There is a stunned silence as she takes that in. “W-what?” she asks. “She’s dead? How?”
“The sword that Dracul took from us the night we went to get it,” Constantine says.
“Oh,” Aefre says, sitting heavily on the sofa that Cole vacated earlier. “Oh, wow. For real?” she asks.
“For very real,” Devon says. “Skewered Her like a Dragon kebab.”
“Jesus,” Aefre says, dropping her head into her hands. “Does this mean I am Empress now?”
“Err,” Devon says and there is a long pause.
“Err?” Aefre asks. “What does ‘err’ mean?”
“It means, Aefre, that Dracul is now the Emperor of the Dragon Realms,” Constantine says.
“I don’t understand,” Aefre says. “Tiamat said the Dragons are ruled by the females?”
He shrugs, as that thought had also crossed his mind when Liv brought it up. “Apparently, whoever kills the reigning Empress, or Emperor, with that sword, becomes the new sovereign,” he explains. “Of Dragon lineage, of course,” he adds.
“Fuck,” she says. “So that’s it? I’m free from the Dragons?”
“Looks like,” Xane says.
“Am I still Queen?” she asks with a frown.
“I would imagine so,” Constantine says. “You are still Her daughter.”
“Wow,” Aefre says. “This is…”
Constantine watches her struggle for words and then grimaces as Remiel pops back into the room right by Aefre’s side. His heart sinks as he realizes that he Astralled to her. Not the library, but to her. His charge.
It was unavoidable, his head knows that, but in his heart, he wishes that she had pushed him away.
“Did you know about this?” Aefre asks him sharply.
“About what?” Remiel answers smoothly.
“That Dracul is Emperor because he killed Tiamat,” she snaps at him.
“No, not until we all found out,” he replies, and she narrows her eyes at him. She isn’t sure whether she believes him or not and that gives Constantine hope that she hasn’t fallen under the sire bond completely yet. If she had, she would have accepted that with no misgivings.
“Right, so just the Faeries to deal with,” Aefre says, standing up and brushing down her dress, her hand going lovingly over her stomach for a fleeting moment. He is aching to do the same, but she is different, closed off. Almost cold. He understands it completely after what has happened to her and his new, evolved self is trying desperately to respect her wishes. He needs her, he can’t bear to be so close to her and yet so far away.
“And the Vampires,” he broaches cautiously.
“Why? What have they done?” she asks, the look in her eyes bordering on fear. Not fear of what they might have done, but fear of yet another thing she has to deal with.
“Nothing,” Devon says flatly. “That’s kind of the problem.”
“Why?” Aefre asks, confused.
“They have been too quiet since they found out you are Dark Fae,” Constantine says. “It is concerning.”
Aefre raises her eyebrow and gives Xane a look that excludes everyone else.
“CeeCee is still imprisoned,” Xane tells her.
“I thought we were going to look for another option,” she says, crossing her arms.