Frederick leaves silently. I ignore CK. I am still angry with him and I want him to know it.
“Don’t be like that,” he chides me gently.
“Be like what?” I ask stubbornly.
“This,” he says, indicating me. “You are taking this far too seriously, Aefre.”
“No, I don’t think I am taking it seriously enough. I should go,” I try to stand up, but he pulls me back down.
“Stop it,” he says. “You know that you are only posturing. You won’t leave Arathia.”
I let him seat me back down. “And you?” I ask, needing to know if he thinks I will leave him.
He shrugs and looks away. “I know you are angry with me over what Vito said,” he
says.
I huff. Trust him to turn it around on someone else.
“You agreed with him,” I remark acidly.
“I can’t help what I think,” he says lightly. “It does not mean that I don’t love you. It definitely does not mean that I love you more because I feel sorry for you. I have always known who you are, Aefre. Always. My feelings for you will never change. I don’t know how else I can prove that to you. I have given you everything. My castle, my hand, my fidelity, my child. What more can I do to make sure you know that I love you?”
I shrug, because I know he has given me everything. It's not the point, though. His words have stepped on my tirade about how he was mostly to blame for me being this way.
“You think I need fixing,” I blurt out. “That hurts me. It hurts me to know that when you look at me, I am not perfect in your eyes.” I chicken out of my bathroom speech. I am a coward. I can't help it.
“That’s what you think?” he splutters. “That you aren’t perfect? Oh, Aefre, you couldn’t be more perfect if you tried. All of your suffering, all of your joy, everything that you have endured these last thousand and three years makes you who you are, and I love that person more each day.”
I blink back my tears. He is saying everything I need him to. Problem is…
“How do I know you aren’t just saying that to get me to come home?” I ask. “You do have a tendency to know exactly what to say and when.”
“If that is what you think, then you don’t know me at all,” he says sadly. “I don’t stroke ego’s, Aefre. Not even yours.”
Well, that’s true…
“I do know you,” I say vehemently. The very idea that I don’t, makes me sick. “I just need reassurance from you that you don’t feel pity for me or will try to change me.”
“Have I tried to do that recently?” he asks me seriously.
“No,” I whisper. “But I am no longer all-powerful.”
“What has that got to do with anything?” he asks, confused.
“Everything! I am back to needing protection, like some sort of ridiculous damsel in distress!”
He snorts with mirth. “Hardly. You are still incredibly powerful, Aefre, albeit with your Fae side, which seems to be quite blood-thirsty.” He chuckles. “I do not fear for your life.”
“No?”
He shakes his head and takes my hand. “And before you ask, yes, I am more than satisfied that you can take care of our daughter.”
I nod, choked up. That is high praise coming from him.
“Come,” he says, standing up and pulling me up with him. “I need to be with you, Aefre, I have missed you.”
I let him Teleport us off to our bedroom, feeling happier about things, but I haven’t forgotten. He has said all of the right things tonight, but it has all lead here. To sex. I would have felt better about it if he had left me alone for tonight.