by Eve Newton
It is getting late now, and I want to see Sebastian. I go off in search of him, as I need to be with him. I find him in the stables, as I thought I might.
“Hi,” he says, eyeing me warily as he continues to brush down the horse.
“Hello,” I say back and then there is an awkward silence. There have never been any awkward silences between us before. That woman is destroying everything. “I love you,” I whisper to him and his eyes snap to mine. “I need you,” I add.
He relaxes instantly at my words and looks around with his impish smile and says, “Here? You want to go for a roll in the hay?”
I chuckle and say, “Right here, right now.” If anything, her life has taught me, it is to stop being so uptight, to relax and live in the moment. Sometimes.
His eyes light up as he moves closer to me and I feel our bond set on fire. I want him to take me as Devon did the first time. I want him to push me up against the wall and rip my underwear off me. I feel myself getting damp as I think about it and back up with a slow smile. Good thing I had the foresight to wear a skirt today. He follows me quickly and as my back hits the wall behind me he leans into me and kisses me. His hands go everywhere, in my hair, down my back, over my backside and up my skirt. “What if someone comes in?” he murmurs against my lips.
“Let them,” I murmur back, and his eyes widen in surprise. “Now, Sebastian. I want you now.” He lifts me up and I wrap my legs around him, struggling to get him free of his pants. He slides his fingers inside my panties and into me and I gasp. Oh, this is good. I haven’t had sex in a public place since Constantine and I couldn’t keep our hands off each other when I was freshly turned. That was such a long time ago. The fear of being caught adding to the excitement of being with my Faerie soul mate makes me come almost straight away to his immense delight. “Oh, Aefre. What has gotten into you lately?” he asks as he does what I want and rips my underwear off me with a quick tug. “You are being very daring today.”
“I missed you,” I say before I kiss him. “I hate it when you go away.”
He kisses me back as he pushes himself inside me, pounding me up against the stable wall with great enthusiasm. “I love you,” he says. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” I say back. “I want to be with you always.”
He groans at my words and I come again as he drops his fangs into me, ripping the sensible neckline of my shirt wide open. He comes then as he suckles slowly from me, and I push his head closer.
“Aefre!” Constantine’s voice cracks like a whip as he strides into the stables. “What do you think you are doing?”
“What does it look like?” I snap back at him, dropping my feet to the floor, annoyed that he had to interrupt. I didn’t get to feed.
“It looks very much like you being a wanton whore out in public. It is not acceptable.” He grabs my arm and glares at Sebastian. “You should know better than that.”
Sebastian just shrugs as he adjusts his clothing and bends down to pick up my ripped and discarded underwear. He twirls them around his finger with a wicked grin before he shoves them in his pocket. “I know you can summon up another pair, but I quite like the idea of you walking around without them.”
I giggle at him. I can’t remember the last time I giggled, well, here, anyway. Cheeky Sebastian makes my heart pound. He hasn’t been around in a while, since before this whole going-to-Court business.
“Aefre,” Constantine barks at me again. “What is wrong with you? Get back to the castle now and mind yourself.”
I roll my eyes at him and, blowing a kiss to Sebastian, I Astral back into the castle in a much better mood, landing in the Grand Entrance Hall.
“You seem happier.” Lance’s voice makes me turn towards the staircase where he is lurking. Or standing, if anyone else were to say.
“What is it to you whether I am or not?” I ask.
He shrugs and says, “You are my Empress and soon to be my mother-in-law, of course I care about your well-being.”
Humph, not if I can help it. “Where is Cassis?” I ask.
“In our bedroom,” he says, almost with a hint of slyness. Everything is just an almost with him, never quite all there. Why can no one else see it except me? “She mentioned the conversation you had the other day,” he adds casually.
I suppose that would be the conversation that woman had with her. I don’t know for sure what was said, but whatever it was got Cassis to be happy with me again.
“Oh?” I say with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes.” He steps closer, I want to say menacingly, but it just isn’t all there. “I can assure you that I am completely faithful, and I won’t hurt her or ask her to do anything untoward,” he says with a smirk, “you know, in the bedroom.”
What? My tired brain tries to figure out what he means. What did she say to Cassis? She asked her if he hurt her or asked her to do… oooooh. Well, seems like I am not the only one who is concerned about this relationship.
Good girl, I think now without malice. Her suspicion of Lance is her only redeeming feature at the moment.
“She is my daughter, of course I am going to look out for her,” I say haughtily.
“Yes, well, there is looking out for and then there is prying.” He steps even closer to me and I can see the evil lurking in his black eyes now. He leans forward and whispers close to my lips, “What I do to your daughter behind closed doors is not your business.”
My breath catches in my throat and he smirks at me again, pleased to have caught me off guard.
“Unless, of course, you are jealous,” he continues, his mouth inches from mine. “I can always make an exception, for you, Your Majesty.” He steps back quickly and smoothly as he senses our sire striding around the corner headed straight for us. Well, me. He is furious. I know this, even though his face is impassive, because he chose to walk back here instead of Teleporting straight in behind me.
