“Been better,” Lincoln says, but on further inspection he appears to be doing all right. Or at least not the sunken-cheeked, yellow-skinned, black-eyed version that Devon encountered a few months ago, before he and Lizzie Paired again. “You look like you have a lot on your mind.”
“This is ridiculous,” Devon snaps. “We are just sitting around here pretending like she is going to come home. Well, that’s not going to happen. Sebastian has well and truly got her under his spell.”
“I know,” Lincoln says sadly. “But what are we supposed to do about it?”
Devon slaps down his sandwich plate on the coffee table. “I’ll tell you what we do. Something we should have done the second we got back here. We call her goddamned new sire here to help us get her back. That’s what we fucking well will do!”
“Christ,” Lincoln says with a sigh. “I am so glad you said that because it is what I was thinking as well.”
“Well, good, then,” Devon says, having expected a big fight over it. “Let’s do this.”
“Wait,” Lincoln says, standing up. “He is going to want something in return.”
“And we are going to give it to him,” Devon says cryptically and shouts out, “Remiel!” before Lincoln can question him further. He will most definitely have something to say about what Devon plans to “give” Remiel.
“Remiel!” Devon bellows again before Lincoln can speak up.
“What is all the bellowing about?” Remiel asks, appearing in the library in a bit of a temper. He casts his glance at Devon and sneers, “Oh, you. What do you want?”
“Hello to you, too,” Devon answers but then bites his tongue. As much as he wants to tell this monster to go to Hell, they need him to help get Lizzie back. “We need your help,” he says.
Remiel looks between him and Lincoln and raises his eyebrow at them. “And what could I possibly help you with?” he asks curiously.
“Aefre is stuck in the Light Fae Kingdom under a spell,” Lincoln says before Devon can get a word in. “We need your sire bond to help bring her out of it.”
“Stuck?” Remiel asks. “How?”
“Sebastian has spelled her into choosing him,” Devon says. “She thinks she is supposed to be with him.”
“Wh-what?
” Remiel splutters in a rare show of emotion. “How did I not know about this sooner?” he yells at the two of them and they just shrug.
“You weren’t exactly first on the list of people who come to mind,” Devon remarks dryly. “But whatever. Can you help us or not?”
“Help you?” Remiel asks. “Don’t you mean help my charge?”
“No,” Devon says boldly. “You see, you could try and bring her back here, but she will just end up back with Constantine unless you do as I say.”
Lincoln gives him a wide-eyed look, while Remiel narrows his eyes at him. “Excuse me?” he says menacingly.
“For starters, I want Cole back,” Devon says, crossing his arms in a show of confidence he really doesn’t feel. “Secondly, you will use your sire bond to get Lizzie to shake off Sebastian’s spell.”
“Two things?” Remiel asks in disbelief. “Why would I do anything for you? You have absolutely nothing to offer me in return.”
Devon takes a deep breath. He knows that Remiel has accepted his explanation about Lizzie and Constantine. It is a given that she will never choose Remiel and as much as he wants to believe it, he must know it will never happen.
“She trusts me,” Devon states. “If you do these two things–non-negotiable–I will give her to you on a platter.” Over my dead body.
He hears Lincoln’s sharp intake of breath, but he ignores it for now. He will explain himself later. Right now, he has the upper hand and he knows it because Remiel is looking at him now as if he has been promoted from the shit on the bottom of his shoe to something slightly more appealing.
“No one has that much sway over her,” Remiel says carefully, testing the waters.
“I do,” Devon says determinedly. “If I talk you up, tell her how helpful and amenable you have been, how utterly charming and such a support in this trying time, she will look at you differently.”
“It’s true,” Lincoln says, fortunately getting on board with this plan as he sees it starting to work.
“I can get her on my own,” he scoffs. “I do not need the assistance of two low-level creatures.”