by Eve Newton
Who am I kidding? The second he leaves the room; I feel his loss and I allow myself a few tears of sorrow. I must have drifted off at some point with Cole still twined around me, but I awake alone. That sort of surprises me. I expected no alone time for the next few days. I grab my robe and it takes a second for my night vision to kick in. It is really, really dark. Almost eerie. I peek out of the French doors over the terrace and the night sky is an empty black pit. I haven’t been here in the Underworld at night before, so I didn’t really know that there are no stars and no moon. I suppose seeing as there isn’t really a sun either that shouldn’t come as a surprise. There are also no lights of any kind, city or residential like you find on Earth. It is just black. I turn and go to check on Cade. He is sleeping soundly, and I brush his hair off his forehead and stare at him for a moment. His color is looking much better, but he still doesn’t look well. I reach for the empty glass next to his bed and slice my wrist open, dripping some blood into it for him for when he wakes. I replace it gently and stroke his forehead again. He turns away from me and I am just feeling rejection all over the place today. I quietly leave his room and go in search of my husbands. As I reach the bottom of the stairs, a crash from the library makes me jump. I put my hand on my racing heart and pause. I can hear voices talking in hushed tones. It’s Cole and CK. I sit on the bottom stair and listen with my Dragon hearing Powers. Neither one can sense me this far out, so I am going to do some snooping. I will learn far more this way than if I just outright ask what is going on.
“You have to tell her,” CK says as something else slams into place. I can only assume he is putting the desk right that went flying through the windows earlier.
“No, not yet,” Cole says. “I can’t. It’s too soon.”
“Too soon?” CK sneers at him. “It’s been six and a half months.”
“I mean too soon since she got back. She’s been through an ordeal, Constantine. I don’t want to add to that,” Cole insists.
What on Earth are they talking about?
“Tell her as soon as she wakes, or I will,” CK threatens him and I hear Cole’s gulp.
“No, please. I will do anything if you just give me a couple of days. Two days and I swear I will tell her. I need to make her secure and make sure she knows I love her and that this won’t change anything,” Cole pleads.
What the fuck? I stand up to go and demand some answers right now, but Sebastian pops in next to me with a smile.
“Hey,” he says. “Alone?”
“Sort of,” I answer with my own smile. He leans down to take me in his arms and I momentarily forget the hushed conversation. I tilt my mouth to his and he gives me a brief, but thorough, kiss that leaves me wanting so much more. “Missed you,” I murmur, and he ruffles my hair.
“Ah, little one, you have no idea how my heart has ached for you. I need you,” he whispers.
“I know. Soon,” I say, thrilled with the three words I didn’t get from our sire. “I need to see Drake.”
He steps back from me with a sour look. “God, did you have to mention your father while I was thinking such ravishing thoughts of you?”
I snicker quietly, still wanting to keep his presence from the other two for a little while longer. “Sorry, I have things to tell him.”
“What things?” he asks, sitting on the step I vacated.
I plop myself back down and sigh. “You will have to wait your turn,” I say.
“Livvie,” he pauses. “I want you to know that I understand your predicament. I really do, and I won’t pressure you into anything, but I want to come home,” he says.
“I want you to come home, Seb. Speak to Drake. Make arrangements for three days from now. I will do my duty and bring you home,” I decide on the spot. CK and Cole will just have to lump it.
His face lights up and he nods eagerly. “Keep it as much to yourself as you can. If Thrace gets word, he will… uh…”
“He will what?” I ask sharply and the slight noise from the library stills as I have caught my husbands’ attentions.
Cole pokes his head out of the library and looks fearful as he sees me sitting on the stairs. He is obviously worried that I overheard that conversation I wasn’t supposed to overhear. I ignore him and ask Sebastian again, “He will what?”
He sighs and rubs his face with his hand. “I have it on good authority he is planning to overthrow me as soon as he gets enough support. Although, to be fair, I am surprised it hasn’t happened already. He was next in line with me gone after all, the people know him.”
“But you are the true King,” I say. “They respect that.”
“Hm,” he says thoughtfully.
“Go to Drake, sort it, and I will see you in three days,” I say and turn to CK, who I know without even looking at him is expecting an explanation. I tell him and Cole of my decision and they both look grim.
“And so it begins,” CK mutters.
“It has already begun, CK,” I say. “My mother started all of this by setting me up to be seduced and impregnated against my will. It ends here.” I point downwards as I stand and then clench my fists. I am angry. Angry to have been put in this position, angry that no one understands, angry that they are angry.
I make my declaration. “I choose my father,” I say. There, it’s done. No takey-backeys. I half expect Tiamat to show up and blast me to kingdom come, but there is just a stony silence.
Sebastian takes my hand and squeezes it tightly, giving me his support.
“No,” Cole says. “No, you promised me there would be no Faerie baby.”
“I did say that, and I’m sorry that I have to break that promise to you. You all know I have had to make a choice and I choose my father. That means choosing the Faerie,” I say carefully.
“And Sebastian,” CK says stiffly.
