by Eve Newton
Oh, really?
“I told her I didn’t trust her and Sebastian together and I had hoped she would pay heed to my warning her, but I didn’t expect it. She does what she wants,” CK continues and Cole mutters something that sounds like, “No fucking kidding.”
“But what is this about Thrace?” Cole asks.
“Sebastian has abdicated his throne, that means Thrace takes over. He is King now. I fully expect him to create a law that changes the way the Faerie regard marriage. In fact, I had expected him to just make a declaration and take her on the spot. Had that been the case, she would have been protected,” CK says.
“But how did it not work with Sebastian then?” Cole asks.
“Their bond is too strong, and they are both extremely powerful. If they wanted it, it would have happened,” CK says sadly.
“So, what now?” Cole asks, equally as sad.
“If she has the baby, she has it. Then this is over. Finally,” CK states.
“Except she will have a baby,” Cole points out the obvious.
“Hm,” CK says.
“Hm? What does that mean?” Cole snaps at him. “You would treat this child as your own? Raise it with her? I am not so sure I can do that.”
“I don’t expect she will keep it,” CK says and I frown at that.
What does he mean?
Cole wonders the same and says, “Stop with the cryptic! Just spit it out.”
“This baby is for the Faerie. I would imagine that Drake will want his hand in its upbringing. Actually, I would imagine he would want the child to live over there, with him. Aefre will give the child to him to raise. I have no doubt,” CK says.
What? Why on Earth does he think I would do that? I stand up, ready to storm in there and tell him where to go, when Cole’s next words stop me.
“You have based that on the fact that she was going to come home from the Dragon Realms without that child?” he asks.
“Precisely. Sacrifice is the measure of true love,” CK says, and I can almost hear the smugness in his tone. “She chose us. She will again.”
“You sound awfully sure of that,” Cole says, sounding awfully unsure of that.
“I am,” CK says. “I know my wife.”
I huff out the breath I was holding and step forward to confront them both when Sebastian lands next to me.
“Here again?” he asks, indicating the stairs. “What exactly is it you do here?”
I smile at him and tilt my head up for a kiss. He hesitates, but when he senses the curse is gone, he pulls me to him.
“I find out things,” I say mysteriously. Things I am not so sure I really want to know about. CK thinks I will abandon my child to be raised by Drake and that witch wife of his? I am not sure how I feel about that.
“Oh,” Sebastian says, unconcerned by the evasiveness. “So, we should probably try again soon.”
“Try what?” I ask, still miles away thinking about CK words.
“Aefre,” he says and clicks his fingers in my face.
I blink at him, still not used to him calling me that. CK is going to hit the roof when he hears him say my name that way. “What?” I ask.
“The baby,” Sebastian says impatiently. “We need to try again.”
I shake my head. “No, not yet. I’m not ready,” I say.
“When then?” he complains. “Thrace isn’t going to stand around waiting for you to be ready.”
“Seb,” I snap at him angrily, getting the attention of the two conspirators in the library. “I said, I’m not ready. Leave it.” I clench my fists at my sides, my nails cutting into my palms, holding onto my temper and the remnants of grief that still linger.
“Not ready for what?” Cole asks as he pulls me away from Sebastian and into his arms with a possessive kiss.
“Nothing,” I say and turn away into Cole from a furious-looking Sebastian.
“Aefre,” he says to me and everyone goes still.
No one even takes a breath.
I peek up at CK from my shelter of Cole’s chest and his eyes have done that glowy red thing again.
“What did you just call her?” he asks so quietly, but we all heard it like a scream in the silence.
Sebastian squares his shoulders and crosses his arms, facing his sire with no fear and no remorse. “You heard me,” he says, and I cringe. Does the man have a death wish?
Apparently so, because CK reaches out his hand for him and Sebastian drops to his knees. CK didn’t even touch him. Oh, shit on a stick, this is his scary arse Initial Vampire mojo at work. I pull Cole out of the way and put him safely into a corner before I turn back around to diffuse this situation.