“Constantine,” Lance says, bobbing his head.
“Lance. Would you excuse us, please?” he says. “I need a word with my wife.”
“Of course.” He smiles at Constantine, who smiles back, and then with a smile at me that chills me, he stalks off.
Constantine takes my arm and Teleports us to our bedroom. I am glad to note the brand-new sheets.
“Aefre,” he says. “I don’t know what is going on with you lately, but you need to stop this. Your mood swings are extensive, and you are being willful and careless and not at all like yourself.”
“Maybe I am being myself, for once,” I say back to him, hands on my hips. “I am tired of having to be so perfect all the time. I am tired of being told what to do and how to act. I want to have fun, I want to relax, I want to make love in a barn. I don’t want to be on a schedule and have everything organized down to the last millisecond.” I move closer to him knowing that everything I have said is true. I want a piece of her life for myself. “Please, my love. We need to take a vacation. Just the two of us.” I would rather it be the three of us, but I know he won’t refuse me if I exclude Sebastian.
“We have already discussed this,” he says with a frown. “You said you wanted to go to Miami.”
I did? Or more like, she did? That sneaky cow. She was already making plans to go and find Cole.
“Just the two of us?” he repeats quietly as I remain silent, still reeling from this news. The sex aside, she appears to have interacted with him far more than I am comfortable with. I nod and he closes his eyes. “Oh, Aefre, I want that. I really want that. Just the two of us.”
“Please say yes,” I ask him.
“Yes,” he says before he kisses me. “I will go to Miami or anywhere else you want to go.”
Oh, we are going to Miami all right. I have already checked, and Cole is there in this world. He is there working on a movie, just as he is in her world. I am going to find him and turn him and be with him forever. He will be mine. Truly mine, and no one will be able to take him away from me.
�
��Make love to me,” I whisper. “Like you used to, slow and passionate.”
He takes my hands and leads me to the bathroom. “After a shower,” he mutters, and I sigh. Just this once, I wish he had taken me spontaneously.
As it turns out though, this works out nicely in my favor, as he not only joins me (I can’t remember the last time he did that), but slowly washes every inch of me, driving me into a lust-fueled frenzy. Then he sucks on every part of me, from my toes to the back of my knees, all the way up to my nipples before he drops his fangs and feeds from me so slowly, I never want him to stop. He pulls back and kisses me sweetly and I feel his love for me, and it wells up in me. I do love him so much. I always have and I always will. I want to please him, so I drop to my knees and take him in my mouth, and he shivers at my touch, at my mouth on him. The water is pounding down on us and it is incredibly sexy. He is incredibly sexy.
He pulls me up before he can finish and leads me back out of the shower. He picks me up in his arms and, soaking wet, he places me on the bed and sees to me just as I asked him to: slowly and with such an intense passion that only he can give me. I come several times before he slowly slides into me and wraps his arms around me tightly as he moves inside me.
“I love you, Aefre,” he whispers. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, Constantine. I want to please you,” I murmur to him and roll us over so I can ride him. I run my hands over his chest as I move my hips over him. He grabs my thighs and I pull him up, wrapping my legs around him so I am so close to him. I drop my fangs and feed deeply from him as we both come together. I pull back, panting, and lean my forehead on his, holding him tightly.
“Do you truly forgive me?” he whispers.
“Yes,” I say straight away. I had already decided back in her world that I would forgive him, but she took that away from me. I am glad he asked again, and I could give him my absolution. Her opinion doesn’t count, she doesn’t know. She doesn’t have a right to forgive his hurtful actions.
“Thank you, my love,” he says. “I was so worried that this time I had lost you forever.”
“Never,” I say, meaning it completely. “Yes, you hurt me terribly, but I know I hurt you too, and for that I am sorry.”
“No, Aefre, don’t say that. You do what you must. I understand it, I really do.” He pushes my hair out of my eyes with a look of such longing it makes me want to cry.
“Sometimes I wish we’d had more time,” I say, taking his face in my hands. “More time to just be us.”
“You do?” he asks, surprised.
“Yes, don’t you? We had almost no time after you turned me, everything happened so quickly. I was expected to be so much when all I wanted was to enjoy you. To enjoy what we were, what you made me. There wasn’t enough time,” I say sadly.
He crushes me to him as he kisses me. “Oh, Aefre. I know exactly how you feel. I just didn’t know that you felt the same. You seemed to accept what you became with such ease and I just accepted it too. I wanted more time with you. I needed more time with you,” he whispers.
“Then let’s take it. Cassis is more than capable of running the Empire. We can go and travel the world, properly this time. Let’s take the time to just be with each other.”
He looks at me as if I just handed him the moon, but then his eyes cloud over. “Just the two of us?” he asks again.
I hesitate now. “Mostly,” I say, and a pained expression crosses his face. “My love, I don’t want to hurt you, but you know I can’t be without him for long periods. When he is at Court it will just be us. You and me and nobody else.”
“You need to go to your own Court,” he says then, changing the subject abruptly. “I know we spoke of this the other day, but, Aefre, you need to go and see Drake. Soon.”
