by Eve Newton
Xane peers at him. Falcor is neutral. He isn’t supposed to be concerned one way or the other over this affair.
“Out of respect to your father, I offer you my advice,” he continues. “If anyone were to ask about my visit, I trust you will tell them I was accepting your mother’s invitation to the homecoming soiree?”
“Of course,” Xane says. He feels a slight sense of panic start to rise. There is no way that Falcor would risk coming to him to tell him that he needs to produce a child with Xerxei to keep her, unless it was the only way to quash the rumors. He is done for. He knows she won’t agree so soon, and unless he manages to impregnate her by accident, he is going to lose everything. Damn Sven and his bloody vendetta. Why couldn’t he just leave well enough alone?
Constantine opens his eyes and finds that he has been asleep. And for quite some time it appears. It is dark out. He looks to his side and his charge has left him. He stretches and he feels better than he has in months. All the tension he has had pent up has been released, for now, and he has rested properly. He wonders how long it will last.
“Hi,” Sebastian says as he comes out of the bathroom with a towel around his hips.
Constantine just smiles at him and he smiles back.
“I should get back,” Sebastian says. “Who knows what horrors have occurred while I’ve been gone.”
Constantine nods at him, prepared to let him go, but in an instant Sebastian is next to him on the bed holding his hand.
“What now?” he asks quietly.
“What do you mean?” Constantine replies.
“This could work out for both of us,” Sebastian says. “If we could get rid of Cole, we could both have her, and each other.”
Constantine frowns at that idea. Once Cole is gone, and it won’t be long before he is, Aefre will be with just him. He isn’t sharing her anymore. “No, that isn’t going to happen,” he says.
“Why not?” Sebastian asks. “You share her now with that boy. Why not with me? The three of us would be incredible. You can’t deny that.”
“That isn’t my choice,” he says. “He is her charge and nothing to do with me.”
“Since when did that ever stop you?” Sebastian asks angrily. “You just want to keep her from me.”
“Yes, I do. I want to keep her from everybody,” he says, wondering why Sebastian doesn’t understand that by now. “But I have run out of chances with her, I have to let this one play out.”
“So where does that leave us?” Sebastian asks.
“Exactly where we were,” he says sadly. He doesn’t like being at odds, but he has no choice. “And before you even think about it, let alone say it out loud, if you spell either one of them you will have me to deal with. I am not having anything ruin my plans.”
“And what about this child she is having? You will just accept it?” Sebastian asks.
“Never,” Constantine says vehemently. “Just as I will never accept a child, she has with you.”
Sebastian lowers his eyes and looks sad at his harsh words. He wants to say he is sorry, but he can’t because he isn’t.
“I don’t want to fight with you,” Sebastian says.
“I don’t like it either, but it is what it is,” Constantine says with a shrug.
Sebastian nods and stands up. In the blink of an eye, he is dressed, and Constantine feels a pang of regret that he has to go and cut short their time together.
“Thank you,” he says, and Sebastian’s eyes go to his.
“I love you,” Sebastian says quietly and then puffs out.
Constantine flops back to the bed to enjoy the last of his post-sex glow before he has to get up and rejoin the real world.
“Cade,” Devon says, giving him a shove. “Cade, man, it’s time to feed.” Devon is reluctant to help the man who betrayed his sire, but Cole asked him to, and he couldn’t refuse him. Not to mention Liv would be furious with him if he had refused to help her charge.
Cade doesn’t open his eyes, but still grabs hold of Devon’s wrist and sinks his fangs into his flesh. He lets go after only a few pulls and turns away.
Devon straightens up and Cole smiles his thanks at him. He shrugs and heads for the door but stops when Cole just stands there staring at their other sibling.
“What?” he asks.
“I’m worried about him,” Cole says. “All I can think of when I look at him is Gustav and how I don’t want either of us to end up like that.”
Devon frowns. “Who is Gustav?” he asks.
