Revelation (The Forever Series Book Three) (21 page)

“Is he okay? What about Lance?” I ask, worried.

“We don’t know. Lance is in the dungeons behind the wards.
Tatiana has some serious boot. She had him down there and chained up before we
even knew what was happening.”

“Seriously? She turned on him? But why did she knock Constantine
out?”

“We don’t know. She doesn’t speak English, only Romanian and
Russian I think. All she said was your name.”

Having reached the foyer by this time, Devon leads us to the
sitting room where my sire is laid out on the sofa with Polly sat next to him,
her head on his chest, holding his hand, her eyes closed with a content look on
her face. I feel the bile rise up in me again as I turn to find Cole pacing by
the windows.

“Liv,” he says as he sees me and comes over to give me a
tight hug. “Did Devon tell you what happened?”

I nod. I turn to Tatiana and she asks me in Russian if I
speak the language.

“Yes,” I reply and she looks relieved, apologizing for not
speaking English.

“Tell me what happened here?”

“I couldn’t let your sire kill Vladimir.”

“He is an evil man, Tatiana. You should have let him.”

She shakes her head, “No, you don’t understand. He is a
monster. I hate him and I want to see him dead for all the pain and anguish he
has caused. My family has worked for him for generations, forced into slavery
for him through an unbreakable curse.”

I roll my eyes, again with the curses. What is wrong with
these people?

“But if your sire had killed him he would have also killed
the young woman,” she continues and I look at her in confusion.

“I don’t understand.”

“Vladimir linked them together so that if he was killed she
would be as well. He used Blood Magick and it is unbreakable. I am not able to
unlink them.”

“So one sacrifice to free all his captives, to free your
family from him? I don’t see the problem,” Lincoln says also in Russian to my
utter surprise.

I turn to him and say, “No. I won’t sacrifice her. We will
find another way.”

“There isn’t another way. You are Queen, it is your
responsibility to make him pay for his crimes.”

“How do you know what I am?” I ask him with surprise.

“It seems the longer I am around you, the more information I
get from you,” he says, somewhat embarrassed, tapping his head.

Brushing that nugget of information aside to deal with later
I say, “She is my sibling, an innocent. I will not sacrifice her and I will not
show my boys that it is okay to turn on an innocent no matter what the
circumstances.”

“Your boys?” he asks as he flicks his glance to a very
furious looking Devon and Cole who are not privy to the content of this
conversation coupled with the fact that Cole doesn’t even know who this guy is.

I turn back to Tatiana. “Wake Constantine up, please. The
longer you keep him out the more furious he will be.”

“I can’t wake him. Only you can,” she replies.

“What? I don’t know how?”

“You don’t need to know how. The kiss of true love will
awaken him.”

Oh please. This is getting cornier by the minute.

“He isn’t my true love,” I say. “My true love died two
hundred and sixty-six years ago.”

“He is your true love. I can see it in your heart. He has
done this awful thing to you. I overheard him and Vladimir talking about it
when you went downstairs. But you have already forgiven him, you will always
forgive him. You love him unconditionally, not just because he is your sire but
because you belong together. That is true love.”

Now quite thankful that Devon and especially Cole cannot
understand what we are saying I shake my head. “No. I cannot forgive him for
this.”

“You already have, my dear,” she says again. “You know his
reasons for doing what he did.”

Huffing at her I say, “Why can’t she do it? She is clearly
in love with him.”

“He doesn’t love her,” she says simply.

Oh for fuck's sake. Fine. I stomp over to him and move young
Polly out of my way, much to her annoyance. I look at him for a few moments,
peaceful, beautiful, and I sigh. I do love him. I always have and I always will
but can I accept this? I don’t know if I can. Leaning forward I place my lips
on his in a sweet kiss that makes his eyes pop open in surprise as he sees me,
then remembering what happened he jumps up in fury moving towards Tatiana.

“Don’t. She’s locked Lance up downstairs. You can’t kill
him. None of us can,” I say quickly.

He turns to me but doesn’t get a chance to say anything as
Polly flies into his arms and kisses him soundly on the mouth. I turn away
unable to take the stab of pain that shoots through me.

