“Go to sleep, my love. We can talk more about it when you wak
e up,” he says.
I nod sleepily. My eyes close and I am out.
Chapter 16
Buckinghamshire, England, March 2013 - Liv
I wake up alone to the sun shining through the French doors. I blink and turn over. I am under the covers, naked. I groan, no! No, no, no! Cole had obviously tried to make me more comfortable, but in the process, he has now seen the burn marks. The gods, what must he be thinking? I had wanted to do this in my own time, but I should have known I couldn’t hide it. He wouldn’t keep me clothed to sleep, when he knows I prefer to sleep in the nude. That being said, I did not expect to sleep for so long. It is clearly morning, so I have been asleep for about fifteen hours. I get up and pull my robe on. I need a shower, no, a bath, I quickly amend. I am not getting in a shower again for a while. It disgusts me to think that I haven’t washed properly since Aelfric took me. That thought gets me in the empty tub in record time and I sit there with my knees up as the water slowly rises around me. When I am covered, I lean forward and turn off the taps and relax a little bit. The water is hot and soothing, and I am startled that I can feel it. My body is changing to be able to feel the changes in temperature. I wonder how, but don’t get to think too hard on it because Cole comes in.
“Hey,” he says quietly.
“Hey,” I say as I sink further into the bubbles.
“I…” he starts as I say, “Cole…”
“You first,” he says. He stays where he is by the door and I am glad. That feeling of vulnerability comes back and I hate it. I shouldn’t feel this way around my husband.
“There is part of the story I haven’t told you,” I say, stating the obvious, but he doesn’t say anything. “Before I tell you, please promise me that you will not be angry.”
He frowns at me and I think he wants to say something, but he doesn’t, he just nods.
I brace myself by taking a deep breath and say in a rush, “When I was in my father’s palace, I was raped.”
I watch as Cole’s face goes as hard as the marble of this tub and he clenches his fists. I can see him struggling to remain calm and I say, “I’m okay though. Really, it’s fine.”
Well “fine” tipped him over the edge. I curse myself for using that word, as he knows that everything isn’t fine when I use it. He stalks out of the bathroom and I raise my eyebrows as I hear a massive hole being punched into the wall. I take this opportunity in his absence to leap out of the tub and get dried and dressed. He strides back in and stops dead as he sees me out of the tub and fully clothed, from head to toe. The only skin he can see is my face and hands. The anger goes out of his eyes to be replaced with sorrow. It is my undoing. My lip trembles as the tears fall and he drops to his knees in front of me, clinging to the back of my top as he, too, weeps for me.
I eventually fall to my knees as well, but he doesn’t let go of me. He wraps me up in his arms gently, stroking my hair.
“How? Why?” he asks. “If you want to talk about it, I will listen,” he adds as I stay silent.
“I don’t. I don’t want you to know anything about it. I was going to tell you; I just needed a bit of time.” This is the truth. I don’t want him to know why this happened, but I know that I am going to have to tell him, all of them, soon.
“Okay,” he says. I think he is a bit relieved that I am not going to blurt out the story to him. “Is your father going to do something about it?”
“Yes,” I say and swallow as I remember Drake’s ferocious declaration. In fact, he might have already followed through with it.
He nods grimly. “Good, that’s good. I know you said you don’t want to talk about it, but I need to know how? How did someone get the better of you like that?”
“You have no idea how powerful Faerie magick is. He bound my Powers. This is the reason my mother accelerated them.”
“Oh,” he says and gazes at me woefully. “I’m sorry, Liv. I wish I could protect you; I never want to see you hurt. I hate that I can’t protect you.”
“I know,” I say and console him for a few moments before he realizes what I am doing. He grabs my hands and squeezes them with a reprimanding look.
“I suppose I should go downstairs and see everyone. I’m sure they are all in a tizz,” I say reluctantly.
“Forget about them. They have lasted this long; they can go a bit longer.”
I nod and we still just sit there in the bathroom in silence, our arms wrapped around each other. Cole clears his throat and I hear the strain in his voice as he asks, “Do you want Constantine?”
I shake my head forcefully. He is the absolute last person I want to see right now. I’d even take Aelfric over him, that’s how strongly I feel about it. Cole is surprised, but glad that I refused to see him.
“Can I get you anything?” he asks hesitantly.
“No,” I say and then decide that this is ridiculous. I stand up and pull him up with me. “I’m going downstairs,” I say.