Devon hisses in protest at CK’s ugly words.
“I love him,” I spit out to hurt CK, but I take no satisfaction in seeing him flinch.
“Aeval,” Drake says, taking my hand so that I focus on him for a moment. “I have to agree with the Vampire. You cannot go there. If you tell them that Delinda is not theirs they will keep you there to breed you and we may never see you again.”
“Remiel already knows that Delinda isn’t his. He is against Tiamat in this, they aren’t working together, he will help me,” I say desperately, but I don’t feel it is the truth. Remiel will leave Cole to rot just as quickly as CK would. In fact, he must have known all along that Tiamat has him and he never bothered to mention it.
“Aefre…” Constantine snarls at me in warning, but I don’t give a rat’s ass right now.
“She wants to negotiate terms,” Drake interrupts. “That means Delinda for Cole. I forbid you to go.”
“Forbid me?” I shriek at him, and out of the corner of my eye I see a couple of my men cringe. Forbidding me to do anything just makes me want to do it all the more.
“Yes,” he replies sternly. “I forbid you to go to the Dragon Realms and I forbid you to reveal that Delinda is Faerie to that woman. You will put her at risk.”
“They aren’t in the Dragon Realms,” I say, focusing on that instead of the forbidding part.
“How do you know that?” CK asks suspiciously.
“The timing doesn’t track. It has only been a matter of days since I returned. Even if She went straight for Cole, it would be weeks before we found out about this if they were in the Dragon Realms. No, they are in the Underworld and I can find them,” I say determinedly.
“You are not going,” CK says firmly. “I won’t allow it. You will be handing them everything they want, our child, Aefre, and I will do everything in my power to stop that from happening.” The threat doesn’t go over well with anyone, including my father. Even though he is on the same side as CK in regard to me not going, he won’t have anyone threaten me.
“I am not leaving Cole there,” I say, wanting to beat the crap out of CK for being such a domineering arsehole in front of everyone.
“You cannot go,” Drake says with finality.
“Then help me get him back,” I say to him with my hands on my hips. “If you think that I am just going to sit around here while Cole is in danger, then you have another fucking thing coming!”
Drake scowls at my foul mouth, but I don’t care. I am beyond furious. I look to Devon for support, but all I see is guilt.
Guilt?
“How long have you known about this?” I ask quietly.
When there is only an awkward silence, I scream at them, “How long?”
“Since the day you got back with Delinda,” Devon mutters uncomfortably. “I wanted to tell you straight away,” he adds quickly as he sees my temper zing into the red zone.
“I will help you, Aeval,” Drake interjects before I can blast them all to the moon and back for keeping this a secret from me. “But She won’t negotiate with you. It’s Delinda for Cole, end of story. She will not believe anything you tell Her, and you know that. I will aid you in any way that I can, but we need to have a plan first,” Drake says, and I calm down a bit after that.
“Okay,” I say, holding back my tears. “But She needs to know that Delinda isn’t to be used as a negotiation. It is pointless to carry on this ruse. Tiamat needs to know that She has nothing to gain by demanding Delinda’s return.”
“If you think that will persuade Her into releasing Cole, then you are being a fool,” Drake says.
“Then come up with another plan. You have until tomorrow morning to give me something I find acceptable or fuck all of you, I am going to rescue him myself,” I exclaim with gusto and have them all cringe as I just told my father to fuck off.
Fortunately for me, he ignores my outburst and turns on the fatherly love. “I think you should get some rest now,” he says kindly.
I grimace at him but nod anyway. “Tomorrow,” I growl as I head off towards my room. I am suddenly exhausted, and it seems like forever since I had a proper sleep. Not to mention, I need time to think up a plan, because as sure as I stand here, I know that Drake won’t have a satisfactory plan for me by tomorrow.
The Dark Fae Kingdom, September 2014 - Lincoln
“Devon, wait,” Lincoln calls out as Devon races off after Aefre. Fuck it. He will call her Aefre now and he doesn’t give a shit what Constantine has to say about it.
“No, I need to go to her,” Devon says, harried.
“It’s important,” Lincoln says, and Devon turns around with an impatient frown.