“Well?” Devon asks after Remiel hasn’t said a word for a few minutes. “What is it that you want in order to bring Cole back here?”
“I want to be the one to tell her who cursed her,” Remiel says eventually.
“Not a chance,” Xane says and they all turn to look at him. “That was my child and I will be the one to tell her.”
“Nice of you to finally join us,” Devon mutters and ends up on the receiving end of an Overlord’s most menacing stare. “However, we don’t know who cursed her,” he says, looking back at Remiel.
“I do,” Remiel and Xane reply in unison.
“Excuse me?” Devon asks, crossing his arms, completely sideswiped by this news. “How do you know? Or more importantly, why have you not shared?”
“I think the bigger question is ‘who,’ don’t you agree?” Lincoln asks dryly and crosses his arms as well, fixing Xane with a hard stare.
“It doesn’t take a genius,” Remiel drawls. “Clearly,” he adds, indicating Devon and Lincoln. Devon growls at his insult. Smug fucker.
“Sebastian,” Devon says as the realization washes over him and he shakes his head. “Jesu
s, he has some nerve.”
“Fuck,” Lincoln breathes out as he takes in the information. “Are you certain?”
“Very,” Xane says quietly. “He killed my child and when I get my hands on him, I will kill him.”
“So how do we get our hands on him?” Devon asks but then shakes his head to clear it. “Hang on. Let’s just back up a minute.” This negotiation has just gone into a tailspin and he needs to get it back under control. His heart is aching for Lizzie for so many reasons, but she has a dozen people ready to help her. Cole doesn’t have anyone except him, and Devon won’t let him down.
“Cole,” he says to Remiel.
“The truth about the curse,” Remiel answers.
“That’s between you and Xane,” Devon replies shortly. “It is not something I can offer you.”
Remiel ponders that and comes to the same conclusion: that it is not Devon’s right to give away. “Very well,” he says. “But apart from Aefre, there is really very little else I want.”
Shit. Devon’s heart starts to sink when he sees it plainly on Remiel’s face. There is nothing else he cares about enough that Devon can give him.
“Wait,” he says as inspiration strikes him. “Delinda,” he blurts out before Remiel can Astral out, never to return with Cole.
Remiel narrows his eyes and fixes him with a deadly glare. “What about her?” he asks. “She most definitely is not yours to give.”
“No,” Devon says. “But if you are correct in saying that Sebastian is the one who cursed her, I know that Lizzie, err, Aefre,” he amends quickly again, “will never want to see him again. That means that you can adopt Delinda as your own. The girl knows you and loves you. I can persuade Aefre that she should be with you and her daughter as a family.” He knows he is clutching at straws; it sounds unbelievable even to his own ears.
Xane snorts with disgust. “She will be with me,” he says, and Devon turns to look at him with a meaningful stare in which he hopes to pass along his devious plan. He only needs Remiel to believe it. He has no intentions of seeing any of this through.
Xane’s mouth forms a grim line but he stays quiet and Devon turns back to Remiel, who is throwing out an evil glare at Xane.
“Forget him,” Devon says dismissively. “This is between me and you.”
Remiel looks back at him. “So, let me get this straight. In exchange for me bringing you Cole back, you will give me Aefre to marry and Delinda to adopt. Is that it?”
“Yes,” Devon says quickly.
“I need to know how you plan on convincing her,” Remiel says and Devon curses in his head.
“For starters, Aefre is a sucker for a knight on a white horse. You will be the one to rescue her and tell her about Sebastian’s spells,” Devon says, saying the first thing he knows sounds believable. “She doesn’t like to admit it, but I know how she feels.”
“And Constantine?” Remiel asks very carefully.
Devon hesitates for just a second, but it is a second long enough, as suddenly Constantine pops in out of nowhere, stumbling forward as if shoved through space. He straightens his suit and looks around, taking all of them in with his shrewd eye.