“I don’t want to,” I say petulantly.
“I know you don’t, but it would be better for everyone if you went to him. If he takes it upon himself to come here again…” he trails off and a frisson of dread goes down my spine. No, that wouldn’t be good at all.
“Fine, I will go. I will show my face for a couple of days, and when I get back, we will go on our vacation,” I say, and he nods briskly.
“Take Sebastian with you. I don’t want you around him on your own.”
“Okay, I don’t really want to be around him on my own anyway.” I sigh, but then look up at him from my lowered lashes. “Now, where were we?” I ask seductively as I snake my hand down in between us and he grins, happy to have me initiate for a change.
Chapter 4
We told Sebastian that I was going to go to Court, and he sent word that we would be arriving shortly. We left the date open as I was nervous and still did not want to go. To say that Drake and I do not get along is the understatement of the century. He came here looking for me several months ago and I rejected him. He is mean and a bully and I hate him. I didn’t need him in my life, but as it turned out he needed me. So much, in fact, that he kidnapped my daughter and kept her in a disgusting hole deep underground until I told him that I would do as he wished. Ever since then I have tried to avoid going back to Court and he has tried everything to get me to go. But if he ever lays a hand on Cassis again, I will kill him. I am dreading going again. I don’t want to see him, but Constantine is right in saying that if he comes back here it will be bad for all of us. I need to brush it off and do my duty, to protect my daughter and my family.
“I am going to miss you while you are gone,” Constantine says to me in between kisses between my breasts.
“I am going to miss you too. I wish I didn’t have to go,” I say and sigh.
“It’s for the best, my love. You know you must. I wish I could come with you.” He pushes my breast into a small mound and tugs on my nipple and it sends a shiver down my spine.
“I know. I wish you could as well, but it wouldn’t be a good idea. You know how he feels about you. When I get back, we will be together,” I say, and he smiles at me.
“I can’t wait. Aefre,” he says, then seriously. “I know the last few days have been traumatic for you, but I am glad that you had this…breakdown. It has changed you. If possible, I love you even more now.”
“I love you even more now too,” I say as he resumes his task of little kisses to me that are driving me crazy. “Constantine. I…I know about Serena,” I blurt out and he stops what he is doing to look up at me. “I know that you want her because she is Sebastian’s and I understand that you want to take something that is his and I know that I have no right to ask you this, but will you please end it? I can’t bear thinking about you with anyone else. I am sorry I am such a hypocrite.”
“Aefre,” he says. “I want to do as you ask, I really do, but soon you are going to be with child, with Sebastian’s child.” He sits up and turns away from me. “I’m sorry, my love, but thinking about that tears me up inside. It makes me…you know how it makes me,” he says sadly. “Once you start to show, I don’t think I will be able to be with you or even sleep in the same bed with you,” he adds quietly. “I will need something to distract me. I need the distraction now or I am going to lose myself again. Please say you understand?”
I sit up as well and place my cheek on his shoulder. “I do, my love. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. Forget I said anything.”
He turns to me again. “No, I love that you asked. A few weeks ago, even a few days ago, I felt you didn’t care enough to ask. I will end it, after. I promise you.”
I nod, knowing that I am undeserving even of that much.
“Do you think that we might try again ourselves one day?” he asks me shyly.
“Do you want to?” I ask, a bit surprised by his question.
“Yes, very much so. Cassis means the world to me and I love sharing her with you. That she is a part of both of us. I want that again.”
“Then we will try,” I say with a smile and his face lights up.
“Thank you,” he murmurs as he kisses me. “Now let me make love to y
ou before you go.”
And he does, twice, before we are interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Time to go,” Sebastian says softly as he sees us wrapped around each other on the bed.
I nod. “Just let me get showered and changed.”
“Of course,” he says and watches me walk naked into the bathroom.
“Take care of her,” I hear Constantine say gruffly, as I close the door.
“You know I won’t let anything happen to her,” Sebastian replies.
I hover on the other side of the door for a few more moments, wanting to hear what they say.
“If he lays a finger on her, I will kill him,” Constantine says forcefully, and I gulp. He’s getting that way again. Itchy.
“He won’t hurt her. They may have the worst father-daughter relationship going, but he needs her. Plain and simple.”
“There is nothing simple about this,” he grouses.
“Tell me about it,” Sebastian says heavily and then there is silence, so I turn towards the shower and step in. I am dreading this trip. In fact, I would rather be going anywhere but there. But I must remember that in a few days, we will be going to Miami and I will find Cole. I will make Constantine understand that I need a charge. He has thousands so surely, he will understand the need. But it is tough luck for him if he doesn’t, because I am going to find Cole and turn him and bring him home with me.
I step back out into the bedroom to find them sitting together on the bed in silence. Both of them look up at me in appreciation as they see my chosen outfit, acceptable for attendance at the Dark Fae Court. A long, deep purple gown with thin straps to show off the markings on my arms, and a full-length black velvet cloak to cover up my Dragon tattoo. No need to poke the bear.