“Oh, Cole,” I say and sigh. “Don’t ask me to give him up. Not now. These three months have been wonderful with you, but I miss him.”
“I know,” he says quietly. “But I had to ask.”
“I know,” I say.
“Have you truly forgiven him for what he did?” he ventures.
I think about that for a moment. Cole doesn’t know the whole story. I have given him a mostly fabricated story with enough truth to make it believable. It would hurt him too much if he knew the whole truth. I have forgiven Constantine’s actions in the tower. I knew the monster was unleashed and I know that he did try to pull it back. My defiance in the face of his anger pushed him too far. That is my fault. I should have left him alone as he asked. His words took me longer to forgive. He told me that he didn’t mean it. That he said it just to hurt me, and boy did he hurt me. Branding me the same as the Substitutes that he made, telling me I was no better than them, hurt more than the wounds he inflicted upon me. But yes, I forgive him for that too. If I hadn’t gone to him, he never would have said it. I don’t blame myself for this, but I have to take some of the responsibility for that too. The Initial Vampire sire-powers that he used on me, that I never even knew he had, took some time to process. But I believe him when he said that he has never used them on me before. He has had every opportunity to get me to submit my will to him, but I never have so that is inconsequential. I have Powers that he has yet to learn about so I can’t fault him for wanting to keep them a secret. The whole Sebastian spelling me and Devon, though - that is the kick in the guts. The one thing it has taken me all these weeks to forgive him for. I wanted to hate Sebastian for doing it, to cut him out of my life even though we are Faerie soul mates, but in the end, I didn’t blame him. He was only doing what his sire asked him to do, because he believed it was the right thing to do. Or maybe he had no choice because CK bent him to do it? Either way, that responsibility falls completely and utterly onto Constantine.
“Liv?” Cole prompt me as I just gaze over at the illuminations. “Do you forgive him?”
I nod. “Yes,” I say, meaning it. “I have forgiven him. And I will go to him tomorrow to get him back.”
Cole turns from me with a nod. The last three months he has had me mostly to himself. Except for a few days here and there with Lincoln and on the full moon, and a few secret meetings with Xane and Sebastian, I have been
back in his bed, by his side every night. He knows now that we will go back to me being away two nights a week and I know he isn’t happy about it. I think about Devon. I haven’t seen him for a couple of weeks. He took Jess back to L.A. to deal with her mother and her boyfriend. I don’t know what that means. I didn’t ask. I had to tell him what Sebastian was doing to him, and why. He was furious, with good reason, and will likely try to kick Sebastian’s ass about it the next time he sees him, but he eventually had to concede that he preferred to be alive and not executed for making a Rogue. It changed him. A lot. He has been even more serious and moody these last few months. I know it is weighing on his mind. He doesn’t want this responsibility, but he knows now that he can’t just leave her to her own devices either. I feel that there is something else going on with him. Since the assault, he has been distant from me. I’ve tried to tell him that he can touch me, be with me, but he has treated me like a china doll since he found out. I hate it. I miss him terribly and it brings tears to my eyes. But they are due back tomorrow at the country manor in Buckinghamshire, as are we. I know everyone is wondering whether we will show up with my sire or not.
“Cole,” I say, touching his shoulder. “I have loved these last three months with you. I love you. But I am aching for him,” I say softly. “I’m sorry, but I need him.”
He huffs out a breath. “I know you do. If I didn’t see you for three months, I would feel like I wanted to die. Go to him tomorrow and bring him home.” He looks resolved, like he has come to his own decision and it looks like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. He’s probably just glad that a decision has been made, instead of living with the future undecided. I smile at him and pull him to me.
“One last night in our little bubble and then back to the real world,” I say.
“One last night,” he repeats. “I can’t believe that the film is finished, and we are going home. No more traveling, no more hotels.”
“No more films,” I say sternly, interrupting him. “I meant what I said about you retiring after this.”
“I will. All I want to do is spend every second that I can with you.”
“Good boy,” I murmur up at him and he throws me back his delicious half smile before he swoops down to kiss me.
I awake, anxious and covered in sweat. I am nervous about going to see Constantine. It is ridiculous really. I have no idea why I am nervous. Perhaps because after all this time I am worried that he won’t want me anymore, that he has decided he can live without me in his life. Even though I told him not to contact me, that I wanted nothing to do with him, I expected that he would, even half hoped that he would. But he hasn’t. Not one word, to anyone, and I am worried. What if he has forgotten that today is the day, we agreed I would either turn up at Ponte if I wanted him back, or not if I didn’t. What if he is there with someone else? Or just not at all? A mild panic sets in and it triggers Cole’s senses and he wakes suddenly.
“You okay?” he mumbles.
“Yes fine, baby. Go back to sleep,” I tell him as I climb out of bed. A shower and then off I go. It’s still early, only 6 AM, but the sooner I get this over with the better.
I stand under the jets and Cole joins me in the bathroom. “I’m not going to ask you not to go,” he says, as I turn from him expecting exactly that. “I just want to tell you that I love you, and I will be waiting on the jet in Florence for you to take you home.”
I look up at him in surprise and ask, “You are going to come with and wait for me?”
“Yes,” he says. “Don’t sound so surprised. You are my wife, and I told you last night that I want to spend every second I can with you. I am not sitting around here waiting for you to fly back when I can go with you and we can leave from there.”
“You are perfect,” I say to him with a smile.
“I know,” he says, returning my smile. “Now, let’s do this. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get home.”
“My thoughts exactly,” I say.
“I love you,” he whispers.
“I love you too,” I say. He steps into the shower and reaches for me, but I turn my back and he snatches his hands back quickly with a curse.
“Sorry,” he mumbles, and I freeze for a moment.
I force myself to relax and say, “It’s okay, baby. I want you…just not in here, okay?”
“Of course,” he says quietly and takes the soap from me that I am digging my nails into. He turns off the jets and carries me out of the shower and to the bedroom. He looks to me for the go ahead and I kiss him, letting him know he can take me now. Which he does, gently and insistently.