Cole ponders it for a moment. I’m not sure he knows what it is or what it entails. He confirms this by asking, “What exactly is it?”
“An ancient form of marriage,” CK says shortly.
Cole looks at me and my feelings about this must be written all over my face. His eyes tighten and he looks back at CK and says, “Very well. We are agreed.” They shake hands and the deal has been struck.
I now belong to both of them.
Chapter 2
Buckinghamshire, England, June 2013 – Liv
We sit in silence, each contemplating the arrangement in our own ways and what it means for each of us. My thoughts drift off as usual, unable to stay in one place for too long. I know I am going to have to spill the Cade beans to my sire and, well, sooner rather than later is always the best way with him. I grip Cole’s hand and he looks up at my sudden contact with him. He knows what I am about to do, and he squeezes my fingers and nods. CK looks at us and I take a deep breath.
“CK, there is something that I need to tell you. But before I do, please know that it wasn’t planned. I didn’t want this, it just happened,” I blurt out before I lose my nerve.
“What is it?” he asks, straightening up, sensing a very dicey subject is about to arise. “What have you done?” he adds accusingly and, well, I have to spit it out now.
“When we landed in Paris, three months ago, there was an incident. Well, it was more than that. There was a shooting, at the airport. One of us got hit,” I start.
“Who?” he barks, interrupting me.
I gulp loudly as this is it. As soon as I say his name, he will know what I did. “Cade,” I say and close my eyes tightly, waiting for the lambasting to occur.
When there is nothing but silence, I risk opening one of my eyes to look at him. Then I close it again as I can’t bear to look at the expression on his face. I can’t decide if it is fury, pain, both, or something else entirely.
After what seems like forever, he says, “Cade.”
I wait for more, but nothing.
It
finally occurs to me that he is waiting for me to confirm his worst fear, not wanting to say it out loud himself.
I nod. “Yes, he was shot four times in the chest and he was dying. I had to, Constantine. I wasn’t going to leave him to die in the middle of the sidewalk.”
“Say the words, Aefre,” he croaks out at me. “I need to hear it.”
“I-I turned him. I am his sire,” I say, and he hisses at me, slamming his fist on the tabletop, making Cole and me jump in our seats.
“I told you, Aefre!” he yells at me. “I told you, NO MORE BONDS TO NURTURE!” He stands abruptly and I sink back into my chair, wishing it would swallow me whole and spit me out somewhere very far away from this tiny aircraft. The look of absolute rage on his face almost makes me do the chair's job and Astral myself away, but it wouldn’t solve anything. It would only make him even madder with me. I must face this head on, so I stand up as well.
“Let me explain,” I say calmly.
“Oh, I think it is quite clear,” he says. “You took it upon yourself in my absence to tie yourself to yet another man that I have to share you with. When will it be enough, Aefre? When you are the exact same as your Other World replica?” he adds nastily.
He knows those sentiments will hurt me more than anything else he can say at this point, and it does. I don’t want to be like her. I want to yell at him to get stuffed, but it won’t get me anywhere, so instead I say quietly, “It isn’t like that. Let me explain, please.”
He sits just as abruptly as he stood and says formally, “Very well. Explain your actions in a way that can justify to me what you did.”
I grit my teeth and sit. Cole takes my hand again in a show of support and I love him for it. He is showing Constantine that even as my current husband and charge, he accepts what I did without comment.
Well…maybe not completely without comment, but I’ll get to that momentarily. I breathe in and start my tale from when I fell to my knees and made the decision to save him.
Paris, France, March 2013 – Liv
“Linc,” I said as I grabbed his arm. “What should I do?”
Lincoln sighed at me and said, “Respect his wishes, Liv. He doesn’t want you to turn him.”