“Not intentionally,” I say. “It just is. Seb, can we have a minute alone, please?” I have things to say to them that will hurt Sebastian’s feelings. I’d rather he left so he doesn’t hear it.
“Yeah,” he says reluctantly and without another word puffs out.
I take CK’s and Cole’s hands and lead them into the library.
“No more lies, Aefre,” CK says, taking his hand out of mine. He is pissed and I understand it.
“Straight up. I had to choose, and I have. It is either being with somebody who I like or being with that creature who has done nothing but torment me for months on end. But really, it isn’t about either one of them. Or the Dragons or Faeries. This is a choice between my father and my mother. It boils down to that, plain and simple. And I choose Drake. Tell me that you can understand the difference.”
They both do understand it. I can see it on their faces, but neither one will admit it yet.
“But you will still have to have a baby with Sebastian,” Cole says defiantly. “How am I supposed to stick around and watch that?”
“We,” CK says, hands on hips now. “How are we supposed to stick around and watch that? The gods, Aefre. How can you even ask that of us? If the tables were turned, would you accept it?”
Jesus, no! But they aren’t.
“It will be hard, I know that. We will have to deal with it. I am not choosing Sebastian. He will not be my husband as you are…”
“Just as Xane is,” Cole says nastily, and I flinch at the hostility.
“We aren’t talking about him now,” I say quietly.
“Well, we should,” Cole says.
“Enough,” I say, stamping my foot. “This isn’t a negotiation. If you don’t like it, there’s the door!” I spin and leave through said door, leaving them gaping after me. It’s a brass move. It could backfire and launch me to the moon, but I have a feeling they will be along shortly to make it right with me.
I’m not wrong.
Before I hit the stairs, Cole is grabbing for me. “Liv, don’t. I’m sorry I made you angry. I understand, I do. But it doesn’t mean I can stop it from hurting.”
“And you?” I ask of
CK who is hovering in the doorway.
“I need time to get used to the idea,” he says.
“We have time,” I say. “It is only my mother who pushed this as far as it has gone. Once I speak to Drake, he will be okay with waiting.” I hope.
“Reaffirm your promise to me,” he demands suddenly. His eyes have gone black and he is desperately trying to hold onto his self-control.
Cole looks between the two of us and I shift my eyes away from his lost look. “Of course,” I say. “I told you last week. Err, the other month. I said it and I meant it.”
He nods stiffly and goes back into the library. I want to follow him, but I vividly remember how that went down last time. I crack my neck and take Cole’s hand, leading him upstairs to our bedroom for some alone time.
Chapter 9
The Underworld, March 2014 - Constantine
For once he is glad, she left him alone. But she remembers, as clearly as he does, what happened the last time she followed him when he was like this. He is nowhere near as angry as he was that day, but angry enough that it has come to this. How, where, when did he manage to become second best to Sebastian? And with her no less. It stabs at his heart to think of her pregnant with his charge’s child. He can deal with the sex. It’s just sex. He already knows they are having it. He gave his blessing for them to go for it. Of course, he took it away again once he discovered his wife’s Dark Fae nature, but Sebastian can’t lie to him. His doe-eyed gaze when he looks at her gives him away. He wants to enforce his displeasure at their actions, but what would be the point? Aefre has always gone after what she can’t have, and the same can be said for Sebastian. Isebella wouldn’t have given Sebastian the time of day if it hadn’t been for him. All he would have done is force them together in an illicit affair that would have further excited both of them. He sighs heavily and moves the desk chair back into place. She has been back only five minutes and already the drama has started again. He sits and pushes in the desk drawers. The bottom one gets stuck and he pulls it out to straighten it. Something catches his eye. He peers inside and it looks like a false bottom to the drawer. It has come loose so he jiggles it back into place, but he sees there is something under the thin wood. He takes it off completely and stares at the heavy cream envelope that has been stashed in there for a moment before he picks it up. It isn’t addressed to anyone, but it has to be for Aefre as this is her desk. What is she hiding now? He carefully takes out the letter, written in an elegant hand, and reads it. As he re-reads it, his lungs feel like they have been lit on fire. It is hard to breathe, and his vision goes blurry for a second in his attempt to not rip the entire house apart.
Fraser.
The one from the alternate universe is asking his wife to bring him to her so that they can be together. The sheer audacity of the request makes his hands tremble in rage and he wants to beat the bastard black and blue before he rips his head off his shoulders. How did Aefre even get this? Has she been to see him? Has she told him she will make a plan to bring him here? He needs to know the answers to these questions. He knows that Fraser is the one man, the only thing that lies between him and his destiny. Constantine knows that he is the only one that Aefre will choose over him if she had that choice. His jealously is threatening to overwhelm him. He stands up in his blind fury and marches to the door of the library.
But something stops him suddenly.
Somewhere deep down, the additional powers he has been harboring rear up and they want total and utter annihilation: of his wife. He spins back around and presses his back close to the door. He knows without a doubt if he goes to confront her now, he will destroy her. Or at least, attempt to destroy her. And very likely end up getting destroyed himself.
