Secrets (The Forever series, Book 8) (22 page)

“Leave her alone,” Sebastian says to him and Thrace just
shrugs.

“I will if she wants me to,” he says.

“Liv,” Sebastian snaps at her again and she draws in a deep
breath to steady her racing heart. He can hear it from here. He can also tell
she is highly aroused and no way is he letting Thrace get his hands, never mind
his lips, on her again. Sebastian drags her away and she titters and waves back
to Thrace as she stumbles behind him. Geez, it's like she is drunk! He has
never drunk pure Faerie blood before and now he never will if this is the side
effect. His own must be heavily diluted, as she doesn’t get giddy around him
when she drinks. Thrace grins and waves at her and her cheeks flush and then
she puts her hand up to her mouth to hide it as Drake comes storming out of the
banquet hall. “Aeval!” he calls to her and she gulps.

“Uh-oh, I’m in trouble now,” she snickers at Sebastian and
he is staring at her in disbelief as she launches herself at Drake, throwing
her arms around his neck. He looks taken aback for a moment, before he
hesitantly puts his arms around her and then hugs her fiercely, a look of awe
on his face as she whispers, “I love you, Daddy,” to him. Sebastian steps
forward to take her back with an apologetic look at Drake, but Drake ignores
him and holds onto her tightly. Sebastian is dumbfounded. He knows he hasn’t
been around here in the last dozen centuries, but he remembers Drake, King of
the Dark Fae, to be a fearsome warrior that scared the pants off anyone who had
the unfortunate luck of being in the same vicinity as him. Even those in his
family were terrified of him and, well, to be fair, he hasn’t seen much of a
change there – except with her. How does she do it? She can make any man turn
into a pile of goo to please her no matter what the relationship--or lack of
relationship--as the case may be. He is still staring at them as Drake clears
his throat and puts her down. She looks up at her father. “Nite nite, Daddy.
Sebastian and I are going to bed now,” she declares with a hiccup and Drake’s
blazing eyes find Sebastian’s and he is ashamed to say, he flinches. Yep, he is
still a scary ass motherfucker, no doubt about that.

“What is the meaning of this?” Drake barks at him.

Sebastian explains as best he can and Drake turns to where
Thrace is watching them from several feet away. Thrace has the good sense to do
one before Drake turns back to him. “You will ensure that this never happens
again. I will not have her compromising herself. Look at her, if you hadn’t
come for her who knows what would have happened,” Drake hisses and Sebastian
does look at her. She is swaying in a non-existent breeze with a sweet smile on
her face, her arms around her father’s waist. Thrace’s blood really did a
number on her. “Take her to her room and then you will leave her there. You
will not take advantage of her in this state,” he says. “Do you hear me?” Drake
yells and he tears his eyes away from her.

“Yes,” Sebastian says quickly.

“Where is the guard that was supposed to be watching her?”
Drake asks, looking around.

Sebastian shakes his head. “He wasn’t here when I came to
find her.” He pities the poor Faerie who abandoned his post. He probably won’t
live to see sunrise, even though he is sure that Thrace spelled him to
disappear, but Drake will not accept that as a good enough reason.

“Take her now,” Drake says, gently removing her arms from
him. “And heed my warning, Kalen, if I find out you stayed with her, you are a
dead man.”

Sebastian nods again and takes Liv’s arms to steady her. “I
will get her into bed and stay just until she falls asleep.”

Drake nods at him and then looks at his daughter and his
eyes soften. “Good night, my Princess,” he whispers. “Sleep well.” He leans
down to kiss her on her forehead and she closes her eyes and pats his chest
which, in her flat shoes, is as high as she can reach on him.

Sebastian pulls her away and put his arm around her waist
and leads her to her room. He can feel Drake’s eyes on them until they turn the
corner and then he relaxes a bit. She notices too and laughs at him.

“Don’t be so nervous,
Kalen
,” she says to him with as
straight a face as she can. “I want you to stay with me. I’ll protect you from
my dad.” She snorts into hand at that and says, “Dad!” before she laughs
uncontrollably as he ushers her into her bedroom and over to the bed.