Cole’s eyes snap to his and then he exhales slowly. “Ah, fuck. Never mind,” he mutters.
“Oh no, clearly you have something else to say,” Devon growls.
“No, it’s nothing,” Cole says and makes a hasty escape from the room. He hadn’t realized that Liv never said anything to Devon about him. Although, in retrospect, it makes sense. Devon would be gutted to know he wasn’t the only one for all the time he knew her.
Cole pushes open his bedroom door and stops as he finds Constantine lying in repose on the bed. He hasn’t seen the guy sleep, like, ever.
Constantine opens his eyes and scowls at them. “What?” he snaps.
“Who is Gustav?” Devon demands.
Constantine glares at Cole, who looks away sheepishly. “No one you need to know about,” he says, climbing out of bed completely naked and completely unashamed.
“I beg to differ,” Devon says. “If you are keeping it from me, he is clearly someone important.”
“Not anymore,” Constantine replies glibly and pulls on his robe. “Now if you will excuse me, I need to shower and get back to finding my wife.” He walks to the bathroom and pauses. “By the way,” he adds to Devon. “You really should keep your charge on a tighter leash. She likes to play with fire.”
“What did you do to her?” Devon roars at him, but Constantine just raises his eyebrow.
“Why, nothing. Perhaps you should ask her what she did to me?” He phrases it as a question just to piss Devon off further before he slams the door shut on them and their conversation.
Devon whirls around and Cole shrugs. “Don’t look at me, man. I have no idea. Although…” He glances at the bed and Devon’s eyes follow and his face hardens.
“If he so much as touched her, I will kill him,” he growls.
Cole breathes out in relief that the Gustav thing has been forgotten and he turns to pull his t-shirt over his head. He grabs another from the dresser, only to find Devon watching him with hooded eyes. He knows all about Devon’s crush, or whatever the Hell it is, on him by now. He has been suppressing some of the same feelings towards Devon, unsure of how to deal with them and hoping they will pass once his sire returns home. Devon catches him watching and does nothing to mask his growing desire. Cole shifts uncomfortably and Devon steps closer.
“So, Gustav?” he asks.
Cole sighs. Devon clearly isn’t going to drop this, even in light of the fact that it looks like Constantine has banged his charge very recently. “He was a charge of Liv’s,” he says shortly. “Just leave it at that.”
“How come I don’t know the name?” Devon says. “And you do, and what happened to him.”
“It’s a long and tragic story,” Cole says. “If Liv wanted you to know, she would have told you.” It was a mean thing to say, but he couldn’t resist having the upper hand for once.
Devon shakes his head at him, knowing his game. “You can’t play that one with me. I have five hundred years’ worth of history with her that you know nothing about.” He knows that was a very mean thing to say and regrets it when Cole flinches.
“Fine,” Cole says, now eager to hurt Devon back. God, these games are so childish and yet it always seems to come back to tit for tat. “Gustav was her charge up until a couple of years ago. He was turned in 1250 right before Lance kidnapped her.”
Devon pales and he looks like he is going to be sick. “No,” he says, shaking his head. “No! You are lying. If she had another charge, she would
have told me, she wouldn’t have let me think I was the only one. She wouldn’t be that cruel,” he cries.
Cole gulps. He shouldn’t have said anything. He knew it would rip Devon’s heart out and yet he did it anyway. He is a hateful bastard. Devon didn’t deserve that. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Devon looks at him and it feels like he is looking straight through him. His face is haunted, and Cole goes to him, putting his hand on his arm.
“Wh-what happened to him?” Devon asks.
Cole leads him to the bed and sits him down, forgetting about the other issue that Devon must deal with.
Cole tells him the story of how he devolved into a feral beast and that Liv never knew he was still alive, assuming he was dead because she never heard from him again, and how Constantine kept him in the dungeons under his castle for centuries trying to fix him.
“Fuck,” Devon breathes when Cole has finished his tale.
“Indeed,” Constantine says, having joined the retelling of the tale halfway through. “That wasn’t your story to tell,” he reprimands Cole.
