I want you to choose me;
I need you to choose me;
Choose me.
He has lured her here tonight. He took Delinda so that she would come to him here where he can speak with her without interruptions and without the influence, most specifically, of Constantine.
He makes his way down the ornate staircase and he sees her waiting impatiently in the Entrance Hall, tapping her foot, in between two of the more terrifying Light Guards.
“Finally,” she snaps at him when she sees him approach. “Am I now some sort of threat that you keep me under guard?”
Sebastian dismisses the two guards with a nod of his head, and they disappear. “Sorry, little one. The palace is under strict security because Delinda is here,” he says.
“I am her mother,” she hisses at him.
“Not from you,” he says. “Just in general.”
“You have some nerve. How dare you take my daughter away without even telling me,” she growls at him.
“Our daughter,” he presses gently. “And I couldn’t find you. I told Constantine. Did he not mention it?”
“Don’t try and blame this on him,” she says. “Yes, he told me, but you shouldn’t have just taken her.”
“I don’t need your permission,” he says lightly, enjoying seeing the fire in her eyes. But he knows he must be careful as her mind is still newly swayed with her forgiveness of him. He doesn’t want to unravel that ball of yarn by making her furious with him.
“Yes, you do,” she says coldly. “I will not allow her to be taken away from me without word. Got it?”
“Got it,” he says, appeasing her and she relaxes.
“I want to see her,” she demands.
“Of course,” he says and takes her hand to lead her upstairs.
“You may keep her for tonight, Kalen, but I need her home first thing. We have somewhere we need to be,” she says.
Kalen?
“I will have her back to you safely first thing,” he says.
“Thank you,” she says.
“Aeval,” he says as they pause outside the bedroom door.
“What?” she asks, still a little bit frosty with him. He can fix that.
He cups her face gently and stares into her eyes. He pulls on his power, but this time she won’t feel it. His magick is so much more powerful now than it was, so much more refined and elegant. It was downright clumsy by comparison the last time he did this to her.
“Aeval, I love you so much, and I love our daughter. I wish that you would choose me so that we could live here together as a family.”
“I love you too, Kalen,” she whispers.
He drops the spell and kisses her to distract her, but his mind is racing. She consistently calls him Kalen now. His mother has screwed up. When she spoke to her earlier, she used his real name and now it is embedded into Aeval’s subconscious along with the suggestion that she forgive him.
Damn it!
This is going to be difficult to explain if anyone else notices…and by the old gods, Constantine will.
“Do you really love her?” she asks in a whisper.