“You don’t have a choice, it isn’t up to you,” She says, glaring at him. Smitten or not, She won’t be denied, clearly. “He was Chosen by me for a reason.”
Chosen? He was Chosen by Her? I just thought I met him at the right time.
He turns to me with a woeful look. “Don’t do this, Aefre. We belong together. It is our time.”
“You will get your turn,” Tiamat says to him, as if I am some kind of toy to be passed around and played with. “It just isn’t now.” She stands in front of me. “I cannot take you back further than the shift, but you can go back to a few minutes before you told him. Do not make the same mistake,” She enunciates the last sentence with a menacing glare, and I quake. Xane grips my hand tighter, reassuringly, and I feel marginally better.
“So, I have to lie to everybody?” I ask, trying to get my story straight.
“Yes,” She states, just as easily as all that.
I look back at CK, who looks so mad at me, I am glad that he won’t remember this. I shift my gaze to Sebastian who just looks sad. He has lost out again with this and I am glad that he won’t remember either. Then again, there is the whole conversation we just had, to be had all over again and that makes me sigh. Devon just looks resigned as does Lincoln and Jess looks terrified of Tiamat.
Cade clears his throat. “Shall we then?”
“Yes,” She says. “It is for the best, Aefre. It will be a catastrophe if you carry on as you are.”
If it gets me my husband back, then I don’t really give a shit about anything else. “Do it,” I say, and She nods.
She places Her hand on my head and says, “Close your eyes.” She mutters something unintelligible and I feel a wind so forceful it is more like a tornado, swirling around us and the crackle of magick so intense it makes my knees buckle.
Then I am back in the bedroom, naked on the bed, watching Devon disappear into the bathroom.
I blink and readjust. Whoa. That is some Power. Very impressive. I quickly turn to Cole and before he can say anything about other me or me over there, I kiss him deeply and passionately, putting every ounce of how I feel about him into it. He responds eagerly, taking me hard and fast.
“Not that I am complaining, but what was that for?” he asks.
“I love you. I love you so much. Don’t ever leave me,” I whisper to him, to his surprise.
“I won’t, Liv. I adore you and worship you. I will never, ever leave you.”
If only that were true, I think ruefully, but I smile at him and snuggle against him as Devon comes back out of the bathroom. He grins down at me and says, “We should do this again sometime soon, Kitten,” before he kisses me.
“Oh, definitely,” I murmur and wave him away and then it is just me and Cole and any second now, CK will pop in out of nowhere.
Which he does.
“Aefre, I need to…oh, I thought you were going to be alone at this time,” he says, glaring at us both.
“Well, she isn’t, so if you don’t mind?” Cole snaps, waving his hand at him. “You were most definitely there when Liv spoke about boundaries.”
“Of course,” he says, not best pleased to have caught me as he has done but this is what happens when you don’t knock. “I need to speak to you though, it’s important. Do come and find me when you are…done here.”
Done here. He hates it when people say that to him, but I am not surprised he feels the need to use it himself.
“I will,” I mutter before he nods and disappears. I can only imagine it has to do with Sebastian and that reminds me of the conversation we are going to have to have…again.
“Liv? Can I ask you something?”
“Err, sure,” I say, a bit wary knowing what’s coming. Watch what you say, watch what you say.
“What did you do when you were over there? Did you tell them who you were?”
Oh, watch what you say. ?
??I didn’t get the chance to,” I say carefully. “I woke up and it was disorienting and confusing and when I realized what had happened, I was going to talk to her CK about it and I asked him where you and Devon were, and then found out that neither of you were there. I was devastated and somewhat hysterical, which is so not fitting for an Empress of her stature,” I add with a small smile, as he is just looking at me with a blank expression. “And then they ushered me off to my bedroom to rest. Which is pretty much all I did as I wasn’t allowed to do anything else.” I say the lie easily and he just continues to stare at me.
“So, you didn’t tell them.”