He breathes in deeply and pushes the powers back down. He knows he has to tell her about this. He should have told her immediately, but he wasn’t sure what was going to happen to him, and he wasn’t so sure she would have taken it very well. A Vampire, even of his strength and caliber, isn’t supposed to have this much power. But no one knew. No one knew that when Aefre killed Gregor and Eloise that their powers would join with his. It should have been expected, but no one even thought to ask what happened to their power once they died. He knows he is almost as powerful as Remiel. He blasted back that force field that kept them at bay while he abducted her, but he was a second too late. He just didn’t get to her in time. He doesn’t know what this means. He hopes he is capable of killing him because so help him, he will try it if he ever gets his hands on him. He calms himself with great effort and pushes away from the door. He is still gripping the letter in his hand, but he places it carefully back in the envelope and back where he found it. There will be a time and a place to ask about this and it will be when she is at her most vulnerable. He can’t bear any more secrets and lies from her. He needs a true reaction and if he goes to her now, she will see him coming from a mile away. There is a frisson of power rippling over him that he knows is visible, even to him. He pours himself a Scotch and sits in front of the fire. The fire that he has lit every single night in case she came home. Now she is home and he wants to hold her, he wants to tell her that he needs her, but he just can’t say the words. It will make him look weak and if she ever thinks that about him, then he might as well just roll over and be her bitch right now.
Who knows how long he sits there, staring into the fire? Long enough for him to have calmed down, which is all that matters. He is about to stand and go to his wife’s bed, when he senses her on the other side of the door. He sits back down and waits as she pushes it quietly open. She tentatively pokes her head through and sees him sitting by the fire. Nice and calm. She smiles and he smiles back at her letting her know it’s safe to come in. She closes the door and walks over to him, an angel in her white silk nightgown. He does love her being sexy, for him. But he can’t bear it when she parades around in these slinky negligees while every man is lusting after her. She sits next to him and he holds his arm out for her. She sinks into him and sighs in contentment.
“I need you,” she whispers. “I have missed you so much.”
“I missed you too, my sweet,” he replies. She has given him a chance to tell her how he feels, but now isn’t the time. She takes the Scotch from him and places it on the table. He looks at her, wondering what she is going to do to him. She has that look about her, that tells him she is going to make up for being away and choosing to have Sebastian’s child and all the other horrible, nasty things he doesn’t want to think about. She arranges him more comfortably on the sofa and he lets her.
He relinquishes his control over to her and she greedily takes it as she removes his tie and drops it on the floor. She starts to work on his shirt buttons and he just continues to watch her thoughtfully. She has his shirt all the way undone, and she pulls it out of his pants, tracing her hands back up his naked chest with a touch that makes him hard. She feels it and gently grinds herself against him. She reaches for his pants and slowly undoes them.
With just a touch she could have them off him, but he thinks she wants the show of his own striptease. She is still covered up, such as it were, and he won’t touch her. She pulls his pants off and drops them on the floor as well and then climbs slowly onto him, pushing her gown up her thighs so she can sit on him. She is wet, he can feel her against him, and he breathes in deeply. He greatly appreciates that she is fresh for him, and he relaxes. She slides her hands up her gown, gathering it up to pull over her head. He feels his loins burn as he sees her naked by firelight, her light hair falling around her shoulders to brush her small breasts. He loves her body. He wants to touch her.
He can’t resist running his thumb pad over the small mole under her left breast. He is happy and relieved to see that the scars across her stomach are practically gone. He doesn’t need the constant reminder every time he sees her naked. She closes her eyes in bliss and he feels her shiver as he runs his thumb down her ribcage, bringing both of his hands up to circle her tiny waist. There isn’t a
single part of her he would change. She asked him a long time ago if he wanted her to Shift for him, to make her breasts bigger or to be taller and he declined every suggestion she made. He loves her, craves her just as she is. He takes his hands off her and she opens her eyes again to smolder into his own. She is sitting right on his cock and she starts to move back and forth over him, slowly sliding him against her clit for her own enjoyment. She steadies herself with her hands on his chest and he says to her, “I know about the letter.”
She stops her actions, for that he is unhappy, but he caught her exactly as he wanted her: with her guard down.
“What letter?” she asks in confusion.
He regards her closely. She genuinely doesn’t seem to know what he is talking about. He can read her like a book, most times. “The letter in the bottom drawer of your desk,” he says.
Her confusion grows and then his heart sinks as recognition passes across her face and she smiles. “Oh, that,” she chuckles. “Don’t worry, I took care of it.”
He grabs her hands in a strong grip. “What do you mean you took care of it?”
She squirms on his lap, causing his cock to twitch, as she struggles to get her hands back. “I mean, I went there and told him he didn’t belong here. That he isn’t my charge, I am not his sire and I don’t love him.”
He lets her go. She is saying all of the right things, but he knows his love too well to let this go. “You went to him? You saw him?” he accuses.
She rubs her hands in a show. He knows he didn’t really hurt her; she is just manipulating him into thinking he did. “Yes,” she says. “How else was I supposed to shut it down?”
She has a fair point, but he still is not happy about her swanning off to see him. Who knows what she got up to with him before she told him it wasn’t going to happen? “And is it? Shut down?”