by Eve Newton
“You look beautiful,” Constantine says.
“Hm, it’s too bad that he won’t think so. He hates how I look. Maybe I should just comply with his request and Shift into something he might accept.” I turn to the mirror and Shift, changing my hair to drop to my waist, black with a purple sheen to it and eyes the color of amethysts. “Maybe now he won’t look at me with such disdain.” I turn and meet their wide eyes as they take me in.
“Aefre, you shouldn’t have to change yourself for him to accept you,” Constantine says as Sebastian just says, “Wow.”
“I know I shouldn’t have to, I don’t want to, but I don’t want any drama either. The smoother things go the better and if he likes the way I look, then it is a start.”
“He is a fool for not appreciating you as you are,” he grumbles.
“Well, thank you, my love,” I say as I swish forward and bend to kiss him. “I will see you in a few days. I love you.”
“I love you,” he says. “Be careful, and don’t go anywhere on your own. I don’t trust him, or any of them with you.”
“I won’t let her out of my sight,” Sebastian says as he takes my hands and Teleports us deep into the forest, just beside the Faerie Ring that takes us to the Fae Kingdoms. “I would never say this in front of Constantine because I know how he feels about your natural self, but don’t Shift back until we return. I do think you might find he will be more receptive if you look like him.”
“I hope so. I know I shouldn’t care what he thinks, but it does hurt when he looks at me like I am less than nothing,” I say sadly.
“I know. But that you are not, my love. Remember who you are,” he says.
I nod and with a stiff back step into the circle with him and we are transported to the Fae Kingdoms.
We step out of the ring and head west towards the Dark Fae palace. East is where the Light Fae live. We walk in a companionable silence for a few minutes until we reach the black path that leads to the palace. There is no one waiting for us as we weren’t expected, so we just continue to walk in silence, me dreading this meeting, and him worried about it for me.
Soon we see the palace in sight and the Dark Guard escorts us the rest of the way. Even in my different guise they know who I am because of my markings and I am treated with a wary respect, but with a hint of contempt. We aren’t kept waiting once we reach the palace as someone had gone ahead to announce our arrival and we are ushered into the Throne Room, where both Drake and his awful wife, Maurelle, are sitting waiting for us. Sebastian tightens his grip on my hand and we both bob our heads as we are greeted with unpleasant stares. Although, I am sure I see a glimmer of acceptance flash in Drake’s eye before it vanishes, and he resumes his icy stare. Maurelle is glaring at me with open hatred, and, well, I can’t blame the woman. I am living proof that not only did her husband cheat on her, but I also remind her of her own failings to give him a daughter.
“Aeval,” he says, his violet eyes narrowing at me, as I stiffen at the name he gave me, remembering the “You are a Fae Princess, you will have Fae name” speech. Fortunately, it is like my own, but it still rankles me.
“Drake,” I say, refusing to call him Father and I won’t submit to calling him Your Majesty. If anything, he should call me that.
“It is about time you came. You have been very neglectful of your duty.”
“Yes, well, I do have an Empire to run,” I say haughtily, and I note with satisfaction that he dislikes the fact that I have an Empire and he only has a Kingdom.
His eyes then bore into Sebastian. “Kalen,” he calls Sebastian by his given Faerie name. “I trust you got back in time to see to her.”
See to me? That’s…unpleasant and upsetting as Sebastian nods his head. So clearly, he did “see to” the other me. Slut, I think irrationally, as I was probably doing her husband at the same time as she was being “seen to”.
“Very well. Let us hope that something comes of it this time. It is late now. Tasha will show you to your,” he pauses and watches for a reaction as he says, “room. Tomorrow we will discuss your nuptials.”
I open my mouth to say for the thousandth time that I am already married, but Sebastian squeezes my hand and I close it again. I really shouldn’t provoke him.
Drake smirks at me as he knows he has annoyed me. “It is about time that you both take your rightful places. Dismissed,” he says with a wave of his hand.