“Aefre,” his voice brings my eyes back to his. “What do you
mean we can’t kill him?”

“He has linked himself to Polly via Blood Magick. If you
kill him, she dies too,” I say shortly and turn from him again as he still has
his arms around my look alike and she is gazing adoringly up at him.

He untangles himself and crosses over to me and turns me
around. He sees everything I am feeling and he whispers, “I can explain.”

“No need. She already did,” I tell him and pull away.

He glares at her furiously and she drops her head. “I’m
sorry, my lord. She threatened me if I didn’t tell her.” She peeks up at me
slyly through lowered lashes and my indignation flares up. Little bitch. I
narrow my eyes at her, victim or not of Lance’s cruelty, I won’t have her
manipulate this situation. Before I can speak though, Constantine has crossed
over to her and grabbed her by the arm tightly, fury emanating from him as he
sees the situation as clearly as I do.

“CK,” I say, going to her defense anyway. “Don’t blame her.
This is your doing.”

“CK? Is that what she calls you?” she asks with a sidelong
glance at me. “You never told me to call you that. I shall call you that from
now on when we are together.”

The fury that is now rolling around the room is coming from
me. So much for trying to help her and she turns around and screws with me,
again.

“You don’t get to call him that! You don’t get to call him
anything,” I cross over to them. “Whatever this little arrangement of yours is,
it’s over now.”

Constantine looks at me in earnest. “It’s been over for
years, Aefre. I haven’t seen her in about sixty years. How long has she been
here?” he asks me and not her.

“She says three months.”

He lets go of her and she drops to her knees, contrite, and
I want to throw up again. He leans down and grabs her arm hauling her to her
feet. “Get up,” he growls.

“We can try again, my lord. I can be everything for you that
she can’t. You can be yourself with me,” she says desperately.

“She isn’t the problem. Don’t you see? It is me that can’t
be everything for her,” he says sadly and lets her go again. She knows she’s
lost him as he takes my face in his hands. Ignoring everyone else in the room
he says, “I’m sorry.” And he himself drops to his knees at my feet. A
collective gasp goes around the room from Polly, Tatiana, and Devon while Cole
growls, a low rumble around the room. Poor Lincoln who doesn’t know what the
fuck he has stepped into just looks plain uncomfortable. I, on the other hand,
am getting pissed off with this vulnerable sire side and again wish I could
reseal the wormy can from Tuscany.

I drop to my knees in front of him and take his face in my
hands. “Stop this at once. It’s pissing me off.”

“I’m sorry,” he says again. “I couldn’t help myself after
the last time. I was dead inside. All I wanted was you to love, but I wanted to
hurt you. I wanted to hurt you because you had hurt me. I thought you had hurt
me,” he amends quickly as I open my mouth to correct him. Casting a quick
glance around the room, this really isn’t a conversation to be had here.
Quickly trying to deduce which language I can talk to him in with a modicum of
privacy, as Astralling him off somewhere will just cause more problems. Devon
and Cole I know, Tatiana with some degree of certainty, Polly doesn’t look like
she has the wherewithal to understand any other languages and Lincoln, well he
doesn’t really matter as he has no idea what’s going on anyway.

“Stop,” I say to him in Portuguese, of the Brazilian variety
just to be on the safe side.

His eyes flash to mine and he catches on. “You don’t need to
tell me any of this. She already explained it,” I say.

“I do need to tell you. I need you to know. It was never
really you I wanted to hurt like that. Never.”

“It doesn’t matter. You told me in Italy that you loved me.
You told me and you showed me with the… room.” I clear my throat not able to
say the word and he looks pained at the reminder. “I pushed you that night
Constantine. I wanted you to show me this monster you revile, that you are so
scared to show me. That you think is the real you. Lance is wrong. That is not
the real you. The real you is the man I had to push into hurting me. I know you
didn’t want to do it. I made you. The you I know could never want to hurt me
like that. I am sorry for trying to make you do something you didn’t want to
do. My reasons were selfish. I wanted to be everything for you. Everything you
needed me to be, I did it because I thought it would make you happy. Instead I
made you hate yourself and for that I hate myself. You say that I am the light
of your life but you don’t let me in far enough to shine in your dark. You have
to let me in or I can’t help you. I know you love me. You showed me that night
just how much. It makes me ache for you. It makes me want to do that with you
all day every day for the rest of my life. This is why I got so cross with you
for calling it ‘fucking’ all the time.” I smile and he chuckles. The first
sound he has made throughout my speech. “However,” I say serious again now,
“what you have done is not acceptable. I won’t tolerate it. How many others are
there out there?”

