Secrets (The Forever series, Book 8) (23 page)

“It’s none of your business,” he retorts, remembering Liv’s
very explicit concern about their relationship being just between the two of
them.

“It is my business when things like this occur. If she were
here by your side as she should be, then this would never have happened. No one
would dare defy the Queen,” she says.

“No one should dare defy me!” Xane yells at her and she
inclines her head respectfully.

“I know,” she murmurs. “However, with Xerxei by your side
you, the both of you, will be unchallenged, for eternity.”

“Eternity?” he scoffs. “I don’t have eternal life, Mother.”

“Don’t be so sure about that. The Queen’s blood runs through
your veins,” she answers and he focuses on her completely now.

“What do you mean?” he asks.

She tilts her head again and walks in a large circle, her
gown swishing with every step. “You need to take her as your wife,” she says
eventually.

“You don’t say?” he mocks her, but she ignores him. “And how
do you propose I do that? There happens to be several beings in my way, if you
happen to recall, not the least of which is her husband.”

“Husband,” she says with derision. “A mere Vampire is not
fit to be wed to our Queen.”

“It is Tiamat’s plan. He was Her Chosen one,” Xane says,
hating every word of that sentence.

“Tiamat is not thinking of the bigger picture,” Xanthe says
carefully. To betray their Empress is not a wise move.

“What is the bigger picture?” he asks. “As far as I can
tell, Cole is needed for something as her husband. That is what Tiamat said
before She sent us back in time.” He wonders if Tiamat knew he would remember
everything as Liv does, as to what happened before She shifted time. He can’t
say for sure how or why he remembers, but no one else does.

“Oh please, She was probably only trying to gain favor with
Her daughter by getting her back what she wanted,” his mother says scornfully
and he sighs.

“To what end?” he asks. His mother is up to something and he
would like her to get to the point so he can get out of here.

“The future Empress, of course,” she snaps at him.

“Liv is the future Empress, what has this got to do with gaining
favor?” Xane is so confused his head is hurting.

“Not the Queen, my son, the Queen’s daughter,” she says and
he catches on. “Tiamat is as power hungry as She has always been, but She has
run out of creatures and beings to control and rule. The Queen is but an
ill-conceived crossbreed, but her daughter will be pure and all powerful. That
is what Tiamat wants. She wants the girl to raise Herself in Her image, to be
everything that She wants.”

“That’s a bit harsh on Liv, don’t you think?” he asks with a
frown. “And what has Cole got to do with it?”

“He was the one that set forth the prophecy in motion.
Tiamat believes that he is the one that will get the Queen with child. She
believes that they belong together because he activated her powers. I think She
is wrong,” she says with authority.

“And who do you think is the right choice?” Xane asks.

“You, of course!” she screams at him. “Demons and Dragons!
There is no more powerful couple in any Realm. A child between the two of you
will be more powerful than anyone could ever imagine,” she adds. Her cheeks are
getting flushed and she is starting to lose her temper. “This should have
already happened!” she yells and Shifts to her Demonic form. Yeah, it's easy to
see where he gets his rage from. His mother is a formidable woman, she would
have to be to stand next to his father. They show themselves as all genial and
loving and gentle around Liv, but no, this is the truth of the matter. Xanthe
is a powerfully wicked woman who will stop at nothing to get her own way. She
faces Xane, her wings flapping wildly and knocking over the congregation chairs
in her agitation. Standing about seven feet tall, she is smaller than him in
his true form, but she can be pretty intimidating when she wants to be.

“I did the spell for the Blood Magick ritual,” she roars at
him, as he just sits there, letting her vent. “It was strong and it was
foolproof. There should have been no errors! She should have felt the bond
ripping at her insides if she wasn’t near you. How did it go wrong?” She makes
a noise of pure frustration and then Shifts back to her human form, all
composed like nothing had ever happened.

“It didn’t go wrong, Mother,” he says calmly, after a
moment. “She has admitted her feelings to me, but sadly her Vampire side is too
strong and those that she is tied to pull her away from me.”

“I will go to Tiamat, make Her see that a child between the
two of you will be far stronger than a child born of a Vampire,” she says
determinedly.

