“Aefre, please…”
“NO!” she roars, startling both him a pair of birds out of a nearby tree. “You will burn, witch!”
Frederick shivers as the temperature drops to an icy chill that has nothing to do with the pre-dawn air. He hasn’t felt cold nor heat in millennia, so he knows this is coming from Aefre’s magick. Her Fae magick. She is edging closer to the pit, her fists clenched at her sides. He moves in closer to her, ready to reach out and grab her, to save her from whatever she is about to do next.
“Step. Back,” she says softly to him, but the darkness in her voice adds to the chill.
He holds his hands up and does as she wishes. No way is he messing with her now. She has taken back her power. All of it, judging by the wind that is now whipping up around them. He shields his eyes as it burns his retina’s, watching in awe as the lightning flickers around her tight fists.
He blocks out Clementine’s screams as Aefre fires the lightning at her, electrocuting her, but apparently not killing her. No, she is waiting for the pit to do its job, she just wants to have a bit of fun beforehand. The maniacal laughter bubbling up out of her as she increases the voltage on her magick, makes him smile, her husband would be proud of her. He turns his head to stare at the castle, knowing-feeling-Constantine’s eyes are on them. But then he remembers that this isn’t the woman he knows. This is the Fae darkness pulling her under when she is most vulnerable. He suspected that would happen as she is a fighter and would never intentionally let that side of her take over. He casts an anxious glance at the rising sun. Seconds, before it reaches the pit.
He assesses the situation and decides to give it to her. She needs it. He stands back and watches as she drops her hands as the sun creeps into the pit and the screams of Clementine get louder and more desperate. Aefre holds out her hand to him and he doesn’t hesitate to flash forward and take it in his. Together they watch as the Vampire burns, her screams echoing in their ears long after she has turned to ash on the ground.
She turns her head to him and blinks slowly.
“Well, that’s that,” he says lamely, but she giggles and nods her head.
“Sure is,” she agrees.
“How do you feel?” he ventures cautiously.
She shrugs and doesn’t answer him for a long time. When she does, her words stop his heart.
Ponte, Italy, March 2015 - Aefre
“Screw this,” I tell him seriously, turning to face him and taking his other hand. “I love you, Frederick. I always have. Life is too short to arse about and I am sick of it. Be with me.”
I wait to hear his reaction. I have no idea if he is going to declare his love for me as well or tell me to fuck off. His face tells me nothing.
I wait. An interminable amount of time it seems.
And then he sighs.
“I have no idea how to respond to that, mi’ lady,” he says formally. “You have all of these men falling at your feet, desperate to be with you. Why me?”
“Why you?” I splutter at him, not believing that he doesn’t know. “You know ‘why you’, you utter fool.”
“I…”
“And as for all of these other men…” I sigh now. How do I explain this to him if he doesn’t already know without sounding awful to the other men in my life? “I have loved you for centuries, Frederick. You challenge me without making me feel insubordinate, you tell me the truth, even though it’s going to hurt, but you are somehow able to make me listen to it. Your heart is so lonely, so broken, and yet you see me for me, and you love me anyway. I know you do, so don’t even bother denying it.”
“I won’t,” he chokes out. “But…”
“No buts. If it wasn’t for Constantine, I would never have left you. I wanted to be with you always. It sounds hollow coming from an old Vampire, but it’s the truth. I knew in my heart, my mind, my body, that I never wanted what we had to end. I never stopped loving you even when he tried to make me. I know that now. I just gave up on us and that was a mistake. If I could go back…”
“You say that to them all,” he says bitterly, his features taking on a dark, menacing look.
“Yes, I love Devon. I love him deeply, but with Elizabeth gone, I am not sure he will ever look at me properly again. It’s unchartered territory. He took his ring back…” I shake my head sadly, knowing this revelation has been brewing in my mind for weeks now. But ever since Frederick came back on the scene, he is all I can think about, even though I have tried not to. “And Cole left me. But who knows if that would have lasted once you came back? Sebastian died, Xane hates me and Vito just isn’t the man for me. You are.”
“You seem to forget one very important man,” Frederick points out dryly.
“Constantine,” I say. “I know. He is my husband and the father of my child. I love him, you know that. But what we have is different. He is happy now he has everything he ever wanted, and it isn’t me.”
Frederick’s eyebrows skyrocket. “You are all he has ever wanted,” he insists.
“Not now that he has his daughter. And soon he will be a father again,” I venture, biting my lip and trying not to avoid the black, penetrating look that he sends my way.
“You’re pregnant?” he croaks.