“I do know that,” I say reassuringly, and he looks relieved.
“That was you that Cade was talking to, wasn’t it?” he asks, catching me off guard with a tactic that he is renowned for. He gives you no warning of the topic and he just slips it into the conversation, so you have no defenses up.
“Yes,” I admit, not wanting to lie any more than I have to.
“I see. And what were you talking about?”
Oh, screw this. I am sick of secrets, in for a penny and all that. “He wants to meet me, in private. He has something he wants to discuss with me.”
“And you were going to go?”
“Yes. He says he has no interest in killing me. Not anymore.”
“You believe him? It’s what he does, Aefre. It’s not just a job to him, it’s his birthright.”
“I know all that, but I do believe him.”
“He has already tried to hurt you.”
“He admitted that he was mostly sure that I would be okay.”
“Mostly sure?” he yells at me suddenly, making me jump as we have thus far been discussing this in normal tones.
“Well, I admit those odds don’t sound very reassuring,” I say calmly, “but I am sure that he can’t kill me. He is a Vampire Hunter and I am not altogether a Vampire anymore. More so after today,” I add and then regret those words as his eyes pin mine in fury.
“You aren’t going,” he says shortly.
“Yes, I am.”
“No, you aren’t. End of story. This isn’t a discussion, Aefre,” he says all sire-like, but tough shit, as he can’t pull that crap on me anymore.
“No, it isn’t. You get no say in whether I go or not.”
He hisses at me and moves closer. “Do not defy me.”
This time last year, I would be quaking in my Louboutins had he spoken to me like that but now I just glare at him. “I am going to hear what he has to say and that, my dear, is the end of the story.”
For a long time, he just glares at me and then as ever with the abrupt mood shift, he shrugs and says, “Fine. Do not come crying to me when he kills you.”
“I won’t,” I say haughtily.
“I preferred it when you did what you were told. You are not acting in the way I asked you to.”
I smile slowly at him. “I apologize, sir,” I say with a slight curtsy. I don’t want to fight with him, so I do as he asks and turn on ‘Aefre’. “Please punish me as you see fit for my disobedience,” I continue, baiting him with those words, but it’s what he wants to hear, so I say them, hoping he won’t be an arse and use it against me.
He returns my slow smile with a wicked one of his own, his eyes on fire at my words, “There, that’s better,” he says quietly. “An acceptable way to talk to your sire.”
I lower my eyes demurely and he breathes in deeply. He has me right where he wants me but there again, so do I. He is this close to coming undone and I couldn’t be more thrilled.
He saunters slowly closer to me until he is standing right in front of me. He lifts my chin up, forcing my eyes to his. I quiver at the small amount of contact with him. He slowly lowers his head to kiss me softly before he asks, “How much do you want me?”
“To the ends of the Earth, my love,” I whisper.
He smiles at my words said so long ago. “Even after all this time, you still want me that much?”
“Are you saying you don’t want me that much?” I smile and his eyes light up.
“Oh, Aefre, I want you to the ends of the world and back,” he whispers before he plunges his tongue into my mouth. I pull him to me, desperate to have him closer.