kings have been around for thousands of years. As for the other two, maybe once I was turned it was decided that it would never happen, because it wouldn’t have been possible. And clearly Drake has no daughters. That he knows of.” He peers at me, “I am going to assume he doesn’t know about you?”
“Corinne says not and to not go looking for him.”
“That would be advisable,” he says wryly.
I arch my eyebrow at him. “You know him?” I ask.
“I have had the honor, unfortunately.”
“What is he like?” I ask, unable to help myself.
“You said the other you had markings?” he asks, ignoring me. “He must have found out about her and accepted her as one of the Dark Fae.”
“I guess so. Erm, can I tell you something that you cannot tell anyone else?” I say a bit warily.
“Livvie, I can assure you that this entire conversation never happened.”
“Even from CK?” I chew my lip and he squints at me.
“You haven’t told him?”
“I haven’t told anyone. I didn’t know what to make of it.”
“Well, he won’t hear it from m
e, but you should tell him.”
“I can’t. Not when you hear what I have to tell you.”
“That sounds ominous. What is it?” He turns to the side to face me and his shift makes me realize that he still has hold of my hand. I lace my fingers through his and he squeezes tightly.
“Her and other you, are in the process of…trying to…err…”
“What?” he asks.
“Make the baby,” I say quickly with a bit of a flush, as I remember being a part of that.
“Excuse me?” he says, eyes wide. “How do you know that?”
“He told me.”
“What?”
“He mentioned it. Mentioned that Drake was getting impatient and that I, erm, she, had to go to Court to learn. You were already going to your own. And Constantine told me I had to go as well. That it should already have happened.”
“Shit.” He drops his head to the back of the sofa. “This is…I still can’t get my head around it. Wait!” He sits up and looks at me again. “When you went to the future here was it like that?”
“No, but I changed the future by shifting through time.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it wasn’t supposed to happen. I don’t think she knows, or knew, but she obviously does now.”
“So how do you know that any of this is even true in our reality?”
I reach up and touch his face and he gasps as he feels the sparks. “Because I know,” I say.
“Fuck, Liv. What do we do now?”
“I don’t know. See what happens.”
He sighs and we sit in silence for a few minutes until a question strikes me and I ask, “I’m not prying but how come you grew up in the human world?”
He looks up startled. “What makes you think I did?” he responds.
“You said you knew CK as a child. Also, you said your original name was Vincentius, clearly a Roman name and you said your grandparents were Etruscan. I am going to assume that was a lie,” I say wryly.
He smirks. “Well, aren’t you just a little keeper of information?”
“I would have more if there was record about you in my head. As it turns out there isn’t. I always wondered why but now I know that CK must have had it expunged somehow to protect you.”
He laughs out loud and says, “Oh, the gods. I totally forgot about your magick brain. So, you tried to do a bit of digging, did you? Well, I can tell you that my father, my real father, sent me to a human family to grow up in Rome to train to be a warrior, they called me Vincentius. The parents of my human family were Etruscan.”
“So, what is your real name?” I ask, leaning forward.
“Kalen,” he says as he too leans forward.
“Huh. Well, what do you know?” I say with a smile.
He leans back and disarms me by asking. “How are you doing? With the whole Cole thing?”
No need to ask where he learned that trick.
“I am barely holding on. Trying to keep my brain busy so I don’t think about it too much,” I say, pulling my hand from his.
“I’m sorry. I know you probably won’t believe me after everything I have said, but I am sorry you are hurting.”
“Thanks. Too bad you can’t juju him to forget what I said.”
“You know that I wouldn’t even if I could,” he says softly.
“Yeah,” I sigh heavily.
“I know this is probably too soon,” he says leaning closer to me again and trailing a finger down my neck, “but now that the leash is gone, you can be with me.”
“Seb,” I say, scooting back a bit. “It is too soon. It is too soon for me to even think about being with anyone.”
He sighs. “I understand, but will you think about it now?”
I frown at him. “Did you not hear what I said before? We can’t be together like that. What if the starry baby turns up? Then what? CK would kill us both.”
“Liv, we are Vampires. We can’t procreate. The prophecy is redundant.”
“Not in the other world it isn’t,” I point out.
“Fine,” he snaps. “But you haven’t been acknowledged. You aren’t Fae. Chances of it coming true now are pretty much at zero.”
Oh, should I tell him about my own prophecy? Although, it does seem that in the other world the future Empress belongs to Constantine. Although, in the other, other world there are loads of kids I have yet to see, running around. Who knows what the set-up is there?
“Liv, nothing has changed. I still need you. You are still the one. And now that I know what it is like, I can’t go back. I’m sorry.”
“But…”
“But nothing,” he interrupts me and kisses me, shuffling closer to me.
