Cole gives him a quick rundown on the operation and to say that CK’s face goes thunderous would be an understatement. I am going to be in such trouble later. Finn turns me around and disrobes me to my waist. I can hear scuffling and swearing and yet more growling as Finn removes his own attire. He places his hands on my back and V.A. calms instantly and emits a golden glow. Finn peels Her off my back and takes Her into himself to soothe Her. She is clearly agitated because of my lack of Power and it has caused an overreaction. The scuffling stops behind me as my husbands both watch what is happening. Cole has seen this before, but despite his complete un-acceptance of this ritual, I know he is dazzled by it. It appears that CK is as well. A few minutes later, Finn returns V.A. to my back and he quickly gets dressed again. Before he can leave or anyone can say a word, I spin around and ask him, “Where is my Mother? Does She know that I am ill? Does She know what Remiel did to me? Why didn’t She come to see me?”
“She knows,” Finn says, and I feel a pang of betrayal from the woman who is supposed to care for me. “She will be along to see you in the next couple of days. She will explain everything to you then.” He Astrals out before I can say anything else.
“Oh,” I say to nobody and once again sit heavily on the side of the tub which is now on the brink of overflowing.
CK steps forward to turn the taps off and to pull the plug out before he says, “Oh, you have some explaining to do, Aefre.”
I shrug. “What do you want me to say? I hadn’t seen you for weeks, we were together for two days before Remiel took me. What was I supposed to do? Come to you in a dream just to tell you about my Guardian?” I am snarky and he knows it, but I am not finished. “If you want to blame anyone, blame Cole.” I point the finger unfairly. “You spent all this time together; you’d have thought it would come up.”
Cole opens his mouth to protest to this unfair accusation, when CK turns to him and says, “Yes, you would have thought.”
“I had bigger things to worry about,” Cole says defensively.
“I would say that this is pretty big,” CK says, indicating me lounging in the bath. They start to bicker, and I submerse myself completely under the water. I silently yelp in pain as the water hits the bite marks, but it’s better than listening to them argue. I relax a tiny bit but feel no better. Finn has done nothing to revitalize me, in fact if anything I feel even more worn out. Not to mention his whole attitude stank. What was with that? He is usually so much more friendly and attentive. Okay, well maybe having two ferocious Vampires staring at him in hatred probably didn’t help, but I think there is more to it than that. Something to do with my mother, definitely, I deduce. I finally surface and blink my eyes open to see two faces staring mildly back at me.
“What?” I ask.
“You should have…” CK starts to accuse, but Cole punches him on the shoulder. “I feel,” he starts again, closing his eyes briefly, “that you should have told me about this immediately. Even the day after we got married there was time.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t think and then I wasn’t here,” I say petulantly. I know when I am being ganged up on with “an intervention.”
CK comes to crouch next to me and takes my hand. “I am not sure I can accept this,” he says carefully. “What we witnessed here was quite intimate.”
“I know,” I say again. “But the Dragon needs it…hey!” I exclaim suddenly and turn around to peer over my shoulder. It felt like I had been bitten or something. I turn back to CK with a confused look and he points to my shoulder with a soft smile. I peer down and my Dragon has Her head resting on my shoulder with Her nostrils flaring at me. I start in surprise as I have never actually seen Her do that before.
“I think She dislikes your lack of pronoun usage, my sweet,” CK says, now hiding his smile as She bites me again.
“Ow! Okay, I’m sorry,” I tell Her. “You are my Dragon.” She nods Her head once in acceptance and swoops down across my back, settling into Her usual resting position. Christ, She is becoming more and more sentient. One of these days She will become separate from me at this rate.
“Please just wash me and help me downstairs,” I say. “You can berate me some more when I feel better.”
“If,” CK mutters as he hands Cole the washcloth.
“When,” I say and languish under Cole’s kind ministrations.
“Something I should know?” Cole asks.
“Other Liv said blood-soaked marigolds will work,” I say.
“Other Liv?” he asks. “When did you see her?”
“She came to see me before,” I say and hope he doesn’t start up an inquisition. No way am I telling about the letter Other Fraser sent to me. They help me out of the bath and into my clothes, which I know that CK has picked out this time as it is a long, flowing, stretchy, black dress. He pops it over my head, and it falls softly to the floor. He gently tugs the material away from my wrist and then takes my arm in his. We head downstairs with Cole on my other side and into the kitchen. Jess is already in there staring at the flowers as if expecting them to tell her what to do.
“What are we supposed to do?” she asks CK. She plucks one of the heads off the bunch and turns it upside down. “Just stick it over the bites?”
“No, I would wager cutting them up first would be more effective,” CK says with authority, even though he has no idea, much like the rest of us. “Then mix it with my blood and we will secure them with bandages to keep them in place.”
Well, at least he has a plan. I was just going to wander around looking like a bouquet.
“Your blood?” Cole asks. “Why yours?”
“That woman said to use mine. I am her sire after all, it was my blood that healed her of her mortal wound and turned her,” CK says, and I can see the gleam of victory in his eye as he, and quite nicely I’ll admit, reminds every one of his status.
I beam at him and say to Jess, “Where the bloody Hell is Devon?” I am getting sick of asking that, but since I have woken up, he has hardly been here.
She points to the door with a smile of pure self-satisfaction that she sensed him before I did. I take that in with bad grace. I must get myself well again, get myself back on top. I cannot, no, will not, have a weeks-old Vampire be better than me at something. I swallow as I recall she is now actually seven months old. Devon makes his appearance and gives me a quick cuddle. “Sorry, Lizzie, I was looking for Cade.”
Even I can sense his reluctance, and I most definitely see the look of absolute distaste that he shares with Cole.