onna test it.
“Liar,” he teases me with ease now and he is back to the Sebastian I know.
“Well, as fascinating as this is,” I say huffily. “Back to the matter at hand, you must keep this between us, Sebastian. Tiamat said that Cole had to forget, and he has. We need to leave well enough alone.”
“I will leave it alone…for a price,” he says.
I should have been expecting it. CK said he doesn’t do something for nothing. Apparently just doing something out of the goodness of his heart isn’t in his wheelhouse. I sigh.
“You know what I want,” he says. “It is non-negotiable. I won’t settle for anything less than the real deal or I spill to Cole exactly what you were up to over there, and to our sire that he had you and lost you. And don’t think that I don’t know you slept with other me as well.”
My eyes snap to his as he elaborates, “Our sire is correct in saying that everything passes across your face if you look closely enough. I saw your guilt when you were talking about the baby. He somehow convinced you to fuck him in an effort to produce this baby. Which I don’t think is really fair seeing as I am the one who knows you and yet you won’t take care of me.”
“Sebastian, I…”
“Oh, you don’t have to explain your actions to me,” he interrupts me easily. “I am not your keeper. But I do want what you can give me, and I will destroy you if you don’t give it to me.”
I am momentarily stunned at his threat. “You are blackmailing me into giving you what you want. Is that really how you want it?” I ask sadly.
“No, you know that it isn’t,” he says softly as I hit the nerve I was looking for, “but if this is the only way, then so be it.”
Well, I can’t say that I really have much of a choice, even though I am extremely worried about the whole baby consequence, but I try to take some of the control back as I say to him, “I will speak to Constantine about it. If he is still agreeable, then I will do as you ask. I will not go behind his back with this as it is too sensitive, and I don’t want another lie to add to the growing pile.”
“Of course. I don’t want it to be a secret from him either. He will agree so you will comply,” he says confidently.
I nod and look away from him, not best pleased to have been put in this situation, but it is my own doing. I should never have let the other two anywhere near me.
He moves to stand in front of me. “Liv,” he says softly, “I don’t want to hurt you, it is the last thing I want to do but if you won’t come to me on your own, I have to make you.” He runs his hands down my arms and my whole body tingles in response. “But I know that even though the first time you will come under duress, when you feel what we have, you will come to me then, for yourself, for me. For us.”
“I know what we have,” I whisper, tilting my head up to look at him. “I have felt it. The real connection that we will have, it makes me ache to be with you. Yes, I am agreeing to this now because you have left me no choice, but make no mistake, I won’t be coming to you under duress.”
He closes his eyes and drops his mouth to mine, his arms lifting me up as he kisses me. I pull away to his disappointment.
“I need to speak to CK first,” I say as he puts me back down.
“Okay, go now. He is at Ponte,” he says.
I nod and Astral off, feeling worn out and crappy and almost hoping that The Thirteen comes to find me right now so I can go and kick his arse.
I land right next to CK as he is sitting at his desk in his bedroom. Our bedroom. He only looks mildly surprised to see me. “Aefre,” he says as he looks up at me and I bend down to kiss him.
“I have something to discuss with you,” I say.
“As do I, with you.”
“You first, then,” I say.
“Sit,” he says, pointing to the bed.
Uh-oh, this sounds like trouble. Watch what you say, watch what you say, I start this chant in my head again.
“When the other you was here, and I confronted her, I asked her some questions that I probably shouldn’t have but was curious,” he starts as he comes to sit next to me. I turn towards him and he smiles softly at me. “I wanted to know how he had managed to do what, I and the other, other me, had failed to do and to turn you correctly.”
I lean forward, also dying to know. “How?”
He pauses. “When we went back to the past the first time and I told past me to take you and run, it seems that I did. Only it wasn’t me, it was him. The other me saw us and took on board what I had said. He followed you, other you, home and after killing Radulf after he hurt you, he took her to an old Pagan circle and told her about him and she agreed to be turned. I fear that we changed the course of their history with our time jump which is why when we came back here, nothing had changed.”
“Well, that makes sense, I guess. But how did I manage to get there in the first place and take you with me, when it seems that the other two, who are infinitely more powerful than me, couldn’t do it. That bit I can’t wrap my head around.”