With great difficulty, I pull back. “Seb…”
“I will get you your charge back,” he says suddenly. “I can’t make him forget what you said but I can get him to need to come back to you. If you will give me what I want, I will give you what you want. I can have him back in your bed by tonight. Not as your husband, but as your charge,” he presses that point, just in case I try to forget.
“Wha…?” I stare at him in disbelief. “You would do that?”
“I will do anything,” he says quietly. “Even though he will see it as a betrayal, I will do it, for you.”
“Seb…” I don’t know what to say. I am trying to think about this. I want Cole back, I need him back, but this way? It isn’t like he will really be back because he wants to be, but because Sebastian suggests to him it is a good idea. But…he will be back. Fuck.
He is staring at me, waiting for an answer and I am seconds away from telling him yes, I’ll do it to get Cole back, when in pops our sire out of nowhere. Saved in the nick of time again. He really does have an uncanny knack for that.
“Everything okay in here? You have been gone awhile, I was worried,” he says as he leans down to kiss me possessively as I sit there staring at Sebastian.
“Yes, everything is just fine,” Sebastian says bitterly.
“Good,” CK says, ignoring his tone. “Because you need to come back upstairs now, my sweet. You have a visitor.”
My eyes snap to his. “Who?” I ask.
“Hm, perhaps you should come and see for yourself,” he says mysteriously.
I stand up, as does Sebastian, now also curious and CK grabs my arm to Teleport me back to my bedroom, followed closely by Sebastian. I look around but don’t see anybody. “Well?” I say and he points to the sitting room.
“Just brace yourself,” he says as he ushers me out with a hand on my back.
I am greeted by a tension you could cut with a knife along with the relieved faces of Devon, Lincoln, Xane, Jess, and Cade. And then my gaze falls on the mystery guest.
I take her in and don’t recognize her at first. She is about five feet, ten inches tall, with long black hair curling gently to her backside. She is dressed in a very beautiful, dark blue velvet gown with long sleeves pointed at the wrists, cut low over her impressive breasts, tapered tightly at her narrow waist and falling elegantly down her legs to pool at her feet. But it is her eyes that give her away: a bright green like a cat’s but turned sideways. Dragon eyes.
“Mother?” I ask, as I step forward.
“Yes, dear. It is me. I thought it prudent to come in my natural guise today what with all the other ‘you’s’ that have been popping in and out lately,” She says dryly.
“Natural guise? This is what you really look like?”
She nods briskly.
“What are you doing here?” I ask Her, wondering why I look nothing like Her, and also wondering why She chooses to adopt my look when I see Her.
“You have kept me waiting,” She says in a reprimand.
“Sorry, I was dealing with something,” I answer, and She sighs.
“No, Aefre, you were supposed to come and see me in the Dragon Realms. You didn’t come.”
“Oh, I know. I am so sorry. Something came up that needs my attention.”
&nbs
p; “Oh?” She raises Her brow in query. “Anything I should know about?”
I look quickly at the others and say, “No,” at the same time Xane stands, the only one–apart from CK–being bold enough to speak and says, “Yes.”
“No, Xane,” I say as She turns to him.
“Speak, Young Draconis,” She orders him, and he grimaces at the name.
“No, Mother. It is nothing you need concern yourself with. I have it under control,” I say before Xane can say anything.
“Liv, She can help,” Xane says, coming to stand next to me, taking my hand.
“One of you start talking,” She says, stepping closer and we, as one, inadvertently step back, with me, standing on CK’s toes, as I didn’t register that he had stepped up behind me at the same time.
“Sorry,” I murmur as he pushes me gently away from him and moves to my other side.
She flicks Her eyes to him and smiles prettily. He smiles back. “Well?”
“It’s The Thirteen,” he says. “It has come back to torment Aefre.”
“Oh, him,” She says in disdain, waving Her hand dismissively. “You are more than capable of getting him to go away again.”
Him? Definitely a ‘he’ then. Gee, that was helpful as ever. Honestly, you’d think She wants me to fail.
“There is a more pressing issue to deal with,” She states then, sweeping Her gaze over the group and landing on Cade who, to his credit, doesn’t flinch. “Your presence here is unprecedented,” She says to him. “You have switched sides?”
“I have,” he says, and She nods at him in approval.
“Good. You will be a positive influence on my wayward daughter,” She says, sweeping her gaze back the way it came and landing on me. I gulp. Uh-oh, not this again…and in front of everybody else no less.
CK clears his throat, probably in an attempt to either not laugh or not yell at Her for telling me to stop being such a Vampire.
“Your behavior aside,” She says, narrowing Her eyes at me, “there has been a terrible, terrible mistake that needs rectifying immediately.”
“What?” I ask.
“Where is your husband?” She barks at me suddenly and I flinch.
“He left me.”
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”