“Oh, sorry,” I say. “What is it you were getting at?”
“If your father knows what happened to you, what is he going to do about it?” she asks.
All eyes turn back to me. “He made a threat on Aelfric’s life. I have no idea if he has seen it through.”
“He hasn’t,” Sebastian says.
“How do you know?” Jess asks him.
“If my father were dead, I would have been recalled, and I am still here,” he says, hands on hips.
“What do you mean recalled?” Lincoln asks.
“My father dies, I become King,” Sebastian says to a stunned silence.
He sounds definite about that so, regardless of his so-called status, he is still the one. “Oh man, I can’t cope with anymore of this,” I say, standing up. “I need some air.” Cole opens the French doors and I step out onto the terrace, with him at my back.
“Get me CK,” I say to him. I am going to have to face him at some point. Might as well be now.
He goes off to get my sire and I walk further out into the gardens. It looks like snow and I shiver. I call a thicker coat to me and I instantly feel warmer. It is so strange; I still haven’t become used to it.
“Aefre,” his voice comes from behind me and I stop walking. I brace myself and turn to him. “Please let me speak first,” he says to me.
I nod, as I am still unsure what to say to him and I want to hear what he has to say.
“I’m sorry,” he says, and I look away. “I know that it doesn’t cover it and I will spend the next several lifetimes making it up to you. What I did to you in the tower was unforgivable. I hate myself for hurting you, it is killing me when I think about what I did. And the spelling was the single stupidest thing that I have ever done. I love you so much, I wanted us to be together. I never meant any harm to Cole, I wanted you to bring him with you when you came to me. But I just couldn’t wait any longer to have you as my wife. I’m sorry about how I went about it. I should have waited for you. What happened over there to you, I just, I want to kill him for hurting you. I want to help you heal.”
I turn and walk away from him, deeper into the woods. He follows me after a moment, and silently we walk until we reach the clearing.
“First things,” I start, “The fight that we had in the tower, I am partly to blame for.” He starts to interrupt me, but I shush him. “We completely blindsided you and you had every right to be angry at me. You asked me to leave, because you knew what was going to happen if I stayed. I didn’t listen, and that is on me. I am more upset by what you said, than what you did.”
“I didn’t mean any of it, Aefre. I knew it would hurt you and that is what I was trying to do. Please know that I do not think that about you. I never have and I never will.”
I nod and ask him, “Have you ever used your power on me before, to get me to do what you want?”
He shakes his head vehemently. “No, Aefre. Not ever. I made a promise to my
self when I sired you, that I would never use it on you. I didn’t want to tell you about it because I knew you would always wonder if I had, or would, use it on you.”
I believe him about that, but that is the least of our issues. “The spelling,” I say. “I can forgive why you got Sebastian to spell Devon. He explained it to me, and you’re right. I never even thought about it. It was an underhanded way to go about it, but I understand you were trying to protect him, and me. But what he did to me. Now that is something I cannot forgive. You had no right to mess with my head like that. You violated my mind, but that aside, I told you I wasn’t ready to leave Cole. You made me believe that you were waiting. You promised me, and when I called you on it at Ponte you threw a fit at me for suggesting it. I don’t think I can get past this, Constantine.” I pull the ring he gave me off my finger and hold it out to him. I feel cold and dead inside and it makes me shudder. It is an ugly feeling and I don’t like it.
He looks devastated and shakes his head. “No, Aefre. Please don’t be hasty. I will do anything you ask to make it up to you. Anything. Just please do not give that back to me. Please,” he begs me, closing his hand over mine.
My heart is breaking over his sorrow, but I can’t forgive him. Not this time.
“Please, Aefre. Please don’t give it back to me,” he whispers. “I will give you time, just please put it back on.”
We stand like that in the clearing for some time. My tears are falling, icy cold against my cheeks. His head is bowed, his hand clutching mine, waiting for me. The feeling inside me warms up again, a sudden shift from a crushing blackness to warm, white light. He lets go of my fingers and walks away from me. He has put the ring back on my finger and I, for my sins, have let him.
Cole finds me awhile later standing over the Faerie ring. I am dying to go back and see what exactly Drake is doing about my assault. “What are you looking at?” he asks me as he wraps his arms around me.
“A Faerie ring. You step into it and it takes you to the Fae Kingdoms.”
“What, just anybody?” he asks.
“No, just the Fae.”
“Can you use it?”