“Why did she kill him?” Devon asks.
“Because he was a monster that couldn’t be fixed,” Constantine says. “If he hadn’t been linked to her with Blood Magick, I would have offed him the minute we freed him.”
Cole and Devon stare at him, mouths agape at his callous attitude. It makes both of them wonder if he has “offed” any of her other charges over the centuries.
“Then why did she do it?” Devon asks. “Why would she risk herself?”
“Because he was her charge,” Cole says woefully.
Devon flops back onto the bed, utterly incapable of processing this piece of news and mutters, “Damn fool,” to which Cole and Constantine both agree. He suddenly flies off the bed and glares at Constantine, who looks mildly back at him.
“If you hurt her in any way…” he starts, but Constantine holds his hand up.
“As much as this sire indignation pleases me, I have no interest in the girl. Keep her away from me, or next time she will really regret it,” he says and with that he marches off back downstairs.
Devon just stares after him and then at Cole. “You really think that you might end up like Gustav?”
Cole shrugs. “If she never comes home, yeah,” he says. “It doesn’t help that I will have to see what happens when it hits Cade first.”
“No,” Devon says. “I won’t let that happen.” He disappears, but Cole doesn’t have the strength to follow him, so he stays. He doesn’t really want to crawl into the mussed bed, that Constantine has clearly had it off with someone in, so he sits on the floor to wait for Devon to return.
Devon returns moments later with Cade slung over his shoulder fireman style and gently drops him onto the bed regardless. “From now on, we all stick together. Maybe being in here with her things will help,” he says determinedly as he roots around the dresser and comes up with what he was looking for. He sprays her perfume all around the room and Cole chuckles as he wafts the heady scent away. “Not sure that will help, but thanks for caring,” he says.
“Anytime,” Devon says back.
Chapter 5
The Dragon Realms - Liv
I awake with a start, sitting up in this godforsaken bed I have been in for days on end. I put my hand on my now perfectly flat stomach and gingerly feel around. Nothing. No pain. That’s good. I lift the gown and discover nasty red welts, but I was kind of expecting that. The main thing is they don’t hurt, and they are healing. Unlike before. I wonder what’s so different this time. Unless I have been here for that long that I have started to heal. I could have been gone from my home for years at this rate. I start to panic and get up. I fly to the door and drag it open, surprised to see Aida still standing there. She blocks my way as I prepare to leave, and I glare up at her.
“How long have I been out?” I ask her.
“I don’t understand your concept of time,” she says in her stilted English, and I pull my face at her, frustrated beyond belief.
Fortunately, Remiel shows up and ushers me back into the bedroom. “Where is my baby?” I ask him immediately. “How long was I unconscious?”
“Sit down,” he commands me, but I put my hands on my hips defiantly.
“Answer me,” I demand but he takes my hand and leads me back to the bed. “I don’t want to sit; I don’t want to be in here anymore. I want to see my child,” I say, feeling the tears about to tumble down my cheeks. He sees my anxiety and he pulls me into his arms. I cling to him briefly, but then I know that something very, very bad has happened.
“Aefre,” he says gently, and I shake my head in full denial mode.
“No, don’t say it. She is fine, tell me she is fine. I want to see her,” I say.
“Sit,” he says again and pushes me carefully onto the edge of the bed. “Firstly, you haven’t been out that long. A couple of hours in your time, at the most.”
That sort of reassures me, but now all I want to know is what happened to my baby.
I nod and wait for him to continue. “The baby, our baby, he didn’t make it,” he says quickly.
I squeeze my eyes shut and the tears seep out. I didn’t think I would be so concerned. I didn’t want it, I had hardly bonded with it, it was a child conceived not out of love between the father and me but for political reasons. I had already decided deep down to sacrifice my relationship with it to go back home, but now I feel the weight of sorrow bearing down on me. I breathe in deeply and then open my eyes. “Wait, you said ‘he.’ I thought you were sure it was a girl.”
