“Because he doesn’t know about me?” I ask.
“No,” she says. “And it should stay that way. The animosity between the races is fierce. If the Dark Fae found out that the new Queen of The Underworld was one of theirs, war would break out. It would be a global catastrophe.”
“Why? And I am not one of theirs. I have no Faerie powers; I can’t walk in the sunlight without my ring. I can’t juju people like Sebastian can,” I say.
“The Faeries and the Dragons used to live in harmony eons ago. You may have come to realize by now that the Dragons were responsible for the creation of most of the newer Supernatural creatures. Not the Faeries though. They are as ancient as the Dragons and a completely separate race. War broke out when the Dragons tried to get the Faerie under their rule, but they were powerful enough to resist and now there is no peace between the two races. They live in their own Kingdoms on a Realm far beyond anything we can reach. You may not be true Faerie, but it is in you. Especially now you are able to bear mystical Power. Try and take your ring off in the sun. I would wager my entire fortune that you don’t need it.”
“Oh? And how much would that be?” I ask dryly. Interesting history though. I wonder if Xane will know more? Sebastian seems to be tight-lipped on the whole thing. Not that I can blame him under his personal circumstances.
She chuckles. “Just try. And I don’t suppose I have to tell you that this should remain between us? The last thing we need is a fight to the death between sire and charge over who gets to try and conceive the future Empress.”
Future Empress? Yikes! “What?” I squeak. “That would never happen. Now that I know, I will be staying away from Sebastian. If the prophecy is going to come true it will come true, the way I have planned it.”
“Spoken like a true Queen,” she says and stands. “I am sorry for the midnight visit, but I just couldn’t sit on this once I knew of your intentions.”
“Of course.”
“Don’t go searching, Aefre,” she says again.
“I won’t,” I say. Like Hell, I add to myself.
She picks up her scroll and Teleports out and I am left wondering what my father is like. I can’t even really ask Sebastian as he would get suspicious as to why I suddenly want to know about Dark Fae. One thing is clear: I am not ever going to have sex with Sebastian. CK can take his plea and shove it. I will have to work on getting him more attached to bringing Jess into the fold. I wonder if future me knows this? Surely not, to still be carrying on with him. Oh, crap, but the problem is, I have already had sex with him. I put my hand on my stomach and gulp. All it takes is once and willing accomplice or not makes not a damn bit of difference. Oh, CK will kill him and then probably me if Corinne is right. This is bad. Bad, bad, bad. Future me has the answers. I must go and find her.
“Liv?” Cole asks. “What are you doing up at this hour?”
“Bad dream,” I say suddenly, remembering it. “Not a Thirteen one though, I don’t think,” I add as he looks worried. “Come back to bed, we have to leave for Miami in a few hours.”
He agrees and takes my hand. He snuggles into me and falls back asleep as I lie awake thinking now about the dream. They were talking about spelling me. Sebastian said he did it yesterday. We were together but I don’t remember anything untoward. There again I wouldn’t now, would I? What did CK say? “Your only job is to spell her to make her come to me.” What does that mean exactly? But I don’t ponder that for very long as I then remember what Sebastian said: “It is like she is one of my old kind.” Christ, this is all just falling into one big weird coincidence. I don’t believe the dream. It is a lie. It has to be. They wouldn’t treat me that way. Would they? I fall asleep with doubts lurking about the two of them and dream of a future that I would very much like to avoid if possible.
Chapter 26
Cole and I wake at the same time as the alarm goes off for 4 AM. Ergh, too early. I want to curl back under the duvet, but he pulls it off me and says, “Sorry, baby. We have to move.”
“Fine,” I grumble and get out of bed. “Do we have time for shower sex before we have to leave?” I ask.
“We always have time for shower sex,” he says, pulling me off the bed and into the bathroom.
“I shall have to remember that for future reference,” I say before he kisses me and walks me back into the shower and turns on the jets. We are drenched in seconds and I run my hands over his sexy wet chest and into his sexy wet hair. “I love you,” I say, even though his tongue is still in my mouth. “I love you back,” he says, pausing only slightly in his kisses which are fogging up my brain more than the steam from the hot water is.
“Time to go,” Devon says from the doorway.
“Fuck’s sake!” I say. “What did I say yesterday about boundaries?”
“Nothing,” he says. “Unless you mentioned it when I wasn’t there.”
“You weren’t there,” Cole says.
“Oh, sorry, Dev,” I say. “But we need to start respecting each other’s boundaries. This is just getting far too familiar for my liking,” I say, getting out of the shower regardless of my words.
He hands me a towel. “But we have always been this way. Why do I fall into the same category as everyone else now?” he sulks. “I don’t like it.”
“Oh, Sweetie. You don’t. I am grumbling about everyone else. In fact, I wish you would walk in on us more often. I have missed you. I have no problem with you walking in on me whenever, but it is kind of awkward when people turn up and I am fucking my husband. Well, trying to fuck my husband. It seems to be a thing.”
“Maybe that’s because you are always fucking,” he says smartly, knowing he has seen his fair share of me and CK going at it these last few weeks.
Cole laughs. “I wish. Unless you meant that in the singular sense, then yes, Liv, maybe you are always fucking,” Cole says his smile going even wider.
“Such a funny couple of charges. Now go and chuckle about it elsewhere,” I say as I leave them snickering in the bathroom.