Xanthe bobs her head and dips into a curtsey and says, “Yes, My Lord.” She turns to leave, but he leaps off the platform and grabs her arm tightly.
“If the Queen ever finds out about this, you will take the fall for it, do you understand me? I will deny all knowledge and I will be appropriately disapproving of your interference, regardless of what punishment she may mete out. Are we clear?” he asks her, and she nods once.
“Of course, My Lord. I will take all the blame should the Queen find out I went to her mother with this.”
Xane lets her go with a grim nod of his own and she says quietly, “Do not worry, my son. I want to see you happy, and I will go to any lengths to ensure that you get what you want. Besides, Xerxei is one of ours, and she belongs here with us.” She leaves and he thinks over everything she has just said. Can she convince Tiamat to change Her mind about who Liv is meant to end up with? Even if she doesn’t, he knows that telling Cole about what Liv got up to in the Other world will probably make him leave her again, but there is no way he can tell Cole that as then Liv would never speak to him again. Before that moment when Tiamat revealed that Cole needed to be by her side as her husband, he wasn’t unduly worried about him, or her sire for that matter. They are Vampires. They are not faithful creatures and one day their house of cards would have crashed down. As it stands, he doesn’t think she will be speaking to her sire anytime soon after what he did to her, but this whole Fae thing has thrown a massive wrench in the works. With the Vampires out of the way, that only left Lincoln, and he can handle the Wolf. He is tolerable and Xane would accept him in Liv’s life if she were with him. He doesn’t expect her to be true to one. Her Vampire is far too strong for that. But now there is Sebastian in the way. He has no idea how far their relationship has already gone, but he would bet his life it has gone far enough. He is not happy about going behind her back to Tiamat, but if this is his only way to get her as his wife, then so be it.
“That was an unduly harsh ruling on your former fiancée,” Sven, the head of the House of Septimus says, with a respectful inclination of his head.
“Sven,” Xane says, annoyed that his thoughts and plotting have been disturbed. “Is there something in particular I can help you with?”
Sven shrugs in that casual way and examines his fingernails before he says, “Out of respect for our friendship, I am giving you a heads-up about something.”
“What?” Xane snaps at him as he stops speaking.
“The Queen,” Sven says slyly. “And her allegiance to the House of Dracul.”
Xane narrows his eyes at him. He has heard the whispers, but hoped it was just rumor. Everything about Sven’s body language suggests it may not be. “What about her?”
“Records show that the House of Septimus may also have a claim on her. This is something we are going to pursue in the coming weeks. I am offering you this warning so that you can prepare your case.”
Xane growls loudly at his friend and steps forward. “She claimed me, and I accepted. She is Xerxei of the House of Dracul. You will never win her if you fight for her.”
“Don’t be so sure, My Lord. She is still a free agent, so to speak. Our House has just as much right to her as yours does.” Sven turns to leave and Xane thinks morosely, over my dead body, and it may just come to that. There is only one way to prevent a claim from going in for her and she won’t go for it. He knows even before he asks her that she won’t agree to marry him right now over this. It won’t mean anything to her. She won’t know that now she is Queen, the whole future of his House and more importantly, his rule is riding on Xerxei’s claim to him. If Sven gets his hands on her, he will no longer be Overlord. Sven will be and that will also happen over his dead body. He didn’t fight his own father to get here to have it be taken away now. His mother is aware of this and her eagerness for their union was first and foremost to keep the House of Dracul in power. He had absolutely no intention of falling in love with or even liking Liv. He knew all about her and her multiple lovers, and he wasn’t about to prostrate himself before her like a fool. All he had wanted from her was her allegiance. The plan was to seduce her and get her on his side. The spell his mother made was designed to tie them together, so that she couldn’t be without him, not the other way around. It was his own dumb luck that he fell for her as hard as a Demon possibly could, thus sending the Blood Magick into a bit of a tizz and activating his own tie to her. It was even worse luck that she is also now apparently not only Dracul’s sister, but Septimus’s as well. Although, how this has only just come to light now is a complete mystery. There again, everything to do with that woman is. His whole future rests on his mother’s ability to sway Tiamat’s mind, because try as he might, he cannot make headway with Liv. She is as stubborn as she is strong.