“CK,” I say gently, but he completely ignores me.
He is strangling Sebastian by closing his hand into a tight fist, his claws digging into his palm as he extends them. The blood has me mesmerized momentarily as my stomach growls in hunger, but then I put my hand over his before he lashes out at Sebastian.
He turns his head to me slowly and I flinch at the color of his eyes.
“CK,” I say again carefully, as he has at least acknowledged me now. “Let him go.”
He blinks at me and his eyes go black. He is still mad, but at least he is more in control now. I can talk him down from this before he does something he will regret for eternity.
“Let him go,” I say again as I step closer to him.
He tilts his head at me as he relaxes his fist and holds his hand out flat and Sebastian slumps to the floor, completely bent to CK’s will. Holy Hell. This is what he tried to do to me in the Tower and I gulp as I remember the crushing evil.
“My love,” I say to him as he continues to stare at me with those empty black eyes. He blinks at me again and I put my hand underneath his outstretched palm and link our fingers together. He lets me pull him away and he releases his hold over Sebastian. I hear him gasp for breath and know he is alive and back under his own control, but I don’t look at him. Or at Cole. I keep my eyes firmly on CK and lead him into the library, closing the door behind me. By the time he has sat down on the sofa he is calm, and he smiles softly at me.
“Sorry,” he mumbles. “I am struggling with this.” He lets out a strangled noise that I know is because he is admitting a weakness. He isn’t used to weakness, and he sure as Hell doesn’t admit to having them.
“It’s okay,” I say to him, sitting next to him and taking his hand. “I am here to help you.”
He snorts with mirth and pulls me onto his lap. “And so, the master becomes the student,” he says, and I giggle.
We sit in silence then for a few moments before he breaks it. “Why does he call you that now?” he asks, as I knew he would.
“He thinks things have changed,” I say. I don’t want to throw him to the crazy Vampire, but if I lie CK will know and get mad with me. Every man for himself.
“Have they changed, Aefre?” he asks.
“No,” I say. “I did what I did for my father and to bring Sebastian home.”
He nods once and then looks pensive. “I have something to ask you,” he says. “I have thought this through, a lot, since you came home and please just listen before you dismiss it.”
I am mildly surprised he is asking me to listen to him instead of just telling me, so I nod seriously and let him continue.
“As much as I am loath to admit this, it has to be,” he says, avoiding my gaze. “I am the original one. I am the one who you were supposed to be with all along. It was our date on the prophecy. Ours. That means that Laurentis has to be my father too.”
He looks so pained by that; I reach out to stroke his cheek. He pushes me away and I feel the rejection like a punch in the stomach. He in turn feels my pain and takes my hand and squeezes it. I fully understand why he is very unhappy about this. His father was a Senate member, one of the original Senate members at the founding of Rome. That means his blood is pure, he is or rather was, a pure Patrician. This revelation has just taken all of that away from him
and everything he knew about himself is suddenly a lie. Yes, we’ve all been there. Christ knows I have had my fair share of parental surprises, but he has lived for two thousand, seven hundred and sixty-one years with a lie. My one thousand years pales in comparison.
“That being said,” he continues, “any child you have with me will be the One.” He looks back at me, but with an odd look that I can’t quite place. “As far as I can see, Rem, err him, being back makes no difference. We didn’t just suddenly lose our inherent ‘chosen-ness’ when he resurrected. It’s innate. Don’t you agree?” he asks me, his eyes boring into mine.
Well, I guess. It makes sense, as much as any of this does. I nod and he looks relieved we are, thus far, on the same page.
“So why has it never occurred to you to have my child now?” he asks accusingly. “Cassis in the Other World is the One, and she is ours. Other ours. Why has Cole been considered the One and him, but not me?”
I stare at him, taken aback. “I don’t know,” I say honestly. “Maybe because we missed our chance?”