She calms down after a few minutes and says, “You are going
to have to explain to me why that doesn’t happen, when I drink from you.” She
adds after a slight pause, “And why it never happened after I drank from
Trystan.”

“I will try my best to explain it when you are sober,
Princess, but now you need to get some sleep.”

“Sex first, then sleep,” she says with a pout that makes him
want to rip her gown off her and do as she asks.

“I value my life, Livvie,” he says to her shaking his head.
“Drake scares me way more than you do.”

“Humph,” she says rudely as she starts to get undressed.

“Come now, get into bed,” he says to her, pulling the covers
back. He does have to wonder why he is not tearing at her at this moment. She
is in no fit state to stop him from trying to conceive this baby with her right
now, but he is not so sure he can go through with it while she is drunk.

“Sebbie,” she complains, and he chuckles at the nickname,
“come to bed with me. I want you.” She throws her arms round him, pushing her
breasts into him and kisses him soundly on the mouth and he loses all of his
morals. He is a cad, a disgusting beast not fit for being near her, but he
can’t help it. She laughs in delight as he rips at his clothes to get himself
as naked as she is and she pulls him down on top of her. It’s a mesh of limbs
and lips and fangs and soon they lay spent and she is away in dreamland before
he has even rolled off her.
Great Seb, what a fucking stand-up guy you
turned out to be
, he sighs to himself as he runs his hand through his hair.
If he doesn’t get out of here soon, Drake is going to have his head. He hates
leaving her while she sleeps. It makes him feel even worse for taking advantage
of her, but he has no doubt her father will be along shortly to ensure her
well-being.

Sebastian gets dressed quickly and heads out with a loving,
lingering glance back at her. Tomorrow they are back to the real world and he
will be dismissed again. With a sigh he closes the door and slopes off back to
his father’s palace some several miles away.

Chapter 9

Buckinghamshire, England, 2013 – Xane

Flick, flick, flick. The cards are the only sound being made
in the library as he flicks them at the wastepaper basket. He feels useless and
useless is infuriating. He has spoken to every contact he has and no one can
tell him anything about how to either get himself to her, or her out. He knows
Lincoln said she was doing okay, Dragon struggling aside, but he wants to see
her for himself. That place…well, she doesn’t belong there.

“What do you want?” he asks, as he senses Aster, his
second-in-command, hovering next to him.

“You need to come back, My Lord. There is an issue,” Aster
states.

“Can’t you deal with it?” Xane asks, really in no mood to
deal with a bunch of problems that aren’t his own.

“No, sir. Your presence is required. The House of Aldric has
a demand of the House of Dracul,” he says carefully.

Ah shit. He knows exactly what’s coming. CeeCee just can’t
get it through her head that their engagement is off. He never wanted to marry
her in the first place, hence why they aren’t married yet. But she refuses to
believe it is over, even though he has told her he doesn’t love her and that he
is in love with Xerxei, she just doesn’t listen. Damn woman.

“Fine,” he says, standing up. Maybe the distraction will be
just what he needs to stop feeling quite so useless.

He Astraports (Liv uses this word for his method of
transportation, and he likes it) back to the Underworld to deal with whatever
issue this is now. All formal meetings take place in the Castle. The Castle is
situated right in the middle of Hell. The Underworld is a vast, vast place.
Bigger even than Earth. There are many different layers to it. Most Demons
choose to live on the top layer. That is the easiest one in which to get to and
from Earth. This is where his parents’ house is. He has a room in the Castle,
it belongs to him as Ruler, but he rarely comes here to stay. He is one of the
few who can get here directly, most others have to go via a network of
different layers. That unfortunately means whatever this issue is, it is
serious. It is very formal and antiquated down here, so he clicks his fingers
and ensures he is dressed in the Overlord garb, complete with flowing cloak and
sword. He smiles as he remembers seeing Liv’s face when she first saw him. He
was dressed exactly like this. She looked so pretty in that pink dress, but her
usual style suits her so much better. Well, if he is honest, Xerxei suits her
the best. He loves it when she comes to him as her. Xerxei is inexplicably
drawn to him, but Liv fights it, worried about her Vampire bonds. She should be
worried about her bond to him. It angers him that she keeps dismissing him and
his mood travels with him into the meeting hall. He pushes the doors open with
a force that nearly has them bouncing off their hinges. The hall silences as
everyone turns to him and he can see a few fearful faces. They should be
afraid, he thinks, he is in a seriously bad mood now. He makes his way to the
front of the hall and steps up onto the platform. He glowers at his chair, he
supposes you could call it a throne, and then at the empty one next to it. He
sits heavily and barks, “What is the reason for this meeting?”

