“When?” I ask, completely drained.
“Soon,” he says. “And, Aefre, we still have unfinished business to attend to.”
“What?” I ask, racking my brain.
“Once you have expelled that child from your womb, we will fulfill our destiny,” he says.
“No,” I say at once.
“No?” he repeats.
“I will not give Her the true heir,” I say, leaving out the part that over my dead body will I ever have sex with him again.
“There are forces in play here, Aefre, that you don’t know about and can’t understand. Trust me, all will be well,” he says and ruffles Delinda’s hair.
I don’t trust him. Whatever Dracul is planning, I am guessing Remiel knows about it or has knowledge of it somehow. But I nod anyway just to keep him sweet.
“Don’t worry, my love,” he says. “As long as I am alive, no one will ever hurt you again.”
Except you. I smile at him, wishing that I could chop his head off and be done with him.
“I will deal with Laurentis,” he says, taking my silence as doubt. “He will not come near you again.”
“Thank you,” I murmur as I am expected to do.
“There is no need to thank me,” he says, curling my hair behind my ear as Delinda looks between the two of us in confusion.
I pull away as the poor child has enough to deal with without wondering what is going on between him and me. And what is that exactly? The question bounces all around my skull like a little, rubber ball.
“We should go,” I say. “Delinda has been out of the safety of the Fae Kingdoms for too long.”
He nods genially and kisses her on the top of her head. “I will see you soon,” he says to her and she gives him a big hug.
“I will fix the mistake with Xander,” he says suddenly, handing me Delinda back. “I want you all to myself when the time is right.”
“And when is that?” I ask him with a clenched jaw.
“When we can take our rightful places as King and Queen, of course,” he says.
&nb
sp; Faaaaantastic. I wish I hadn’t asked. At least he is going to get Laurentis out of my hair. I don’t need him coming to me again in my dreams and doing stuff to me. Apart from it being very disturbing, it is just plain gross.
It occurs to me in this moment that I can manipulate Remiel into doing things for me, just as he can do with me. We are bonded now and whether he knows it or not, that means I have power over him as well. All it will take is a smile and a “please” and he will probably hand me the moon. That could come in very useful in the future.
“Bye,” I say and tilt my head up for a kiss.
He looks down at me a little bit startled, but then he gives me a quick peck on the cheek. I hide my smile as my tactic works. I have flustered him and made him think I am coming around to him. He may be the most powerful creature to have ever existed (Tiamat excluded, of course) and he knows exactly how to use that power to get what he wants, but he is quite innocent in the ways of womanly charms, especially when that woman is his charge and me. I wondered once before if I am the only woman he has ever been with, and I think that it might be true. He just has no idea what to do with me when I go sexual on him.
Very useful indeed.
Chapter 22
When I land back in the D.F.K., I am greeted by Maurelle, who bustles over to me looking the picture of health. She takes Delinda from me and says, “Drake wants her to attend a lesson this morning.”
“Okay,” I say. “In what?”
“Fae History,” she says and leads Delinda away before I can say anything else.