My mouth drops open in outrage that he has dared to treat me so casually. One of these days I am going to show him who I really am. One day, but not today, as Sebastian whisks me away, sensing my anger. “Don’t let him get to you,” he whispers. “That is why he does it. Show him you don’t care.”
I clamp my lips together in an effort not to start yelling and follow Tasha out of the Throne Room and down the hall. She shows us to a lovely room. It’s all dark and medieval, one of my more preferred eras. I take my cloak off and fling it onto the bed.
“I hate him,” I say, and Sebastian takes me in his arms.
“Forget him now. This is the first time ever that I will have you in my bed the whole night, just the two of us.”
I smile at his eagerness and say, “Indeed. And what will you do with me?”
“I will make love to you and when you fall asleep in my arms, I will wake you to make love to you again and then again until morning.”
“I like the sound of that,” I manage to get out before he kisses me, tugging at the laces at the front of the dress to get it loose. He pushes it over my shoulders, and it drops to the floor in a heap, which he picks me up from, placing me delicately on the bed before he undresses himself quickly. I kick off my shoes and crawl to the top of the bed and sink into the mountain of pillows as he falls on top of me. “Next time I will go slowly, right now I need you,” he says before he pushes himself inside me and I cry out at the feel of him. The sparks fly as I run my fingers down his back and I can feel the markings twirling away at my touch.
“Oh, Aefre,” he whispers. “I love you so much.” He wraps his arms around me and drops his fangs, sinking them into my neck and suckling slowly as he continues to drive into me, causing me to come quickly and forcefully and a second time as he groans, and the vibrations set me off.
“My sweet, sweet Sebastian. I love you. Let me show you how much,” I gasp as he bites down harder at my words. He releases me and kisses me as I roll us over and pull him up with me. I move quickly over him, bringing him into a state of pure pleasure, before I bite down on him and feed slowly as he did to me. He comes inside me, pulling on my hips as he throbs on and on until I release my bite and kiss him softly. He falls back to the bed, bringing me with him and I lie content over him, with my head on his chest.
“I didn’t Shift back,” I say suddenly, as I see my long black hair splayed out around him.
He looks down at me in surprise. “I didn’t even notice,” he says with a small smile. “Our connection just takes me over and it is just me and you.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Hm, and the fact that you find this attractive had nothing to do with it?”
He laughs. “Well, I won’t deny that I find you very beautiful, Princess, but it is you that I love. The real you. You could be a hideous beast, but you would still be my hideous beast to love.”
I smile at him and put my head back on his chest. “I’m going to fall asleep now, be sure to wake me up in a bit with your tongue caressing me,” I say slyly, and he chokes.
“You are being very wicked lately, ever since I got back. I like it,” he says as he kisses the top of my head. I snuggle into him and I think that I like it too. The jump through timelines has shown me how uptight I was. I need to relax and embrace this life again. I drop off with Sebastian’s arms tight around me and awake suddenly as I sense another presence. I turn and grab the hand that is hovering close to my back. It’s Drake. “I don’t know what Fae abilities you have, but you should know that you can’t sneak up on a Vampire,” I say, gripping his hand tight
ly.
He sneers down at me. “I wasn’t sneaking up on you. I was waiting for you to wake.”
“You have been here all of two seconds, I would hardly call that waiting.” I let go of his hand and he stands up straight as I pull the sheet higher up over me.
“Your mother had a similar marking to that one of yours,” he says quietly. “It’s interesting the way it moves.”
“It’s nothing to do with you. What do you want?” I ask.
He sits on the bed casually, as if this wasn’t wildly inappropriate, and regards me curiously. I sense Sebastian move, but put a light hand on him to keep him down. Whatever Drake wants to say he probably won’t say it if he knows Sebastian is listening.
“I am interested to know why you showed up here in that guise,” he says and points to me.
“It seemed appropriate,” I say as I stare back at him. He is very attractive with his shock of black hair and his violet eyes and sallow skin. Combined with my mother’s looks, I wonder how I ended up as I did, blonde and green-eyed. My human parents must have had more to do with my creation than I thought.
