by Eve Newton
“You want to think about it?” he asks in disbelief. “Every other woman in the universe would have signed before I had even given them the pen.”
I take a very great offense to that and put on my most haughty expression. “Well, I am not ‘every woman.’ If that is what you want: someone who will take your money without a second regard, then I suggest you look elsewhere.” I throw the file back at him, along with his pen and he catches it with a look of pure delight.
“Oh no,” he says. “That is most definitely not what I want. You misunderstand, my sweet. It is your reluctance that warms me. That makes me fall in love with you all over again. And that expression on your face is a picture. Only you would throw this back in my face as an unnecessary course of action. It is only you that I want.”
“A test?” I say, knowing his methods all too well. “If you wanted to test me you should have tried with something more than money. I have enough of my own, I don’t need yours.”
“Not a test,” he says, pouting. “I wouldn’t do that to you. I have no need. I couldn’t care less if you had snatched my hand off grabbing the pen. But it is nice to know that you are a woman of substance. A one of a kind.” He holds it back out to me. “Now just sign it and stop making such a big deal out of it.”
“I’ll think about it,” I say again, and he smiles.
“Very well.” He pulls another blue folder out of the basket and holds it out to me. “This one I think you will accept more readily,” he says.
I take it cautiously and place my glass in the grass, as he casually stretches out and props himself up on his elbows, face to the sun. I peer down at him and stretch my legs out so that my feet are by his head. He smiles at me and turns so he can tickle my bare foot, which makes me wiggle my toes. “You have such pretty feet,” he murmurs as I open the file slowly like it is going to bite me.
I squint down at the ancient piece of paper covered carefully in plastic. “Holy crap, CK. Is this what I think it is?”
“Probably, seeing as we are like-minded,” he says absently, as he is still examining my feet and my toes. He starts to suck on them, which is driving me to distraction as I stare at the piece of paper.
“I thought you might like it, considering it is now yours,” he says in between sucks.
I am speechless and still staring into the folder, at the official document from 1539 that stated the change in name from the Norman Castel Gradile to the French Château Cassis. “You kept this even after you sold it?”
“I thought I might have a use for it someday. Turns out I was right.” He is now kissing the tops of my feet and I shiver.
“Thank you,” I say sincerely. “This I will accept without argument. It is very precious and a wonderful gift.”
“Oh, it’s not a gift,” he says as his kisses reach my ankles. “You are going to have to earn it,” he adds wickedly, and I grin.
“Mm, in that case maybe we should take this inside,” I say, closing the folder abruptly.
“Not yet, I like it out here with you. I don’t want to rush things today. We always rush. You said you wanted romantic and I intend to give to you.”
“Making me wait,” I murmur. “No fair.”
“It is as much for my benefit as yours,” he says. “Now you wanted me to remind you to ask me something. What is it?” His attention is still diverted, on my shins now, working his way quickly up to my knees. I remember what I want to ask but I don’t want to spoil the mood.
“It can wait. I am more interested in what you plan on doing once you get passed my knees,” I say, lying back on my elbows so that the expanse of my thighs is now exposed under my tiny skirt.
“I plan on stopping because clearly whatever it is you have to ask me is unpleasant and will ruin the mood,” he says, reading my mind with damn accuracy as usual. He lifts his head and shuffles around, so his head is now in line with mine. “Out with it. Rather now, when the damage can be repaired before our special evening, than later when these things usually crop up and blow everything to Hell and back,” he says it with a smile, but he speaks the truth and I know it as well as he does.
“It’s about Cole,” I say, and he sits up straight, his face going impassive.
“What about him?” he asks shortly.
“He is unhappy with this arrangement. Of me coming here for two days. He wants to find an alternative arrangement.”
“I see,” he says, and I can tell his eyes are hard and cold boring into me even behind his dark lenses. After a few minutes, he says, “There is only one alternative and that is for him to give up and let me have you.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I say quietly.
“End of discussion then.”
“If he is unhappy, it is going to make me unhappy,” I blurt out. “Can’t you be reasonable and help me find another way?”
“Be reasonable?” His eyebrows go up. “I think I am being more than reasonable allowing you to stay married to the man.”
“Allowing me?” I say in disbelief. “How dare you make it sound like you own me.”
“I do own you,” he says heatedly. “You are mine. I made you so you could be with me. Not him and not anybody else.”
I stare at him, dumbfounded. “This is how you think? That you own me because you made me?”
“And this is why I would rather we talked about it now,” he says with his perfected world-weary sigh. “No, Aefre. It isn’t how I think. Not really. I like to convince myself that it is true, that I allow you your own life so that I still feel some sense of control, that I am still the only one who matters to you, regardless of whoever else is in your life.”
He has thrown me off guard with his statement. I was expecting a massive brawl about it. Trust him to turn the tide and make me feel bad.
“I don’t know how to respond to that,” I say. “It is getting off topic. There has to be another way we can arrange this so that everyone is happy.”