“Sir?” Aster says.
“What?” Xane snaps at him, in an even worse mood than before.
“I, err, I have the information you were after,” Aster says.
That grabs Xane’s attention and he strides forward. “You know where they are?”
Aster nods. “Corinne has them down here. They are locked away, impossible to get to.”
Xane is itching to find out how he got this information, but right now he doesn’t care. He is going to bust out the Vampire’s captive Dark Fae blood whores and get himself to Liv before anything happens to her in that place. “Tell me where,” he says hoarsely.
Aster gives up the information, and it is going to be a problem, yes, but not impossible. He is Ruler of Hell and that comes with its perks when the very creatures you are trying to get to actually happen to be in Hell. He turns to Astraport out and bumps into Remiel who is lurking. Liv was right, this guy does lurk better than anyone else he knows. “Get out of my way,” Xane says to him.
“Ah, no,” Remiel says, shaking his head. “I simply cannot allow you to execute this plan.”
“What’s it to you?” Xane asks suspiciously.
“Hm,” Remiel says noncommittally and Xane wants to punch him. “I will offer you a little insight, due to our shared heritage, of course, as to why the bigger picture requires you to remain out of the Fae Kingdoms and for Aefre to remain in it.” Remiel places his hand against Xane’s temple and he staggers back as the blast of power ricochets through his head.
Chapter 15
Kingdom of the Dark Fae, March 2013 – Liv
“Ergh,” I groan. My head feels like someone hit me with a sledgehammer and my mouth is all dry. What the Hell happened to me? I try to open my eyes, but they seem glued shut. I try to remember what happened and it hits me. Oh, the gods. I drank from Sebastian’s brother, Thrace. It was the most surreal feeling, ever. Pure Light Fae blood is not for Vampires, that is for sure. It’s all a bit confusing, but I think Sebastian said he would explain it to me. Seb, is he here?
“Seb?” I croak, but there is no answer. I try to open my eyes again and the room spins as I sit upright. My back is burning, and it feels like there is a vice around my chest. Bloody Hell, the crash and burn from such an amazing high is not pretty. Never mind Dark Fae blood, remind me never to go near a Light Fae again with my fangs drawn. A shower is what I need, I decide, and stumble out of bed to the bathroom. Flicking on the low-level lights, I squint and turn on the shower, grateful that they are not so antiquated here as to not have indoor plumbing. I let the hot water steam the place up a bit and then I go to look at myself in the mirror, dreading what I will see, but I am surprised to see I look like Liv. I have Shifted back for some reason. I must be losing more energy here than I thought. I will leave it now until I have to see Drake again to Shift back. My eyes are puffy, and my hair is a mess and why does my back hurt so much? I rub the buildup of condensation away from the mirror before I turn and look back over my shoulder. What the fuck? I rub the mirror some more to get it clearer, but I wasn’t imagining things. My Dragon has been bound. Tied up tightly down the middle of my back with five thick black bands. What the Hell is this? She is completely still, and my stomach feels like it drops fifty feet as I lurch against the basins. What is this? I sense a strong panic rise in me and now that I am fully alert, I can feel the change. I don’t have that immense load of Power running through me that is my Queen Power. I feel weak and disorientated. I hear the bedroom door open and close and the only person who would come in unannounced is Sebastian, so I call out to him, “Seb! Come quickly. Something has happened.”
Silence.
“Seb?” I turn to the bathroom door and get the shock of my life. It’s not Sebastian, it’s Aelfric, looming in the doorway, taking up the entire space with his huge size, and taking in my appearance with a wicked gleam in his eye. I grab for a towel to cover up, as I am standing here buck naked, and glare at him. “Get out,” I say with as much authority as I can.
He shakes his head and steps closer. “No, my dear. I didn’t go to all the trouble of binding your powers, just to leave without getting what I came for.”