“I will leave you to talk,” he says and thankfully walks back into the dining room. Christ, that room should have a revolving door at this rate.

“What the Hell were you thinking?” Lincoln asks me and I shrug.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t. It’s all a blur. I remember him feeding from me, which I gave him permission for, before you blow a gasket, and then all I know is us…you know… doing it.”

He rolls his eyes at my juvenile terminology. “Look, Liv. I don’t ask you for anything. I don’t ask you to be something you aren’t, but when you take stupid risks like that, it affects all of us.”

“I know. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again; I can assure you. I feel terrible Linc. Cole will hate me if he ever finds out and with good reason. I have no bond to Sebastian and that was the only thing he asked of me. I hate myself. I just wish I knew why.”

He pulls me into his big, strong arms and says to me, “He’s connected to you in that weird way you Vampires have. I get why you are attracted to him, but I don’t get why you would risk so much just to be with him.”

“I don’t know either. It sounds stupid, Linc, but I really don’t know.” I am hesitant to mention this mysterious gift, as clearly it isn’t for public knowledge. I will take the hit for this until I know for certain if I was somehow manipulated.

“I won’t ever mention it again. Just give me your word that you won’t do it again. You have too much to lose and that also affects me.”

“I promise.”

“Okay, then.”

I know he wants to kiss me but as we are now out in public, he just brushes my lips with his thumb, and I smile.

“Try and make some time for us soon. I am craving you,” he whispers, and I just melt. For all the declarations of love I get from everybody else, never once has he told me that he loves me. I don’t want him to, but I do love how he lets me know how much he wants me.

“Count on it,” I say, and he grins. We make our way back into the dining room and sit again. There is tension hovering and I look from one to the other trying to find its source.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHT

M y eyes land on Devon and he is glowering at a grim-looking CK.

“What’s the problem?” I ask.

Neither answer me.

“One of you speak.”

“Your boy was just berating me on my recent treatment of you. Like I didn’t get enough of it from you. I preferred it when he wasn’t here,” CK says mutinously and I laugh at him.

“Oh, my dear. You must have known it was coming,” I say with a wicked wink to Devon. He grins at me.

“Indeed. Always your protector. Even from me,” CK sighs.

“If you’re talking about Versailles, I stand by my convictions,” Devon snaps at him, stabbing his finger on the table. “You were harassing her.”

“Harassing? That’s a bit much, isn’t it? I had just found her again after looking for so long, only to find her gussied up as a blue-eyed brunette, French courtesan, with you.” He says the last word with a thump on the table that makes all of our drinks jump slightly.

“Hey,” I interject now. “We will not have this argument again. Christ. You two are as bad as each other. And while we are on the subject,” I turn to face my irate sire, “you still owe Devon an apology for what you said in Sibiu. It all got neatly brushed under the carpet with ensuing events but what you said to him was incredibly rude.”

CK glares at me, shifting his ire from Devon to me. Lincoln, Scott, and Sebastian are all looking lost as they weren’t there, and Devon looks gleeful at my defense of him.

CK looks back at Devon and says casually, “I apologize for calling you a colossal fuck-up.”

Devon snorts at him. “Gee, the sincerity of that has left me reeling.”

“Constantine,” I chide him. “Do better.”

He sighs at me. “Devon. I apologize for being rude to you. Everything you said in that impassioned speech of yours came as somewhat of a surprise to me and I shouldn’t have dismissed you.”

Devon couldn’t look more dumbfounded if he tried. There again, I’m sure that we are all wearing the same ‘who are you and what have you done with Constantine?’ matching expressions.

Tags: Eve Newton Fantasy
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