Everyone hears the smugness in Constantine’s tone, but they all hold their breath as they watch Remiel. He closes his eyes and listens to the advice that Constantine gives him.
The Light Fae Kingdom, October 2014 – Aefre
I can feel a pull. I don’t know where it is coming from, but it wakes me up. I flounder slightly in the now cool bath water and sit up, pushing my wet hair out of my face. I don’t know how much time has passed, but I wonder why Kalen didn’t come to me as he was supposed to. I feel the jolt go through me again and then I gasp. There is a searing pain in my head, and I put my hand up to my eyes to cover them from the too-bright lights. My breathing goes heavy and I feel myself slide under the water, only to be dragged back out by…someone.
“Aaaaack!” I scream in panic as the stranger hauls me out of the water. “Get off me!” I fight and struggle, but the tall, blond man is strong, and my limbs feel like jelly.
“Aeval?” he questions me, giving me a slight shake.
“Get away from me!” I yell and manage to get free to wrap a towel around me. “Get out of here.”
“Aeval, what is going on?” he asks me with concern.
“Who are you?” I ask instead. The real question, as I see the shock register on his face, is who am I?
I turn towards the mirror and I don’t recognize myself. I can remember things, objects, but not my face, nor my name, and certainly not this stranger holding his hands out to me now. I pull the towel tighter around me and scoot around him to leave the bathroom and enter a bedroom so bright it makes my eyes water.
“Aeval, what is this?” the man asks me carefully, but I shrug him off and mutter, “Turn out the lights.”
I am trying desperately to remember something, anything about me, my life, and who this man is.
“I am your husband,” he says to me. “Kalen, King of the Light Fae. You are Aeval, Dark Fae Princess and now my Queen.”
I don’t understand a word he is saying. It means nothing to me.
“Kalen” advances on me and I let out an unholy shriek that has him flinching and a very tall, wide man bursts into the bedroom.
“What are you doing to her?” the large, wide man with the brightest green eyes shouts at “Kalen”.
“Nothing,” he replies through gritted teeth. “She is having an episode.”
“What do you mean?” the other one asks.
I tune them out as they squabble, and I climb into the bed. My head is pounding, and I am weary. I feel nauseous and my stomach is churning in all directions. I close my eyes to try and focus, to try and remember. I feel a tug on me again, and then my mind goes blank.
The Light Fae Kingdom, October 2014 – Kalen
“Shit,” he says once Lincoln has given him a moment to think. He looks down at his wife on the bed. Her eyes have popped open and she is just staring blankly straight ahead of her and no amount of cajoling will get her to turn towards him.
“Let me try,” Lincoln says, and he should let him. His heart will be broken if she responds to the Wolf and not him. He can only imagine that this is something to do with him spelling her. He has had to sway her mind several times a day for the past few weeks because her mind is so strong. She must be trying to fight it and now a fuse has blown in her brain.
Shit. Fuck. What have I done?
“Nothing,” Lincoln murmurs. “There is nothing there. Her eyes are….” He swallows loudly and Kalen doesn’t need him to finish that sentence. “You did this!” Lincoln hisses at him.
“No,” Kalen defends himself. “This wouldn’t have happened.” He is sure that Lincoln can tell he is deflecting but he will stand his ground that what he is doing to her is harmless. He shoves Lincoln out of the way and sits down carefully on the bed next to Aeval.
“Aeval, my wife,” he says, taking her hand. “I love you as you love me. Come back to me.”
“Even now you are trying to sway her?” Lincoln roars and Kalen growls in warning, but squeezes Aeval’s hand tighter. “You need me, come back to me,” he whispers before her eyes close.
“Is she sleeping?” Lincoln asks after several long minutes of them both staring at her.
“I think so,” Kalen replies. Her breathing has gone steady and deeper. He sees the baby in her belly undulate and it makes him grimace. She hisses in her sleep and scrunches her face up, her hand going to her unborn baby to caress her bump.
He can’t wait until she has given birth and has handed the child over to its father. Then they can concentrate on making their own child, the way it was supposed to have been all along. This is their destiny. It is right. Eventually she will come to realize this on her own and he can slowly start to lift the spell, but he needs a child with her first. A proper family that she will not turn her back on.
“What is she doing?” Lincoln asks, peering down at her.