“No, and do not go to her,” Constantine orders him as they walk down the stairs. “She will get over this, we just have to leave her to her dramatics.”
Devon gapes at him, but he knows he is right. Aefre will not be able to stay away for very long. Certainly not from her daughter.
“You can’t stop me,” Devon growls at him, but Constantine can and will. He reaches out and sinks his poisonous claws into Devon’s arm.
Devon hisses in pain and anger that he has been cut off from Astraporting. “Do not go to her. She needs time away from all of this. It will do her good.” He waves his hand around to indicate this disaster of a castle. Too much drama, too many people, too much of everything for Constantine’s liking. He plunges his claws deeper into Devon’s flesh to make his point. “She has had a traumatic few days. Just leave her be.”
Devon growls again. “I will leave her for tonight. But she promised me tomorrow we would be married, and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it!”
“Good choice,” Constantine says with a smirk as he removes his claws, giving the boy a vicious glare. “Watch me,” he adds just to piss Devon off. He doesn’t think that marriage will happen. Aefre cannot Shift. Devon has lost his true sire and it will be the end for them. Constantine has no doubt in his mind.
“Asshole,” Devon mutters under his breath.
Constantine rolls his eyes. He has been called worse for a lot less. Probably by his errant wife. He watches as Devon slinks off, happy that he will leave her alone for tonight.
But, now that he is on his own, he feels lonely. He is used to having Aefre here and he is worried about her. She was upset, but he couldn’t let her know that he is upset because of it. He has to brush this off so that she realizes that it isn’t that big of a deal. That it doesn’t matter to him. If he panders to her now, he will have to go about trying
to fix her and he has no idea where to start with that immense task. It is better for everyone if she just lets it go. He sighs again. Now that he is no longer so angry about her threat to take Arathia away from him, he misses her. He knows she only said it to take a stab at him. It’s her way. He taught it to her, obviously. Devon is right, the pompous little shit. It’s always tit for tat with them. When will they ever learn? He wants her to come home now. Maybe he should go to her and apologize, ask her to come home.
Without thinking it through properly, he Teleports to her.
He blinks as he sees what is in front of him and he Teleports straight back home, livid. Clearly, she has gotten over this already and moved on with the one person she knows will hurt him above all others. He told her she could go there, as the lesser of two evils, but he was sure he had beaten that nonsense out of her centuries ago. Apparently not.
Now that he is angry with her again, he decides he will not chase her. It will be up to her to beg him to come back now.
Chapter 9
Cassis, France, January 2015 - Aefre
I push Frederick away. I could have sworn I just felt the presence of my husband, but upon looking around, I find we are still alone. I am panting with desire. For someone who has claimed to kiss only a couple of women in his entire life, he sure is fucking good at it. I was getting very into it and so was he, as is confirmed by the bulge in his leather pants.
“No,” I say when he comes at me again. “I can’t do this.” For some reason, I know Constantine was here. He saw us and he left without saying a word.
“Yes, you can,” he breathes. “Aefre, we need to do this. We need to be together again.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head, knowing that I want it as badly as he does, but I just…can’t. Not now that I know Constantine was here. He would only have come to ask me to go back home with him. Properly this time. But he saw me kissing Frederick and left again. “You need to go. I need this time to figure out what I am going to do next.”
He sighs and runs his hand through his silky, dark hair. “You should leave them all where they are and be with me. Simple.”
“Frederick,” I say, but I can see the twinkle in his eye. He is not mad at me.
“I get it,” he says with a decisive nod. “You have learned tonight, something that has rattled you. Once you have accepted that Constantine is not the man that you think he is, you will come back to me.”
I give him a look, but he smiles at me.
“Only for you would I be so restrained, mi’ lady.”
“Hm, any other wench would be screaming her refusal underneath you by now?” I tut at him.
“See, you do know me,” he whispers, tucking my hair around his finger and tugging gently.
“Lucky for me, you aren’t a beast in my presence,” I murmur.
“Oh, I can be if you want,” he teases.
I shake my head and lower my eyes. I know I am teasing him back, but the last thing I want right now is to confuse myself further with getting re-involved with this man that I loved so deeply it hurt. I need a clear head to figure out my next move. One that hopefully includes spending enough time with my daughter but showing my husband that he is wrong about me.
I watch as Frederick Teleports out and I get a pang for Delinda. I miss her so much, but I know she is safe and happy, and I can’t bring her back into this uncertainty. If I could keep Thia safe from it all, I would.