“You were looking for approval,” he states, and I curse my face that shows everything I am feeling. I stare impassively back at him and he sneers. “You will never have my approval. You are weak and an abomination. One that I am most displeased to be associated with.” I can see him watch for my reaction and I try to show I don’t care about his words, but I inadvertently draw in a breath and try to steady myself at his harsh words.
He looks almost disappointed in me as he continues, “Unfortunately, I am unable to deny that you are mine and that you are in fact a girl, but know this, I have only accepted you because I can’t deny you. If it were up to me, I would have nothing to do with you. I will open my home up to you and give you everything a Princess of this Court is worthy of, but I will never accept you as a daughter. Feel free to stay as long as you like but do keep out of Maurelle’s way. Your presence here offends her. And keep your disgusting Vampire needs under lock and key. You will not feed in that manner while you are here. Do you understand me?” He makes his demands as he stands up, towering over me, causing me to tilt my head back to glare at him in the eyes. I will myself to say something smart back to him, but all I do is nod briskly with a look of hatred on my face that doesn’t go unnoticed. His mouth twists into a cruel smile. “Keep the look, it is fitting. You will, from now on, always look this way in my presence. It may be pretense, but at least it is better than the real thing.” He vanishes in a puff of smoke, and I let out the breath I was holding as the tears that were welling up spill over and fall silently down my cheeks. Sebastian pulls me to him, holding me tightly.
“Pay him no mind. He is an arsehole,” he consoles me.
“He hates me,” I sniffle. “I don’t want to care, but I do.”
“He doesn’t hate you. He is playing with you. Once our baby is born, he will come around. He cannot and will not deny the child. He knows that. He wouldn’t be so concerned about it if it didn’t matter to him. You will be the mother of his grandchild, the Destined One, he will have to accept that, and you.”
I don’t answer, but just continue to weep as Drake’s cruel words keep going around in my head.
Chapter 5
I awake early. Sebastian, true to his word, has woken me up in the most pleasing fashion by licking me softly and I sigh. I took me forever to get back to sleep last night after Drake’s midnight visit. I couldn’t help the tears as I kept going over what he said to me. He thinks I am weak.
“Don’t think about him,” Sebastian says as he crawls up me to kiss me. “Just think about me.”
I smile at him. “I like waking up with you,” I say as I caress his face.
“I do too. I wish it was like this always.” He sighs. “Aefre,” he says seriously. “Come away with me. You don’t need to be married to him. I know you love him, but what we have is so much more. You should be my wife.”
“Oh, Sebastian, don’t, my love. I will never leave him. Don’t ask me to.” I turn away from him and he makes a noise of frustration.
“He has hurt you more times than I can count. When have I ever hurt you? I will never, ever hurt you.” He turns me back to face him and says, “We belong together, you know that.”
“Stop it, Sebastian. Don’t spoil our time together,” I say and pout at him and he kisses me.
We are interrupted by a knock at the door. Sebastian gets up to answer it after we tried to ignore it for a few minutes, but to no avail.
“The Princess is requested to see His Highness,” a servant says as Sebastian glares at him.
“Later,” he says, closing the door.
The servant puts a hand up to stop him with an apologetic look. “His Highness was most insistent that the Princess attend now. I am to bring her to him,” he says as he waits.
I climb out of bed and pull on a gown similar to that I wore yesterday, but in black with an open back. I don’t care about provoking him now and think briefly if I should Shift back, but decide against it in a fit of cowardice, disgusted at myself for letting him get to me.
“Aefre, you don’t need to go as soon as he calls. You are Empress of the Dragon Realms and Underworld, you do not get beckoned,” Sebastian says with an air of authority that has the servant cringing as he remembers who he is dealing with. But his fear of his King outweighs anything he might feel about us.
“I will go,” I say with a placatory hand on him. I can sense his anger and strong emotions tend to make him volatile and unpredictable. His temper far outdoes my own and mine is legendary and very hard to forget. “If, for no other reason than to save this poor man from getting into trouble,” I say with a small smile to the servant who looks relieved and grateful.
“Then I will come with you. I don’t want you alone with him,” he says as he sees my resolve.