“Putting aside the fact that if Xerxei and I do have a
child, we will not be handing it off to Tiamat to raise,” he says wryly, “The
last being to convince Tiamat to do anything was…never. How do you plan on
changing Her mind? And furthermore, even if you do convince Tiamat, She might
not be able to convince Liv it is in her best interests to be with me.”

“If I can get Tiamat to see it is right, then that isn’t
going to be a problem, I can assure you. Now that She has everything so close
to Her grasp, She will not let anything stop Her from getting what She wants,”
Xanthe says.

Xane watches her for a moment, thinking that if Liv ever
found out about this deceit, she would skin him alive. “Do it,” he says
shortly.

Xanthe bobs her head and dips into a curtsey and says, “Yes,
My Lord.” She turns to leave, but he leaps off the platform and grabs her arm
tightly.

“If the Queen ever finds out about this, you will take the
fall for it, do you understand me? I will deny all knowledge and I will be
appropriately disapproving of your interference, regardless of what punishment
she may mete out. Are we clear?” he asks her, and she nods once.

“Of course, My Lord. I will take all the blame should the
Queen find out I went to her mother with this.”

Xane lets her go with a grim nod of his own and she says
quietly, “Do not worry, my son. I want to see you happy, and I will go to any
lengths to ensure that you get what you want. Besides, Xerxei is one of ours,
and she belongs here with us.” She leaves and he thinks over everything she has
just said. Can she convince Tiamat to change Her mind about who Liv is meant to
end up with? Even if she doesn’t, he knows that telling Cole about what Liv got
up to in the Other world will probably make him leave her again, but there is
no way he can tell Cole that as then Liv would never speak to him again. Before
that moment when Tiamat revealed that Cole needed to be by her side as her
husband, he wasn’t unduly worried about him, or her sire for that matter. They
are Vampires. They are not faithful creatures and one day their house of cards
would have crashed down. As it stands, he doesn’t think she will be speaking to
her sire anytime soon after what he did to her, but this whole Fae thing has
thrown a massive wrench in the works. With the Vampires out of the way, that
only left Lincoln, and he can handle the Wolf. He is tolerable and Xane would
accept him in Liv’s life if she were with him. He doesn’t expect her to be true
to one. Her Vampire is far too strong for that. But now there is Sebastian in
the way. He has no idea how far their relationship has already gone, but he
would bet his life it has gone far enough. He is not happy about going behind
her back to Tiamat, but if this is his only way to get her as his wife, then so
be it.

“That was an unduly harsh ruling on your former fiancée,”
Sven, the head of the House of Septimus says, with a respectful inclination of
his head.

“Sven,” Xane says, annoyed that his thoughts and plotting
have been disturbed. “Is there something in particular I can help you with?”

Sven shrugs in that casual way and examines his fingernails
before he says, “Out of respect for our friendship, I am giving you a heads-up
about something.”

“What?” Xane snaps at him as he stops speaking.

“The Queen,” Sven says slyly. “And her allegiance to the
House of Dracul.”

Xane narrows his eyes at him. He has heard the whispers, but
hoped it was just rumor. Everything about Sven’s body language suggests it may
not be. “What about her?”

“Records show that the House of Septimus may also have a
claim on her. This is something we are going to pursue in the coming weeks. I
am offering you this warning so that you can prepare your case.”

Xane growls loudly at his friend and steps forward. “She
claimed me and I accepted. She is Xerxei of the House of Dracul. You will never
win her if you fight for her.”

