“She hates you,” Vito comments once the servant, Delilah so he learned, left us.
“Hmm, much like everyone here. I want to find Cade and leave,” I say. I look around the room in the west wing. One room. One bed. Humph. I wondered why Delilah gave us a scathing look. Someone took it upon themselves to bunk us up together. A trap, perhaps? Or fate?
Stop it! Stop it, at once!
“A good plan. The animosity here is fierce. You will be protected only as long as Anders sees fit to do so,” Vito says.
“I agree. I don’t see Pyleah taking my presence here lightly for much longer. She will have the lynch mob upon us as soon as she dares.”
“So where do we find him?” Vito asks.
I scrunch up my nose. “Good point. I’m not sure at all. I know we have come to the west wing as this is where I remember Sebastian had his room, and Delinda’s, from that time that I came here before he spelled me. I would imagine that Pyleah has him close by and that she too is housed in this wing. We are going to have to, err, wing it,” I add with a smile.
“You look exhausted,” Vito says after he gives me a smile back. “We are in no immediate danger, so I think you need to rest.”
“No, I’m fine,” I insist. “The sooner we get to Cade, the sooner we can leave.”
“Five minutes,” Vito says, taking my arm and ushering me to the sumptuous bed.
As soon as I sit down on it, I feel my eyes droop. Whatever Anders did to me to lift the haze has suddenly left me unable to think properly. “I’m fine,” I mumble, but I make no move to stand up. Instead, I flop back and that’s all I remember.
The Light Fae Kingdom, January 2015 - Vito
He stands guard over the bed as she sleeps. She is restless, tossing and turning, and he feels that he should wake her up soon, but she clearly needs some rest. He is about to lean forward and stroke her forehead when she opens her eyes and sits up with a startled cry.
“What is it?” he asks her, sitting on the bed and taking her hand. Any excuse to touch her.
“I–I remember,” she stammers.
“Remember?” he asks, creasing up his brow. What is she talking about?
“Stuff,” she says vaguely, avoiding his eyes. She doesn’t want to tell him; she doesn’t want to confide in him like she used to.
“Stuff?” he asks, tilting his head to the side with a forced amused look.
It gets her attention and she smiles. “There’s something I didn’t tell you,” she says in a small voice.
“You can tell me anything,” he replies, curling her hair behind her ear.
Aefre gives him a soft look that melts his heart. “I may have made a bargain with Anders,” she says.
“With regard to what?” he growls. He will kill anyone who tries to take advantage of her again.
“My memories in exchange for Delinda,” she says quietly.
“I beg your pardon?”
“He lifted, or partly lifted, the spell so that I could remember my time here, in exchange for bringing Delinda back here,” she admits meekly.
“You didn’t agree to that?” he thunders at her. Is she insane? Was she spelled into doing that?
“I had to. I don’t intend to follow through,” she whispers. “I need to know, Vito. I need to know what he made me do, what he made me say, to CK.”
Of course. He tries to keep the sneer off his face. It always comes back to that asshole. “Your memories would have returned on their own,” he says stiffly.
“Well, they weren’t,” she snaps. “I did what I had to do.” She drags her hands out of his and once again he feels bereft, abandoned for her love of the man he loathes.
“What did you remember?” Vito asks eventually, needing to get back on her good side.