“There isn’t,” he says, and I think that is the true end of this discussion when he adds, “I am unhappy with this arrangement as well, you know. There is only one way that I will be ever be happy and that is to have you to myself full time.” I ponder that miserably as we sit in silence, which he breaks by saying, “Besides, you now have another arrangement which requires you to be here. Unless you want to fill him in on that.”
“You know I can’t do that,” I say quietly.
“Well then, this whole discussion is redundant. Can we please get back to our pleasant picnic now?”
“He is determined to find a way,” I press. “If he comes up with an idea, please just be open to listening to it, for me?”
“And what about Sebastian?” he asks coldly.
“I will honor that arrangement but if I have to change the terms, then so be it.”
“Fine. If he comes up with an idea, I will listen, but I am not promising anything, Aefre. Let me make that perfectly clear to you now.”
“That’s all I ask,” I say, taking his hand. “Thank you.”
He nods stiffly and I know his playful mood from before is long gone. I have doused it by reminding him not only of Cole, but Sebastian as well. How can I ever tell him about this Fae thing? I can’t. He will never in a million lifetimes understand or accept it. I can only hope that Drake never shows his face and that her life never becomes mine.
“You are looking tired, we should go inside, and you can take a nap,” he says briskly.
“Only if you take one with me,” I say.
“It is a difficult request to deny but if I get into the same bed with you, there will be no napping involved,” he says with a great effort to smile at me and I love him for trying.
“No one said we had to wait until tonight,” I say as I shuffle closer to him and put my hands on his tense shoulders.
“I said we do,” he snaps at me and I pull my hands back like I have been scalded, folding them in my lap and cursing myself for ruining the mood. “I’m sorry,” he says with
a deep sigh, taking my hands in his. “I didn’t mean to be harsh. There is more to it than just wanting not to rush. Although, that is a big part of it, there is another small part of me that can’t bear to be with you right now,” he says so softly. “I need a bit more time.”
My mouth drops open at his admission. “Oh,” I say, not having anything else in my repertoire to add.
“Please don’t take that personally,” he says, gripping my hands tighter as he registers my tone and expression. “It is my issue to deal with and I won’t let it get in the way of our time together tonight or again for that matter. Just give me a bit longer to get used to the idea that you and Sebastian have been together in the way that you have today, okay?”
I nod hesitantly and he smiles.
“Thank you. It is more difficult than I realized to share you with him. That the next time I see him, he will have known you like I know you. Vegas was…nothing, and the others matter not as they are yours and nothing to do with me, but Sebastian…and this…” he indicates the castle behind him. “I will find it hard to look at him and you in a room together for a while. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I say, even though I am thinking “Vegas was nothing”? Maybe not to him, the arse.
He nods gratefully. “Then let’s get you to bed for a bit. I need you awake and happy later.”
“Will you at least stay with me? You can read or work? I don’t want to be apart from you anymore than I have to be.”
He gathers up the folders but leaves everything else for the staff to deal with. The sun is disappearing, and the clouds are gathering, almost as if they are responding to the change in our moods. The wind gusts and I shiver, feeling the chill. He hands me my shoes and helps me stand. Wrapping his arms around me, he Teleports us to our bedroom and says, “Yes, I will stay with you.”
He tucks me into bed, and I watch him as he stretches out next to me with his work.
“Sleep,” he says with a sidelong glance.
“I’d rather watch you. You are the most handsome man I have ever come across, even more so when you think no one is looking at you and you relax.”
“I don’t like people staring at me,” he says.
“I’m not just people. I am your wife,” I say, stifling a yawn.
His head turns slowly towards me. “What did you just say?”
“I said, I’m not just people, I am your wife,” I mutter and fall asleep.
Chapter 21
In my dream, I am drifting up the stairs to the North Tower, I stop halfway up as I can already hear them speaking and I stop to listen.
“I did as you asked, I am unsure why you are so mad at me,” Sebastian says.
“I’m not mad at you, I just want to know exactly what you are saying to her. It comes in fits and bursts and before she said she was my wife. I can’t have her catching me off guard every time she says something like that,” CK says impatiently.
“I am suggesting to her that she leaves her husband and becomes your wife. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“But that isn’t how it is coming out. She is getting confused.”
“Of course, she is getting confused,” Sebastian retorts. “I told you before that I am messing with her whole mind, not just a single thought but a whole set of them and every time she Shifts, it throws the spell off course. It is dangerous and quite frankly, I can’t say for sure how this is going to turn out.”
“Oh, so you are getting all ethical on me now that you have finally taken her as you wanted her.”
“There was no taking involved,” Sebastian says in a snit now. “We were together, and it was perfect. Christ, that woman knows how to please a man.”
“Spare me the details,” CK growls at him. “I can do without the imagery.”
“I’m sure it wouldn’t be too taxing to picture it,” Sebastian goads him.
“Watch yourself. If you disrespect her, I will beat you to within an inch of your life.” CK’s sinister tone has me stepping back a fraction.
“I’m not disrespecting her,” Sebastian says fiercely. “She has given me everything I ever wanted, and more. I owe her everything for what she showed me was possible today.”
