Cole moves first. He grips my hand a little tighter and I sense him about to speak.
“Don’t,” I say brightly. “It’s all good.”
I expect the shocked faces at my callous attitude and it’s fine. This is better than if I had shown them my grief. They would be upset and hurt, and they have all been through enough.
CK clears his throat and I see the relief flood his eyes that he isn’t stepfather to a tiny Vampire-Demon half-breed Dragon girl. He surprises me with his words, but I shouldn’t be really. They are just words. There is no real feeling behind them, just a nice platitude to make himself feel better. “It’s okay to grieve, Aefre. We understand.”
“Not necessary,” I say. “I am, however, worried about what happens next.”
My swift change of topic is accepted, and the tension drops a couple of notches.
“You mean he’s going to try again?” Sebastian asks me as he pops into the room with his Fae King power puff of smoke. I grin broadly at him, thrilled to see him and after a quick kiss that I wish I could linger over, I say, “Yes. And again, and again until we get it right. That’s a direct quote.”
“Not if I get to you first,” Sebastian says with a salacious look and I swear if my husbands hadn’t already been through so much, I would have laughed out loud in joy. I have missed his wit and bright attitude.
“True,” I say. “But I need a time-out,” I add, much to the relief of every creature in the room, except Sebastian. “I can’t let him get to me next time. I have to find a way to protect myself,” I add more to myself than the room.
“Why him?” Cole suddenly demands. “I thought I was your Chosen One?”
Oh, yes, that reminds me. “Hm, indeed. There is a rather interesting story behind that, my love,” I say and proceed to tell the tale Remiel had told me.
There have been a lot of halts in this conversation so far, but this one is pretty big. It lasts a good twenty seconds by my count.
“A half Demon?” Cole asks. “How? Why? Oh, God.” He looks close to passing out and then gulps and asks, “His brother?”
“Yep,” I say. “I knew you were special,” I add with a soft smile that lights a fire in his eyes.
“My father is a Demon,” he says then in awe. He is taking it way better than I thought he would.
“Dragon once removed,” Xane pipes up and we all look at him.
“What?” I ask.
“Laurentis is a Dragon once removed as Dracul’s son. The Demons only really evolved somewhere around the fourth generation,” he explains.
“Oh. It makes a difference?” I ask with a shrug.
“Of course,” he says haughtily, and I feel I may have insulted him somehow. I smile apologetically and he gives me gruff smile back.
“It seems to have evaded everyone’s notice that I was also a part of this stupid prophecy, and that it stands to reason that I am also Laurentis’s son,” Devon says nastily from over in his naughty corner.
I forget my fury at him for a moment and stare at him with my mouth hanging open. It hadn’t occurred to me even in the slightest, but of course his quick brain would have connected the dots almost instantly.
“Shit,” I whisper as it makes sense. I look back at Cole, who is staring at Devon with more than awe, reverence almost.
“Brother?” he whispers and again I feel like I have intruded on an intimate moment between these two. I look down and busy my hands with stroking Cade’s hair. Cole realizes pretty quickly that they are making a scene and also that I am no longer touching him. He grabs my hand and laces our fingers together and I feel a sense of extreme anger coming from someone. I look up and find that it is Jess, only it isn’t directed at me, it is directed straight at Cole. What the Hell happened while I was gone? Clearly more than I ever thought would. I am now more than a bit creeped out as we all turn as one to look at CK, and he stands up straighter with the most imperious look on his face that I have ever seen.
“I am not a bastard,” he says vehemently. “I am very clear on who my father was.”
I chance a look at Sebastian to confirm or deny. He is the only person alive who can.
He shrugs and I see CK’s look of betrayal towards his lifelong friend.
“What?” Sebastian asks. “You look like your mom.”
I let out a very loud and inappropriate guffaw, to which CK throws a stake at me. I mean a very literal, wooden stake that he pulled out of his back pocket. It hits me square in the chest and I gape at him as it reverberates through me.
“You prick,” I yell at him as I pull it out and throw it back at him. Expecting the action, he holds his hand out and catches it, the smug fucker. “You just tried to kill me!” I exclaim dramatically.