“I am jealous,” she says. “Of Aefre. She is a mother. Twice over. That will never happen for me. I am happy for her and Constantine, of course, but I feel sad as well.”
“Yeah, I understand that only too well,” he admits quietly.
“I thought you might,” she says with a smile. “See, we have stuff in common.”
“We sure do,” he agrees and then she launches into all of her woes as if she hasn’t had a conversation about herself in forever.
Devon listens to her, nodding in all the right places. The poor woman has been isolated. He hopes that doesn’t end up happening to him. If he only ever has Lizzie to talk to, that would be a bit of bummer. He decides that, yes, they can help each other.
Ponte, Italy, November 2014 - Aefre
I blink awake and find myself nose-to-nose with Vito. Jesus. CK will kill him if he finds out he spent the night in our bed. Even just sleeping. But I had to talk to him. I had to know if he was truly okay with what was going to happen to him.
I look over at Dracul and he is staring out of the window.
“I take it everything is quiet on the western front?” I ask.
He gives me puzzled look. “This is east,” he says, pointing at the sunrise.
“I know, I…never mind,” I say with a small smile. “No sign of Jess or the sword?”
“No. She has possibly come to realize that her threat is pointless as there are so many people here who would protect you,” he answers.
“Maybe.” I shrug. I should find Devon and make sure she didn’t try to contact him or that he wasn’t stupid enough to go with her. “Vito, you should go. CK won’t like it.”
“Constantine was already in here,” Dracul says. “I filled him in on the sleeping arrangement. He stayed with Arathia.”
“Oh,” I say with a slight frown. I would have expected him to throw Vito out of the window if he found him in bed with me. Clearly, he doesn’t give a flying shit, though.
Vito gives me a sly smile but slips off the bed without a word.
“I meant it, Vito. I will be there with you today, I promise,” I say to him before he leaves.
“You shouldn’t put yourself at risk. We still don’t know what their intentions are,” Vito chides me.
“I think it is pretty clear that they will fold,” I retort.
“Perhaps,” he says and disappears.
“Thanks for staying,” I say to Dracul. “But I suppose you should get back.”
“Soon, I want to make sure that everything is as it should be.” He stalks off, leaving me alone to get showered and to feed from Edward - thank fuck. If Ramon had turned up after our sexy rendezvous the other day, I might not have been so restrained. I am dying for a quick fuck, or a long one. Makes no difference. I am horny as Hell now that I am no longer pregnant and back to my lithe, lean self. I need some fun-time.
I find that the top floor is completely deserted, so I make my way downstairs to see where everybody has gotten to. As expected, I find most of the congregation in the library. Glad to see Devon present and in one piece, I find that CK has Thia and he hands her to me with a soft kiss and a loving smile. I give him a seductive look, which makes his eyebrows go up, but then his eyes darken.
“Soon,” he whispers into my hair.
“I want to be at the meeting today,” I announce as I jiggle Thia while reaching for the bottle CK is handing me.
“Absolutely not,” CK says. “You are still at risk. You will leave like you did yesterday.”
“No chance. I got into more trouble yesterday by leaving than I would have if I had stayed here!” I exclaim.
No one argues with that, mainly because they wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.
“I’m staying. The children and Marguerite can be spelled into a ro
om, but you might as well drop the wards. They are pretty damn useless right now anyway,” I state.