“The Princess is to come alone,” the servant ventures quietly.
I was expecting it. Separating me from Sebastian, the only ally I have here, is a savvy move and one I would probably do myself in his position.
“It’s fine, Sebastian. I will see you shortly,” I reassure him.
He bends down to kiss me. “I will be waiting right outside,” he whispers and turns to get dressed to follow us.
I swish out of the room behind the servant, who leads me downstairs and to what I can only assume is Drake’s office, as he knocks and opens the door when bid. He ushers me in and then leaves hastily. Drake is standing in the center of the room, which turns out to be an office-library type affair.
“I trust you slept well,” he says sarcastically as he stares at me with those cold, violet eyes.
“Fine, thank you,” I reply, and he sneers, knowing I am lying.
He sweeps his gaze over me. “Your marriage to Kalen must take place at the next full moon. You will be in a Holy union with him, as is fitting, before you share a room with him here again.”
I had wondered what that was about yesterday. It was a test. One I clearly failed by not insisting on two rooms. It annoys me though. “So, it is okay to have sex with him, but not share a room with him?” I ask bravely.
My daring words anger him and his eyes flash. “There is nothing more important than the child you will bear, but you are Princess of this Court and you will act accordingly. You will be here at the next full moon, three weeks from now, to wed.”
“I am already wed,” I say, getting angry as I turn my back to him, mostly in an effort to anger him, but also a little bit so that he won’t see my terrified expression.
“That union is not recognized here,” he scoffs. “It is meaningless.”
I keep my back turned as the hurt of his words pierce my heart, but then I remember who I am and turn to back to face him stiffly and say, “Very well. We shall return three weeks from now.”
He looks momentarily pleased that I have acquiesced so easily. He probably thought he would have more of a fight on his hands. But then his usual c
ruel expression returns, and he sits at the big round table in the middle of the room. I assume I am dismissed and step towards the door, but then he says, “Maurelle will arrange everything, all you need to do is turn up and do your duty by me. It won’t be a big affair; the embarrassment is bad enough without having it celebrated.”
I know he has said it to goad me and I should just ignore him and leave, but I can’t. I have to know why he hates me, so, cursing myself, I round on him and ask, “Why do you hate me so much? Why did you come to find me if I am such a great disappointment? Why not just leave me be?”
“I don’t hate you, Aeval,” he says, drumming his fingers on the table. “I don’t feel anything for you one way or the other. You are merely an incubator for the destined child. Once you have done your job, you will become redundant.”
I try to hide the shock on my face that he could be so malicious, but it doesn’t go unnoticed and he smiles, showing me his sharp teeth. He pushes on, “Once you start to show, you will reside here until the birth. Afterwards, you may leave, and you don’t have to return. Maurelle and I will raise the child as a true Fae worthy of this Kingdom. Your presence won’t be required.”
I gape at him openly now. He thinks he is going to take my child from me and push me out of its life? There is no way in Hell, I am letting that happen.
“Over my dead body,” I snarl at him. “If you think that I am going to let you and that witch wife of yours raise my child, you are sorely mistaken.”
He looks surprised that I have dared to defy him, and he stands again. “You don’t have a choice. If you think that I am going to allow you to return to the Earth Realm to raise the child to be accepting of creatures such as yourself, you are the one who is sorely mistaken.”
I make a decision on the spot. A hasty one I’ll admit, but there is no way he is taking my baby from me.
“In that case, I renounce you,” I say, pulling myself up and mustering all of my Empress authority that usually has people quaking in their boots. Not him though, no, he just looks amused. “I no longer wish to be a part of your Court; I won’t marry Kalen and we won’t be having a baby. You are just going to have to keep trying to have another daughter to fulfill this prophecy. I am done with you.” I turn on my heel and head for the door. As I open it, he grabs me by the arm and spins me back around. The look on his face terrifies me, but I stand my ground. Mentally speaking that is, as when he places his other hand on my stomach, I back up into the corridor, catching sight of Sebastian who is leaning casually against the wall. He jumps up when he sees us, striding forward with anger on his face.