“None.”

“Constantine, please, tell me.”

“None, Aefre. There have been others but they are all dead,
I got rid of them all. I tried to be merciful and I let Polly go and asked her
never to return. She agreed and I haven’t thought of her in years. I never
wanted you to find out what I had done. I had no idea that Lance would do this
again.”

A chill goes down my spine at his words “I got rid of them
all.”

“I know you have wards on your dungeons,” I blurt out then
in English, forgetting myself for a moment and he looks at me sharply, as does
everyone else in the room. I pull my face at him contritely and say, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. There is a very good reason for that but it isn’t
what you think,” he says, resigned. “But now is not the time for that. I will
tell you but not now.”

Well leave a girl hanging why don’t you.

“Fine, but promise me that this won’t happen again. I won’t
be substituted for your amusement,” I say sternly and he looks mortified, as I
have voiced his actions in plain English in front of everyone. “Promise me,” I
repeat when he just glares at me.

“I promise,” he says quietly.

I nod briskly and stand, pulling him up with me. I realize I
must look a fright having been out in the rain in the forest before. I didn’t
get a chance to fix myself up. Looking down at myself I catch Polly staring at
me in wonder that I can handle him like I do. I push the horrible thought away
of what he has done to her all the time wishing in some weird way it was me.
Twirling in a circle I fix myself up in my normal garb as clearly this party is
over before it even started. Which reminds me, “Where are all of Lance’s
friends?” I ask, hand on my hip, as Lincoln, Tatiana and Polly stare at me now
standing in front of them in the tiny black mini skirt, strapless black top and
of course my black Louboutins, with hair dry and pulled back over my shoulder.

No one replies so I try again in Russian this time and
Tatiana answers me, “Most of them left. Those that stayed are downstairs with
him.”

“Fine, what do we do about him, then?” I say again in
English.

“A good question but here’s another one first. Who the hell
is this guy?” Cole asks coming up beside me and possessively putting his arm
around me and pointing at Lincoln.

“Lincoln Anderson,” he replies for himself. “Resident cursed
Werewolf. You wife here broke my curse.” He looks at me with a shrug, as he
again knows things about me that I haven’t told him.

Tatiana looks amazed. “How did you break his curse?” she
asks and I wonder how she knows what he said. “I recognize him,” she adds, as I
look at her in question.

I shrug. “I’m still not sure,” I mutter in Russian.

Getting a bit tired of switching languages now I say again
in English, “We need to figure out what to do with him.”

“The plan hasn’t changed,” Constantine says. “We kill him.”

“No, we can’t. Remember what I said?”

“I heard you,” he says in that infuriating way of his that
means he heard you but he is paying you no mind.

“Constantine, you can’t.”

“My charges, my decision,” he says harshly and stalks off
towards the kitchens.

With a horrified look at the hapless Polly I follow him
quickly. “No, you can’t do this. I won’t let you. Two charges Constantine, you
can’t do it.”

He turns to me with a hard look. “You think I haven’t killed
my own before? I know the consequences, Aefre. I know the loss. But he must pay
for what he did to you. You gave him a reprieve before. Not this time. Not
again.” He softens as he says quietly, “What he did to you. What he said
before? I can’t bear the thought of him doing that to you. I need to finish
him. Unless you want to do it yourself?”

“But Polly...”

“Will be collateral damage. I will not allow him to live one
day longer. It’s either you or me. Your choice.”

“Liv. Let him do it,” Devon says as he joins us. “Just let
him do it.”

“Where is Cole?” I ask him.