He grabs me and stares at me with a look so tortured, I know he didn’t already know about this. Whether Xanthe does remains to be seen, but I am betting she knows.
“How? When?” he asks and then shakes his head. “With whom?” he amends with gritted teeth.
“Remiel,” I say. “The child he told me died lived and she is a girl. My daughter.”
“Oh,” he says flatly and lets go of his hold on me. “Where is she?”
I tell him the story of Dracul and get a wide-eyed look but no comments.
“You are going for her?” he asks carefully.
“Of course,” I say.
“Then I will help you,” he says. “And I will love her and accept her as my own. We can be a family.” He says this last sentence to me with a full-on look and I smile sadly. It is an offer that is hard to turn down, and while it feels like I am being punched on the inside of my head by a Demon, I shake my head.
“That is Aefre talking,” he says mildly. “I can see the war in your eyes with Xerxei. She is in there and she wants what I am offering her. Just let her out.”
If only it were that simple. “I can’t. I’m sorry,” I say and stand up, sorting out my clothes.
“You can,” he says. “I will make you.”
I don’t care for his tone and I am about to blast him from all sides when his look stops me.
“I don’t mean physically, Xerxei. You can beat the snot out of me on a good day,” he says with a little laugh. “I mean emotionally. I will love you more than you can possibly imagine and I will treat you so well. I will show you how good we can be together.” He stands up then and turns his back on me while he gets dressed. After a few moments of me just staring at him he says, “You know if you go for her, it will mean war.”
“Yes, I know. I have already spoken to my father about it,” I say.
He nods briskly. “I will back you up,” he says.
I frown at him. “What?” I ask dumbly. “You can’t.”
“Why not?” he asks.
“You are descended from the Dragons. They are your family. What will happen to you if we lose?” I ask seriously. I had not expected him to join my fight.
“Then we lose,” he says matter-of-factly. “I will not abandon you, Xerxei, when you need me.”
Tears prick my eyes and I put my hand to my mouth to stop me from sobbing out loud. “You would do that? Give up everything you have worked for?”
His face softens and he says, “For you I would do anything.”
Oh shit. It’s everything a girl wants to hear. How am I supposed to walk away from him now?
You don’t, you idiot, a voice sneers at me in my head and I gulp. It’s time to get out of here. I have far more pressing issues to deal with at the moment than my fucked-up love life. First on the list is to go back to CK and demand an explanation from him, number two is go to see Thrace and beg for his help in exchange for…gulp, and three, go and rescue my daughter from my control freak, power-hungry mother and an immensely powerful Vampire while my own Powers are skewed. This is not going to be a good couple of days.
“I must go,” I say quietly. “I have things to address.”
“Okay,” he says casually, like he didn’t just give up his Kingdom for me. “I will see you tomorrow.”
I shake my head. “I have to go to the L.F.K. tomorrow.”
He tilts his head but then nods in understanding. “Thrace. I hope you aren’t going alone,” he growls.
Now probably isn’t the best time to tell him I very much plan on going alone so that I have no witnesses to what will no doubt be my humiliating walk of shame back out of the Light Fae Kingdom. I am prepared for whatever Thrace requests of me, but it doesn’t mean that anyone has to know about it. “Jerrick, the head of my father’s Dark Guard, is going with me,” I say.
He nods grimly. “Be safe,” he says gruffly and drops his mouth to mine to give me a lingering kiss that makes me want so much more.
I quickly Astral out and back to my home to confront CK.