Glancing at CK, I smirk, “William taught me well.”
“Indeed, he did, however, it wasn’t just swordsmanship he wanted to teach you,” CK says with a scowl.
“Oh, my love, you know I only had eyes for you,” I say sweetly and bat them at him. He grins.
“Who is William?” Cole asks.
“We knew him as William the Second, Duke of Normandy. You would be more familiar with his title of William the Conqueror,” I reply, to which my husband’s eyes bug out.
“What?” he splutters.
“Do you not remember the story from the car?” Devon asks. “You know, the one she told after you were turned?”
“What story would that be?” CK asks interested, as Cole says, “You never said you knew him personally.”
“Just a story about Normandy,” I say vaguely, looking at CK. To Cole, I add, “Of course we did. William was a good friend of CK’s.”
CK snorts and says, “Hm, a good friend who tried to seduce you out from under me.”
“Now you know that was never going to happen,” I say sternly.
“Not at the time, my sweet. You gave as good as you got,” CK says.
Scandalized, I drop the sword that I had been twirling around. “What?” I snap.
“So seemingly innocent and sweet, he fell for it like a bear on honey and you know it,” he says with a wicked glint.
My eyes widen in disbelief. “Is that what you really think?”
“Oh, Aefre, your beauty and wiles turned every head. I was the envy of every man we came across. Are you telling me that you didn’t play on that?” he scoffs.
“Play on that?” I practically yell, getting my back up and letting the sword go. “Are you serious right now? I loved you, I wanted only you. You know that.” I have tears in my eyes at the hurt his words cause.
Tilting his head to the side, he seems genuinely intrigued by my response. “You mean to say that you didn’t mean to leave a trail of broken hearts in your wake?” he asks, expecting an answer.
“What are you talking about?” I ask perplexed.
He concentrates on my reaction for a while. No one else breathes a word. “Well, fuck me. You never fail to surprise. You really were still my sweet Aefre, weren’t you?” he says softly.
“I can’t believe you thought otherwise,” I say sadly.
He steps forward and traces a finger down my face. “After fifty years of living with me and my ways it never dawned on me that you would be able to hold onto that. You are truly the strongest woman I have ever met,” he says in wonder.
I clear my throat and say, “Well, they weren’t the easiest years of my life, but I wouldn’t change them for the world.”
He laughs loudly and with such delight.
“Erm, I love a good reminisce as much as the next immortal, but you do remember that we are still here, right?” Devon asks sarcastically.
We both turn to look at him.
“Yes, of course.” I blink.
Cole is not looking very happy at all. It drives it home that his insecurity with this situation isn’t about my relationships with the other two, but the length of them. He said once before it is impossible to compete with. I can tell by Devon’s face that he feels the same. So many centuries worth of memories they aren’t a part of. I know how it feels, so I shove CK off me and say, “We’re not done with that conversation.”
To which he replies, “No, we aren’t.”
I step back and pull on the sword again and it appears. “Right, stay where you are. I want to see how close you can get to it.”