“Did we, though?” he asks, thankfully not put out by my words. “I still turned you, we married on sacred ground, maybe we have come full circle?”
Huh. It’s a solid theory, and one I can get on board with…except…
“Any child we have will be for my mother’s side,” I say quietly. “I chose my father.”
“Who says?” he asks. “You are still half Faerie, maybe with a bit of extra Faerie care, she will be what they are hoping for.”
“The child is supposed to be half Dark, half Light,” I say with pursed lips. “It cannot be just Dark.”
He shrugs and as expected he has an argument prepared. “Then you have a child with Sebastian afterwards. If we have a child now and raise it Faerie, your mother will not have a claim to it.”
I take that in. I am as sure as I sit here on his lap that any child, I may bear with any of Laurentis’s sons will be whisked away by my mother before I can blink.
“You already agreed to have a child with me, Aefre,” he says as I remain silent. “I am just asking that we push it forward.”
Well, true. I did agree to that, and I do want it. But now? I suppose on one hand if I am already pregnant, Remiel won’t be able to come and seduce me again, but it still leaves the question of the firstborn child and on whose side it will be. I frown then as I have a sudden epiphany.
“What?” he asks as he sees my wheels spinning in all directions.
“The firstborn,” I say. “Has already been born.”
“I don’t follow,” he says.
“Tiamat said the firstborn will be the one to bear the power. I have already had a child. He didn’t survive, but that shouldn’t make a difference, and,” I say and suddenly snap my fingers as another thought pops into my head as I muse out loud, “Empress Aefre has Cassis, who is Queen of the Underworld and she is pregnant with, no, she must have already had it by now, Sebastian’s Faerie baby. A baby that Drake and Aelfric insisted upon and knew it was the second born. Maybe what my mother says is wrong.”
CK frowns at me and my ramblings. Unfortunately, I didn’t confuse him enough and the facts I have just given him incriminate me far more than I ever, ever wanted. Stupid me.
“How do you know she had a Faerie baby? And that it was still wanted even though it was a second born?” he asks.
“Details,” I say dismissively, waving my hand in indifference, even though I am quaking inside. “The point is, maybe everyone can get what they want. Maybe it isn’t as clear cut as I first thought.”
He takes my vagueness in the manner in which it was intended, thankfully, and smiles at me. “So that’s a yes?”
“Yes,” I say and smile back at him. “With certain provisos,” I add.
“Of course,” he murmurs.
“We try now, but further down the line, I have to give my father what he wants as well,” I say.
“Done,” he says and kisses me.
That was easy. How is he suddenly okay with me having another man’s baby? Does he know something that I don’t?
“Because you have given me everything I ever wanted,” he says in that uncanny way of his. “I, however, also have some stipulations.”
“Of course,” I murmur now.
“We go to Rosalina immediately. She will help us conceive and secondly, you do not have sex with anyone, at all, until after it is done. I cannot risk it,” he says.
Erm. Not at all? How am I supposed to manage that? Granted, now that Lincoln and I are no longer together and Devon and I are on the outs, that only leaves Cole and Xane, and, well, Sebastian, but still. “How do I explain that to Cole?” I ask, because as far as CK is concerned he is the only other one now.
“You tell him the truth. If he doesn’t like it, he knows where to go,” CK says, completely unconcerned by my dilemma.
Great, I think. He will blow a gasket the likes of which I have never seen before. “What is Rosalina going to do?” I ask.
“She is skilled in fertility rituals,” he explains, and I wonder how he knows that. Are they in regular contact? “Even with our unique challenges, I am sure she will be able to help us.”
“We should do the Blood Magick ritual as well,” I say, and he nods his approval. “Unfortunately, I have that thing I need to go and deal with right now,” I add, and he sighs.
“Yes, go and sort that out, but be quick about it. I don’t want to leave you unattended for very long. There are too many creatures vying for your attentions,” he says.
