“Yeah,” I sigh heavily.
“I know this is probably too soon,” he says leaning closer to me again and trailing a finger down my neck, “but now that the leash is gone, you can be with me.”
“Seb,” I say, scooting back a bit. “It is too soon. It is too soon for me to even think about being with anyone.”
He sighs. “I understand, but will you think about it now?”
I frown at him. “Did you not hear what I said before? We can’t be together like that. What if the starry baby turns up? Then what? CK would kill us both.”
“Liv, we are Vampires. We can’t procreate. The prophecy is redundant.”
“Not in the other world it isn’t,” I point out.
“Fine,” he snaps. “But you haven’t been acknowledged. You aren’t Fae. Chances of it coming true now are pretty much at zero.”
Oh, should I tell him about my own prophecy? Although, it does seem that in the other world the future Empress belongs to Constantine. Although, in the other, other world there are loads of kids I have yet to see, running around. Who knows what the set-up is there?
“Liv, nothing has changed. I still need you. You are still the one. And now that I know what it is like, I can’t go back. I’m sorry.”
“But…”
“But nothing,” he interrupts me and kisses me, shuffling closer to me.
With great difficulty, I pull back. “Seb…”
“I will get you your charge back,” he says suddenly. “I can’t make him forget what you said but I can get him to need to come back to you. If you will give me what I want, I will give you what you want. I can have him back in your bed by tonight. Not as your husband, but as your charge,” he presses that point, just in case I try to forget.
“Wha…?” I stare at him in disbelief. “You would do that?”
“I will do anything,” he says quietly. “Even though he will see it as a betrayal, I will do it, for you.”
“Seb…” I don’t know what to say. I am trying to think about this. I want Cole back, I need him back, but this way? It isn’t like he will really be back because he wants to be, but because Sebastian suggests to him it is a good idea. But…he will be back. Fuck.
He is staring at me, waiting for an answer and I am seconds away from telling him yes, I’ll do it to get Cole back, when in pops our sire out of nowhere. Saved in the nick of time again. He really does have an uncanny knack for that.
“Everything okay in here? You have been gone awhile, I was worried,” he says as he leans down to kiss me possessively as I sit there staring at Sebastian.
“Yes, everything is just fine,” Sebastian says bitterly.
“Good,” CK says, ignoring his tone. “Because you need to come back upstairs now, my sweet. You have a visitor.”
My eyes snap to his. “Who?” I ask.
“Hm, perhaps you should come and see for yourself,” he says mysteriously.
I stand up, as does Sebastian, now also curious and CK grabs my arm to Teleport me back to my bedroom, followed closely by Sebastian. I look around but don’t see anybody. “Well?” I say and he points to the sitting room.
“Just brace yourself,” he says as he ushers me out with a hand on my back.
I am greeted by a tension you could cut with a knife along with the relieved faces of Devon, Lincoln, Xane, Jess, and Cade. And then my gaze falls on the mystery guest.
I take her in and don’t recognize her at first. She is about five feet, ten inches tall, with long black hair curling gently to her backside. She is dressed in a very beautiful, dark blue velvet gown with long sleeves pointed at the wrists, cut low over her impressive breasts, tapered tightly at her narrow waist and falling elegantly down her legs to pool at her feet. But it is her eyes that give her away: a bright green like a cat’s but turned sideways. Dragon eyes.
“Mother?” I ask, as I step forward.
“Yes, dear. It is me. I thought it prudent to come in my natural guise today what with all the other ‘you’s’ that have been popping in and out lately,” She says dryly.
“Natural guise? This is what you really look like?”