“Don’t be so sure, My Lord. She is still a free agent, so to
speak. Our House has just as much right to her as yours does.” Sven turns to
leave and Xane thinks morosely
, over my dead body
, and it may just come
to that. There is only one way to prevent a claim from going in for her and she
won’t go for it. He knows even before he asks her that she won’t agree to marry
him right now over this. It won’t mean anything to her. She won’t know that now
she is Queen, the whole future of his House and more importantly, his rule is
riding on Xerxei’s claim to him. If Sven gets his hands on her, he will no
longer be Overlord. Sven will be and that will also happen over his dead body.
He didn’t fight his own father to get here to have it be taken away now. His
mother is aware of this and her eagerness for their union was first and
foremost to keep the House of Dracul in power. He had absolutely no intention
of falling in love with or even liking Liv. He knew all about her and her
multiple lovers, and he wasn’t about to prostrate himself before her like a
fool. All he had wanted from her was her allegiance. The plan was to seduce her
and get her on his side. The spell his mother made was designed to tie them
together, so that
she
couldn’t be without
him
, not the other way
around. It was his own dumb luck that he fell for her as hard as a Demon
possibly could, thus sending the Blood Magick into a bit of a tizz and
activating his own tie to her. It was even worse luck that she is also now
apparently not only Dracul’s sister, but Septimus’s as well. Although how this
has only just come to light now is a complete mystery. There again, everything
to do with that woman is. His whole future rests on his mother’s ability to
sway Tiamat’s mind, because try as he might, he cannot make headway with Liv.
She is as stubborn as she is strong.

“Sir?” Aster says.

“What?” Xane snaps at him, in an even worse mood than
before.

“I, err, I have the information you were after,” Aster says.

That grabs Xane’s attention and he strides forward. “You
know where they are?”

Aster nods. “Corinne has them down here. They are locked
away, impossible to get to.”

Xane is itching to find out how he got this information, but
right now he doesn’t care. He is going to bust out the Vampire’s captive Dark
Fae blood whores and get himself to Liv before anything happens to her in that
place. “Tell me where,” he says hoarsely.

Aster gives up the information, and it is going to be a
problem, yes, but not impossible. He is Ruler of Hell and that comes with its
perks when the very creatures you are trying to get to actually happen to be in
Hell. He turns to Astraport out and bumps into Remiel who is lurking. Liv was
right, this guy does lurk better than anyone else he knows. “Get out of my
way,” Xane says to him.

“Ah, no,” Remiel says, shaking his head. “I simply cannot
allow you to execute this plan.”

“What’s it to you?” Xane asks suspiciously.

“Hm,” Remiel says noncommittally and Xane wants to punch
him. “I will offer you a little insight, due to our shared heritage, of course,
as to why the bigger picture requires you to remain out of the Fae Kingdoms and
for Aefre to remain in it.” Remiel places his hand against Xane’s temple and he
staggers back as the blast of power ricochets through his head.

Chapter 10

Kingdom of the Dark Fae – Liv

“Eurgh,” I groan. My head feels like someone hit me with a
sledgehammer and my mouth is all dry. What the Hell happened to me? I try to
open my eyes, but they seem glued shut. I try to remember what happened and it
hits me. Oh god. I drank from Sebastian’s brother, Thrace. It was the most
surreal feeling, ever. Pure Light Fae blood is not for Vampires, that is for
sure. It’s all a bit confusing, but I think Sebastian said he would explain it
to me. Seb, is he here?

“Seb?” I croak, but there is no answer. I try to open my
eyes again and the room spins as I sit upright. My back is burning and it feels
like there is a vice around my chest. Bloody Hell, the crash and burn from such
an amazing high is not pretty. Never mind Dark Fae blood, remind me never to go
near a Light Fae again with my fangs drawn. A shower is what I need, I decide,
and stumble out of bed to the bathroom. Flicking on the low level lights I
squint and turn on the shower, grateful that they are not so antiquated here as
to not have indoor plumbing. I let the hot water steam the place up a bit and
then I go to look at myself in the mirror, dreading what I will see, but I am
surprised to see I look like Liv. I have Shifted back for some reason. I must
be losing more energy here than I thought. I will leave it now until I have to
see Drake again to Shift back. My eyes are puffy and my hair is a mess and why
does my back hurt so much? I rub the buildup of condensation away from the
mirror before I turn and look back over my shoulder. What the fuck? I rub the
mirror some more to get it clearer, but I wasn’t imagining things. My Dragon
has been bound. Tied up tightly down the middle of my back with five thick
black bands. What the Hell is this? She is completely still and my stomach
feels like it drops fifty feet as I lurch against the basins. What is this? I
sense a strong panic rise up in me and now that I am fully alert, I can feel
the change. I don’t have that immense load of Power running through me that is
my Queen Power. I feel weak and disorientated. I hear the bedroom door open and
close and the only person who would come in unannounced is Sebastian, so I call
out to him, “Seb! Come quickly. Something has happened.”