Shifting his furious gaze to Devon, he says, “Talk.”
“No, Devon,” I say.
Torn between his sire and his homicidal grand-sire, he looks at me at a loss. “I thought he knew. You never said h
e didn’t know,” he says petulantly.
“It was implied,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Liv, what the fuck is going on?” Cole asks and I realize we have been speaking in a language he doesn’t understand, but he is aware of the tension and growing atmosphere.
Switching to English, I say, “It’s okay, baby. It’s nothing.” I glare pointedly at CK.
Cole moves to my side and CK releases my arm. I hesitantly rub it, not wanting him to know he hurt me, but of course he does and casts me a half apologetic look.
“Someone start talking,” he says in a voice, so cold, a shiver goes down my back.
Devon sighs. “Sorry, my love, but it’s done now.”
I take a threatening step towards my darling boy. He knows I’m furious with him. “Say one more word and I will stake you myself.”
He blanches. Even though he knows it is an empty threat, it is a threat from his sire, nonetheless.
“Speak now, or I will rip your head clean off your shoulders,” CK threatens.
“Lizzie,” Devon pleads, inadvertently shortening Elizabeth, my name when I turned him, which shows me his consternation. “I like my head attached to the rest of my body. I’m sorry, but I am way more afraid of him than I am of you.”
I hear CK snicker as I glower at my charge. “I will show you who to be more afraid of, my boy,” I snarl at him and as he backs away, I step towards him.
At this point of the proceedings, CK realizes that I’m a danger to everyone in this room and touches my arm. I tense and shrug him off. The Power is rising up in me, fueled by my rage. I can feel the inky blackness rolling off me in waves.
“Aefre, no,” CK orders as I raise my hand. “Calm yourself. Now, my love.” I turn my head to him. He tilts his head in question. “What is so bad that you can’t tell me?” he asks as if hurt.
I blink and the haze of my rage disappears as quickly as it came. Glancing back, I see Devon, who is watching me warily and Cole, who is looking at me as if I’m some crazed lunatic, which I suppose I am, I concede to myself.
“If I wanted you to know, I would have told you,” I say briskly, emphasizing each word for measure.
“How did he hurt you?” he asks coldly.
I clamp my lips together, resolute.
“He raped her. Repeatedly,” Devon says quickly and before I can turn to kill him, he’s behind CK for protection, taking now, ironically, the lesser of two evils.
Cole draws in a sharp breath as CK just stares at me, his face getting stonier by the second.
“When?” he asks softly.
I say nothing.
He takes a step forward and I inadvertently take a step back, my newfound Power abandoning me under the threat of my own sire.
“When was this?” he asks again.
I shake my head.
Spinning to Devon, Constantine says, “Speak for your sire.”
Devon glances at me. “Lizzie, this is ridiculous. Just tell him. It was hundreds of years before I was even born,” he pleads again, and this time I think he used ‘Lizzie’ to soften me up.