“Huh?” I say dumbly.
“I get it,” CK says.
Of course he does.
“So that rules out one of us,” he adds with a questioning look.
Xanthe bobs her head. “Yes, either you or my son were not the father of this child. Unfortunately, I cannot narrow it down further than that. The magick is too strong even for me.”
“I see,” CK says.
I remain silent, as this is not the news I wanted to hear.
“I’m sorry, Xerxei,” Xanthe says.
I nod at her and turn away, blinking back the tears. I so wanted the child to be CK’s. We did the ritual, and everything was right with it, but I just can’t shake the feeling that Vito was the father. It has everything to do with the force of the Dark Fae magick she used, but also because of something my father said when he found out about mine and Vito’s past. He asked if I had found love with another Dark Fae and then he went all weird. Almost hopeful, but then melancholy, like it was his wish, but then he got flustered because he knows I have to bear a child with Sebastian and not another Dark Fae. I don’t want to believe that Drake did this to me. He loves me. It has to be someone else.
I hear CK murmur a farewell to Xanthe and then he wraps his arms around me. “We will find out,” he says, and I turn in his arms with a sob and he kisses me. I struggle to get closer to him, as I need his comfort and love right now.
Oh, seems he is right again.
The Underworld, July 2014 – Devon
Devon paces around his bedroom, bored. He hasn’t lived a life so dull since he was a human. He has always worked, whether it be at the service of a King, or running cons with Lizzie in the 1800s, to their multi-billion-dollar corporation in recent years. He was never one to sit around and enjoy a life of luxury.
He makes a decision. Lizzie said he should go and say hi to Cole, so he is going to go. He hasn’t got the exact science of Astraporting to a specific place down yet, but he closes his eyes and thinks of the bond he used to share with Cole and off he goes. He opens his eyes to find himself in a hotel bedroom, somewhere on Earth, with Cole banging the living daylights out of a busty redhead that is a screamer in more ways than one.
“Who the fuck are you?” she screams at him as he just stands there and watches for a moment.
Cole turns around with a glassy-eyed look and smiles at him. “Hey!” he says.
“Hey,” Devon says with a soft smile. It is so good to see him. Even if he is screwing a trashy whore and is slightly pissed.
“That is my brother,” Cole says back to the woman, and her attitude changes instantly.
“Two for the price of one,” she says and beckons him over to the bed.
“Pass,” Devon says to her annoyance. “You aren’t my type.”
Cole snorts with mirth and slaps her ass. “Mine either. Get out,” he says.
“We’re not finished,” she pouts at him.
“Yeah, we are,” he says dismissively.
Devon raises his eyebrow at this exchange. Cole is seriously messed up.
“Can I at least take a shower?” she asks as she climbs out of bed and flashes her enormous tits at Devon. He takes her in–he is a man, after all–and she has a killer body, but she is cheap, and he wonders what the Hell Cole is doing with her.
“Yeah, just hurry up,” Cole says, and he too climbs out of bed and takes his time about getting his sweats on. Devon wonders if Cole knows what he is doing to him?
He stumbles and catches himself on the dresser and then picks up the half-empty bottle of bourbon and takes a giant swig of it.
“Think you’ve had enough,” Devon says.
“It’s never enough,” Cole slurs. “It’s so weird getting drunk now. So, you Astraport?” he asks.
“Yes, don’t you?” Devon inquires.