“I was, the prophecy is quite clear about that. This, this was just not meant to be this time,” he says sadly.
“Oh,” I say flatly. “What happened? Was it because I asked you to cut him out of me?” I add in terror, thinking that this is somehow my fault.
“No, Aefre. Nothing like that. It just happens sometimes with the male of the species,” he says.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Male Dragons are weaker than the females. It’s why the female’s rule. They are stronger, faster, and more powerful. The males struggle in their early years and our child, while being a Dragon, was a human-born boy.”
“Which made him even weaker,” I say.
“Yes,” he says. “I am so sorry, Aefre.” He takes my hand and links our fingers together. We sit in silence, each grieving in our own little ways. A part of me, a desperately horrible part of me, is a bit relieved. I can go home guilt free and get on with my life. I stand up, ready to get out of here and forget this ever happened.
“Can I leave now, please?” I ask him. I need Tiamat to give me my Powers back before I can go anywhere.
“No,” he says. “Aefre, we have to try again.”
No beating about the bush, there. Just a plain statement of fact.
I think rapidly on my feet. I am not staying here to try again. No chance in any Realm is that happening. I must get home and see what damage has been caused, not only by my shock pregnancy, but also by my long Earthly absence from my boys. Devon will be fine, even though I am still so angry and heartbroken over his disgusting behavior and betrayal with that vile creature. I am glad that he is old enough to not be affected. Cole and Cade on the other hand are probably in very bad shape and I need to get home and comfort them.
“Let me go home, please, Remiel. You can come back for me when the time comes,” I say to keep him sweet. “My charges are dying. I cannot lose them as well.” I am perhaps being overly dramatic. Vampires can’t die by not being in their sire’s presence, it will just feel like they are until they turn into Rogues, or worse. My words, however, have an effect on him and he thinks it over.
He doesn’t seem overly pleased though when he opens his mouth to speak. “So, your sacrifice was going to be our child? You were going to go back to them all along?” he spits out.
Shit! I hadn’t thought this through well enough. Fix it! my brain yells at me, fix it
now!
“No, of course not,” I say, lowering my eyes at the lie. “But our child is gone, Remiel. Please don’t let me lose everything I hold dear in one day. Please.” I start to cry again, and it gets him on his feet. He wraps his arms around me, and I sink into his embrace, letting my tears flow. This is the only time I will allow myself to cry over my dead baby. Once I get home, there can be no more grieving. It all has to come out right here, right now. Minutes later, I pull away from him and he hands me a tissue. I weakly smile my thanks and he says, “Very well. But I will be back for you, Aefre. We will try again at the next Heat, and again and again until we get it right. Do you understand me?”
I nod reluctantly. I am going to have to find a way to get out of this. Before I knew about the baby, I knew I had a decision to make: Faeries or Dragons. I was kind of leaning towards the Faeries, I must admit. Not only because my Chosen Faerie mate is someone I care for deeply and I am attracted to on so many different levels it boggles my mind, but because I respect and love my father and he returns my affections. My mother, on the other hand, is a cold, vicious bitch who scorns and hates me and as it turns out my Chosen mate is someone I don’t even like, never mind love. It might have been different if it had been Cole, but that has gone down the toilet with Remiel’s return and I don’t want a child with someone I don’t love. It is wrong. Greater good be damned.
Fortunately, he takes my reluctance as fear of wanting to try again just to fail. “We won’t fail again,” he whispers to me. “Next time, we will do everything right and it will be perfect.” I nod again and let him hold me. We won’t be doing anything if I have any say over it, but right now I need my Powers and I need to get home, so I will say and do everything I can to make that happen.
“Perfect,” I murmur, and he tightens his hold on me. He runs his hand down my back and I feel a whoosh go through the room and over me and just like that V.A. has woken up. I bite my tongue to stop myself from yelling at him that he had the power to give me mine back all along. The hits just keep on coming today.