I sigh. “It’s exactly how it sounds,” I say and grab them both by the hands and Astral us back home to my country manor in England.
“No, you are going to have to do better than that,” Xane says as we land in the library, but he keeps hold of my hand, as does Sebastian, gripping tightly, clearly worried about what this means for him.
“It’s complicated, Xane, but please, you cannot tell anyone. No one, do you understand me? Especially about Sebastian. It is important, if anyone were to find out about him, he would be in terrible danger. I cannot allow that to happen,” I say ferociously, so he knows I am being serious.
He nods slowly. “I swear I won’t tell anyone, but you need to fill me in, Liv. I’ve got the basic gist of it but…” He holds his other hand up at a loss.
“Liv,” Sebastian says quietly.
I turn to him and his face is filled with fear and worry. “He won’t tell. I promise you, Sebastian, that if he does, I will kill him and anyone he has told myself. I will not let any harm come to you. I promise you. You can trust me, and I trust him.”
He nods, still wary, but also a glimmer of pleasure shines through that I will defend him against all odds. But I cannot let him get away with what he has been doing to me. “I know what you’ve been doing to me and Devon. Constantine practically told me. We will discuss it later and I can assure you that I am going to beat the living crap out of you first.”
He blanches and shakes his head and says, “Please, Liv, understand that I had to. I couldn’t refuse him.”
“I said we would discuss it later,” I say firmly.
He gulps and nods woefully as he turns away from me, knowing that whatever it was that we had is likely over now. I haven’t decided for sure. I know he acted on our sire’s request and I know that it is impossible to refuse him sometimes. It is harder for Sebastian as they go further back, a lot further back-all the way back to when they were human, or at least Constantine was human and Vincentius was living with his human family. It will hurt him to think that I am going to end our relationship, and while I dislike that plan of action, it may make him see that his actions have consequences. Constantine was right. I am a manipulator. It turns my stomach, but I push it away as I turn back to Xane and start to explain about Drake and Aelfric and Sebastian. He takes it all in without a word and then whistles as I finish up. “Fuck, that’s some story. I did wonder when you started asking questions about the Faerie if there was more to it than just common interest. You are a crafty devil. So, no one else knows about this?”
“Well, Constantine, obviously. He has known about Sebastian all along, but he only just found out about me. That is what we argued over.”
“Yes, I can imagine it pushed his nose right out of joint hearing about a destined marriage and baby,” Xane chuckles.
“No kidding,” I mutter.
“At least you know that he didn’t throw you out of the windows to hurt you,” Sebastian says, still out to defend our sire’s actions.
“True, but everything else he did was to hurt me. I am going to rescue him and then I don’t ever want to see him again,” I say.
“What? No, Liv, you can’t do that. He was angry, with every right. We blindsided him, especially with the baby thing. You need to give him a chance to make it up to you.”
“I understand his anger, Seb, but I don’t think I can forgive what he said to me, and what he did. He ripped me to shreds. My own hand was holding my guts in so that they didn’t slide onto the floor, and he enjoyed it. That isn’t just anger, that is hate,” I say vehemently and they both pale.
“He did that to you?” Sebastian whispers. “Oh, Liv.” He steps forward to give me comfort, but I step back, holding up my hand.
“I don’t trust you,” I say, and his hurt intensifies.
“How do you plan on getting him back?” Xane asks. “I am in on a rescue mission just because I want him back here so I can kick his ass from here to Hell and back.”
“Get in line,” I say and then turn in a circle. “Tiamat said to use my resources. What resources? If I can’t Astral there and I can’t use a spell to get there, then how do I get there?”
“The only way I know, outside of the King’s power, is via Faerie Ring,” Sebastian says.
“As in a Faerie Ring that is found in the woods?” I ask, pointing to the woods in my back garden.
“Oui,” he says. “But I can no longer find them. For all the Fae power that I still have, technically I am no longer Fae and therefore no longer able to find the Rings. On top of
that, even if we stumbled across one, I couldn’t say for sure you would be able to pass through as you also aren’t technically Fae.”
“Tell that to the burning on my arms,” I grouse as the searing pain of the markings gets worse as they develop.
“It is hurting you?” Xane asks as he lifts my sleeves up and his hand tightens on mine as he sees the markings being etched into my skin. Under my skin, actually, with what feels like a million tiny little daggers. “Fuck,” he breathes. “How much more of it?”
I shrug and say, “Not sure. I’ll live. I’ve just been through worse, trust me. This is nothing compared.” I pat his hand and he stays by my side. “Where is everybody, by the way? We’ve been here a good ten minutes, and nobody has come to see why we’re here.”
“I don’t know. The house was empty when I left it to come to you,” Xane says.
“I wasn’t here,” Sebastian says. “I went home.”