No kidding. I kiss him and climb off his lap. He grabs my hand to stop me Astralling out.
“Aefre, apart from Cole, please keep this between us. If anyone should find out that you are soon to be highly fertile, I dread to think what will happen to you,” he says quietly.
Yep, I am way ahead of you on that one. I hadn’t even intended to tell Cole yet. I just nod and he lets me go. I Astral to just outside Cade’s room and knock. I push the door open without waiting for an answer and he turns over in the bed to glare at me with one steely gray eye from underneath the covers.
“Man, you still look like shit,” I say and plonk myself down next to him. “Time to drink up.” I hold out my wrist to him. His hand closes over it and he pushes the covers off him. He is naked to the waist and I realize that this is the first time I have seen him so. I can’t resist the quick once-over and it is to my liking. Of course, my lusty gaze is not to his liking and he growls at me.
“You don’t want me to look, cover up,” I say.
“I would have had you given me a chance to. You did just barge in here, remember?” he retorts.
I shrug and indicate he should take what he needs so I can get a move on.
He sighs and drops my wrist. “I am so sick of feeling like shit,” he says morosely. “Ever since you turned me, I have been worse off than when I was human.”
“I know. I’m sorry about that,” I say, feeling bad. “But there are ways in which you can make yourself feel better.”
His eyes meet mine and rove over me still sitting there in just my satin robe. In the next second, I am flat on my back, pinned underneath him as he drops his fangs straight into my neck.
Erm, I meant that he should drink human blood, not attack me like a starving beast.
Oh! I put my hands up to push him off me as I feel him grind his hips against me. He is massively turned on. He grabs my hands and pushes them up above my head to stop me. He takes them both in one hand and slides his other one into my robe. His hand brushes past my breasts and I breathe in deeply.
“Cade,” I say to him, but he ignores me, still feeding hungrily from me.
I should push him away, I really, really should, but when he releases his fangs and stares down into my eyes he says, “I am sick of feeling like shit. You said once before to take what I needed from you and I didn’t. I should have. But you can help me now.”
Oh, gods, why did he have to use the “h” word? I can’t refus
e when people ask for help.
When I don’t say anything, remembering I offered myself to him after Devon found him in that ratty apartment in Stevenage. He didn’t take me up on my offer, at least not the whole way. He fumbles with himself and gets himself free. He parts my legs and is inside me, thrusting quickly as he closes his eyes. He doesn’t want to look at me. He is barely touching me with his body, having reared up so only our parts are joined. There is nothing in this for him other than a transaction. He knows doing this will help him get stronger and that is why he is doing it.
The only reason.
And for my sins, I let him.
I just lie there and don’t participate, even though my sire side wants to push him over and ride him like the wind. He finishes quickly, his face scrunching up and the second he is done, he pulls out of me and puts himself away.
A quick look at him confirms that this intimate act, however forced it was, has given him a boost. His color looks better, and he looks steadier on his feet. He dismisses me completely and walks off to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. I pull my robe back together and sit up, needing to get myself into the shower before I come across anyone. I don’t even want to think about what will happen if anyone finds out about this. I Astral myself straight to my bathroom and discover that I am not alone.
Chapter 14
The Underworld, March 2104 - Liv
Devon stares at me from the doorway. He is leaning against the frame with his arms crossed and I turn from him, still not ready to forgive. He pushes off and stalks towards me. I hastily back off, as he cannot get within sniffing range of me. Too late, though, as he breathes in deeply and his blue eyes go like ice.
“So, you finally got him between your legs,” he taunts me. “Was it everything you wanted it to be? Did you cream all over his cock as you screamed his name?”
“Fuck you,” I spit out at him. “You don’t get to comment on anything. Get out.”
He grabs my arms tightly. “Maybe not, but I am sure you husbands will have something to say,” he says nastily.
“I will cut your tongue out if you say anything,” I threaten him as I pull my arms out of his grip.