Silence.
“Don’t you dare fall in love with her,” CK says quietly. “You will never have her that way.”
“Won’t I? I could quite easily suggest to her that it is me she is supposed to be with.”
“You would betray me for her?” CK asks in disbelief. “A couple of hours in the sack and you would throw away our entire relationship?”
“No, of course not,” Sebastian says after a few moments. “You know that I would never do that. I just don’t see why I always end up losing out. Why don’t I ever get to be happy?”
“Oh ‘Bastian. I know you feel that way, but you mustn’t. I am still trying to fix this. I will find a way to reverse what I did.”
“I told you I don’t want to be fixed. Not now, not now that I have her.”
“You don’t have her,” CK says quietly. “She’s mine.”
“Then why aren’t you with her?” Sebastian asks bitterly. “Why are you up here arguing with me?”
“It is not my intent to argue with you, but you need to be put in your place. If I can’t trust you with her, I can’t let you continue with this arrangement.”
“What? You would take her away from me even after knowing what she did for me?” Sebastian is furious.
“Can I trust you with her?” CK asks calmly and I can hear lots of smashing and crashing going on.
“Fuck!” Sebastian yells before more crashing. “If you take her from me, you might as well just stake me. I am not living this life without her. Not now.”
“Then you need to think about what you said. I need to be able to trust you. I asked you to do this for me, if you turn around and try to take her for yourself because of something you are hoping is true, you will leave me no choice.”
“It is the truth, but I won’t,” Sebastian whispers. “Please don’t take her from me. You can trust me. Please,” he begs, and I hear CK grunt.
“Very well.”
“This is getting too complicated,” Sebastian says quietly. “Please, can you just do it yourself from now on?”
“You know why I can’t do that. I intend to keep the promise I made to myself, if nothing else, until the end of time.”
“But she won’t know. Just take the burden off me.”
“I can’t, ‘Bastian, I’m sorry. If she ever did find out about my Power and I never told her, she would always wonder if I had used it on her. I have too much to lose.”
“So do I!” he shouts. “You are her sire. Chances are she would forgive you at some point. If she finds out what I have been doing to her, she would never forgive me. She has no cause to, and I have a lot to lose as well.”
“I need you, ‘Bastian. I need you to do this for me,” he says soothingly.
“So, you keep your hands clean and leave me flapping in the wind?”
“No, I wouldn’t let that happen. But yes, you’re right, I need to keep my hands clean.”
I am shocked at this exchange. Not only are they are speaking of me as if I am some toy to be fought over but they are talking about spelling me. And what is the deal with Sebastian’s switch in temper? And CK has Powers? What is all that about? I am vaguely aware that I am dreaming and that I have dreamed, at least some of this, before. I am seriously paranoid. I can’t listen to any more of this. I turn to glide away and bump straight into Remiel.
“You,” I snarl. “I might have known you would have something to do with this.”
“I am merely here to make sure you are listening to what they plot. I have nothing to do with the content.”
I brush past him after casting a critical eye over him. He is dressed up in some garb that makes him look like a Prussian General. “Been reading again?” I indicate his dress and he looks down at himself. “Whatever do you mean? I like this look. Very dignified.�
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“Whatever,” I grouse as I float back down the corridor towards my bedroom as he follows on foot. “Go away,” I say to him.
“Not yet. I have been trying to get you to see for ages now that you can’t trust your sire. He is having Sebastian influence you. Your will is strong but his is stronger. You have no idea who he is, and he will succeed if you allow this to continue.”
“No, this is a lie. I do know who he is. This is just something you have made up to mess with me.” I try and speed up my floating but to no avail, I am just slowly inching my way down the corridor and I can’t get away from him.
“No messing. Although that is fun. I do quite enjoy our time together.”
“If this is true, why are you showing me? What do you get out of it?” I ask.
“Two less people in my way.”
I have no idea what he means so I just stare at him. “I am quite certain that you wouldn’t care to continue with your relationships with either of them, if you knew what they were doing to you. You would cut them off and as I said, two less people in my way.”
“Your way to what?” I ask through gritted teeth as I don’t seem to be going anywhere now. I am just wafting about like some sort of ghost. I don’t even have feet which is most disconcerting.
“To getting what I want,” he says easily.
“Which is what? Me in your little fantasy world?”
“The bigger picture,” he says, and my eyes flutter open.
Chapter 22
I sit up suddenly and CK says, “Aefre?”
I turn to him, sitting right where he was when I fell asleep. He is covered in papers and he doesn’t look like he has moved, so he can’t have gone up to the Tower to speak to Sebastian. Can he?
“Weird dream,” I say, and he looks concerned.
“The Thirteen kind?”
“Maybe, I don’t know. Have you been sitting here the entire time I was asleep?”
He blinks at me and my strange question. “Yes. You asked me to stay with you, so I did.”
“You are sure? You didn’t go anywhere?” I press.
“I am quite sure. Is there a problem with that?”