“Are you really?” she says. “I have heard the rumors.”
He growls and she pales, but he sees the determination on her face and the penny drops. He relaxes his shoulders as he knows her endgame now. She is not out to defy him, per se; she is only looking out for herself. “You only want me to accept you to raise your own stature,” he says.
Her face becomes angry. “You owe me that much, you bastard!” she shouts at him. “I have been utterly shunned; no man will touch me after you threw me away. My family is in disgrace.”
“Your family shouldn’t have forced us together,” he replies, knowing his family is also to blame, but he still harbors resentment for her after she told Xerxei about their relationship.
“You know it wasn’t just them,” she says. “You owe me.”
“Very well,” he says patronizingly. “I will order someone to marry you. Take your pick, CeeCee. You can have anyone you want.”
Her horrified look at his outrageous declaration turns ferocious and she advances on him, ready to slap him.
“One more step and you will be going back to prison. Think carefully about your next move,” he says to her.
She stops and her eyes suddenly fill with tears.
Oh boy, he really isn’t in the mood for the crying thing. He crosses his arms impatiently and she sniffs and straightens up. “I only want you,” she says quietly. “I never stopped loving you.”
“I am in love with my Queen,” he says.
“But she is unfaithful. She doesn’t understand marriage between Demons. She is a filthy Vampire whore! I would treat you as my one true love. She doesn’t deserve you!” She has gone back to shrieking and now it is time to end this conversation.
“So, you call my wife a whore and then come here and offer to be a mistress to me?” he yells back. “Don’t you get that the thought of being with anyone else makes me sick? It twists my stomach into a knot because I am bound to her, CeeCee. She is my one and only.” He grabs her arms and he realizes he has blurted out far more than he wanted to, but by her shocked look he knows that his words have sunk in. She gets it. Now he just wishes that everyone else would.
“I see,” she says and pulls her arms out of his grip. “I apologize, my Lord. I hadn’t realized it was true for you.”
“Just leave,” he says, exhaling loudly.
She backs out and he turns away from h
er as his mother walks into the room.
“You did right, my son. The Underworld needs to learn that they cannot continue to mess with your marriage,” she says.
“And by tomorrow morning the whole of the Underworld will know I am a sap to have truly bound to a woman who isn’t bound to me,” he says bitterly.
“Not for much longer,” Xanthe says. “I have news.”
That gets his attention. “What is it?”
“Tiamat has sent word that Her daughter has gone into labor. She will be back any day now,” Xanthe says.
“How do you know this?” Xane asks.
“I just know,” she says.
“How do you know she will be back?” he asks then.
“I just know,” she says again, and he clenches his fists.
“She was given an ultimatum. To live in the Dragon Realms with her child or to come home to her ties,” she says.
“She will come home,” Xane says to himself, more in an effort to convince himself rather than stating a fact.
“I will start preparing for her return. The two of you must be seen together and happy once she is back,” Xanthe says.
“Of course,” he says, knowing it to be true.