Jethro, the head of the House of Aldric, stands after a few
moments and clears his throat. “My Lord, the House of Aldric wishes recompense
from the House of Dracul due to the time and effort that has been put into the
engagement, that has since been broken, between our own Cefalonia Cerveaux and,
uh,” he pauses fretfully, “yourself.”

“Denied,” Xane says without hesitation. If they think he is
paying for the honor of not marrying her, they are sadly mistaken.

Jethro bobs his head and says, “We understand, My Lord, but
you now leave us no choice but to declare war on your House for our own’s
honor.”

Ah for fuck’s sake, he thinks now with irritation. Demons
declare war every other day down here, it’s nothing new and he is not overly
concerned, but a seconded motion would cause unnecessary actions. Xane stands
up and jumps off the platform, landing on both his feet with a loud thump, his
cloak billowing up behind him. Jethro flinches as he crosses over to face him.
“You declare war against my House, you will face me. Are you sure that is your
desired course of action?” He is not boastful, well, not much anyway, but he
has never lost a fight, not even against his own father, and he isn’t about to
start now.

Jethro gulps and rethinks his declaration. He looks back to
CeeCee, who is standing a few rows back. She makes a gesture at him and Xane
can see now that this is all coming from her. Jethro would just as soon leave
it be. He pins her eyes with his and she stares back at him boldly.

“Cefalonia,” Xane says to her. “An audience, if you please.”
It’s not a request.

She saunters forward, sure that she is going to be
vindicated, but she is wrong. Dead wrong. He was making headway with Liv before
she turned up and ruined it. Liv admitted what she felt and told him she loved
him, but then he felt her pull away from him again after she found out about
the engagement, and he is not above taking his frustrations out on the culprit.
Xane smiles icily at her and she swallows, now a bit worried. “I do not
tolerate acts of aggression between Houses and families,” he says to her. “You
are the instigator in this rift and as such I sentence you to thirty days
imprisonment.”

There is a shocked hush in the hall after that and CeeCee’s
mouth drops open.

“Xane,” she says, “You cannot do that to me.”

Her informal use of his first name fuels his anger at her
and it turns into rage. His rage is not to be messed with. He Shifts to his
true Demonic form and she steps back hastily and lowers her eyes, aware of what
she has done. His voice in this form booms around the hall in a deep, guttural
rumble which shakes the walls. “You will address me as ‘My Lord’, subject.
Another thirty days for your insubordination.”

With great effort he Shifts back and shakes out his
shoulders. He wanted to stay in that form and cause some destruction; it is a vicious
side to him, but now is not the time or the place for a tantrum.

“Sixty days, My Lord,” she whispers with tears in her eyes,
but he feels no remorse. He motions for the guard to escort her away.

“Will anyone second the motion for war?” he asks quietly.
There is no need to raise his voice as everyone is deathly quiet.

When no one says anything, he asks, “Any other business?”

Still no one says anything so he says, “Dismissed,” and
turns back to the platform. He jumps back onto it and watches his subjects
leave hastily. He sits heavily back in his throne and watches his mother watch
the last person leave. As soon as the door closes, she turns to him and comes
to stand in front of him. She picks up her gown and drops to her knees in a
deep curtsey. “Permission to speak freely, My Lord,” she says formally.

“Get up, Mother,” he huffs at her and she rises.

“We will adhere to tradition, my son,” she reprimands him
and he rolls his eyes at her.

“What will you say?” he asks her.

She stands staring at him for a moment and then flicks her
eyes to the empty chair next to him. “How are things with Xerxei?” she asks.

“Not good,” he says and slumps further back into his chair.

“How so?” she inquires.