“And you know this how?” Drake asks him sharply.
“Lincoln and I are connected,” I say and leave it at that. No one needs to hear once again about how we are telepathically linked to one another. It causes drama I have no time for right now.
“The bigger question, I think,” Devon pipes up, “is that how did She reach you here? I thought it was no-Dragons-allowed.”
“It is,” Drake says, and his worried frown causes me to start panicking. “I can only assume it is because you are Her daughter.”
“For my sins,” I mutter to a few snickers. Unsurprisingly, none of them come from CK or my father.
“We will get to the bottom of this, Aeval, but right now I need a word with you in private,” Drake says.
“Okay,” I say and tilt my head up for CK to drop a light kiss on my lips. All has been forgotten it seems considering my new problem, although I can tell he isn’t happy about me disappearing yet again, but Drake looks like he has something of a very serious nature to tell me.
Drake ushers me into a side room and closes the door quietly and leans up against it.
“Aeval,” he says. “I have some troubling news of my own. I have been wrestling with this since yesterday, wondering whether or not to tell you, but I feel that I cannot keep it from you any longer.”
“What is it?” I ask, wringing my hands. I don’t need any more bad news. I don’t think I can take it.
“When I spoke to your mother yesterday, She told me something. Something that will hurt you, but you need to know,” he starts.
“Okay,” I say, getting impatient already.
“It is to do with the child you lost,” he says to my surprise.
My sharp intake of breath makes him come closer to me, and he takes my hand. What does he know about that?
“She told me that it was She who destroyed your child because She knew the baby belonged to Kalen, and that She would never allow the blessed baby to be,” Drake says carefully.
Err, say what now?
I blink at him in confusion. Sebastian’s baby? Xane told me Xanthe worked out it was his? “I don’t understand,” I say out loud, but not actually meaning to. Something weird is going on here, but I don’t for the life of me know what.
“I know it is difficult to conceive that She would do something so awful,” he says quietly, avoiding my gaze, “but that is what She told me yesterday.”
I pull my hands out of Drake’s and turn my back on him. Why on Earth would someone lie about this? Or more to the point…who? Who is lying about this? Someone sure as shit has given me a big pile of bull, but I don’t think it was Xane. He was genuinely upset and angry over it, so it is either Xanthe or my father, or Tiamat. I don’t know what Drake would have to gain by telling me the baby was Sebastian’s now. He already has what he wants. Xanthe wants me and Xane together, but how would she figure this would accomplish that? My head starts to pound as I think that someone is using my miscarriage to further their own agenda and it makes me sick. I just wish I knew who it was. For now, I will remain silent about this. I won’t even tell CK.
“Thank you for telling me,” I croak out with my back still turned.
He places his big hand on my shoulder. “You had a right to know,” he says. “I will leave it to you to tell Kalen when you are ready. He should know what happened.”
I stiffen at his words. I don’t want to see or speak to Sebastian for as long as I live. He hurt me more than I ever thought he was capable of. If Drake is the one telling me the truth, then yes, he should know what happened. But what if it’s a lie? As much as he has hurt me today, I couldn’t do that to him, or anyone for that matter.
“Please, leave me,” I say.
“Of course,” he says and gives me an awkward back-hug. “I’m so truly sorry, Aeval.”
I nod my acceptance and he leaves me alone to ponder the strangeness of these recent revelations. I sigh as there is a soft tap on the door and I pull myself together to open it. CK will already know something is off with me, but no need to hand him the match to light the curiosity fire.
“Linc,” I say in surprise as I open the door.
“Everything okay?” he asks, pushing past me and closing the door behind him.
“Yes, everything okay with you?” I ask, startled by his sudden and quite pushy appearance.
“No, I need you,” he says, grabbing me. “I have let you attend to your business, but now I need to bury my cock so deep inside you that you will scream.”
Oh my. I feel myself go slightly damp and while a few seconds ago, sex was the last thing on my mind, now it is all I can think about. “Oh, yes,” I moan as he attaches his mouth to mine and fumbles with the long skirts of my gown. “Oh, gods, yes.”