We land in the Grand Entrance Hall of Ponte Sull’acqua and Cade grips my hand tighter to steady himself. “That is not a normal way to travel,” he says grimly.
“How many times do I have to tell you, we aren’t normal?” I chide him.
“No kidding. Hello, Nico,” he says, turning around.
“Cade,” Nico says.
“Well, we will leave you two to get sorted. Nico, please show Cade around. Cade, make yourself at...home,” CK says with a somewhat pained expression. Back in the day, this place used to be packed to the gills with Vampires from all over the world. Every night was a party and every day was filled with laughter and fun. Nowadays it is completely empty save for Marguerite and sometimes Nico and of course us when we are here. For some reason, his castle has become his island. The place he goes to get away.
Cade takes in his surroundings, mouth agape. “Fuck me. Is this a castle? You said ‘house.’”
“Yes, it is a castle. A very, very old one and everything in it is priceless. Do be careful where you go and don’t touch anything. I don’t trust your clumsy human reflexes,” CK grouses at him and I bite my lip to stop the smile.
“Aefre. If you please.” He holds out his hand, clearly expecting me to do all the work here. I don’t mind though. He spent over four hundred years ferrying me around, it’s the least I can do.
“Oh, Nico. Will you please show Cade the library? He may find it useful, for his…research.”
Nico nods at me and Cade bobs his head in understanding. “Good. We will see you anon,” I say and grab CK’s hand and Astral us off to his bedroom, remembering Cole’s plea earlier. I will try my very best to do as he asks but when I am with my sire, I tend to forget about everything else.
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“Glad to see you tidied the place up a bit,” I say, casting a glance over the, now, spotless bedroom.
“Yes well, I wanted to leave everything as you left it last June.”
“You tend to want to do that, don’t you? Leave things the way I left them.”
He looks a bit embarrassed. “I can’t help it. When you aren’t here, it’s all I have.”
I don’t really know what to say to that, so I stay silent.
“You will live here with me when it’s time, won’t you? You said that you would,” he asks suddenly.
I did? I try to remember when I said that. Oh yes, when we spoke about the terms. “Yes, I remember. Of course, I will, but…”
“Yes, I remember you saying that you wouldn’t come alone,” he says, clearing his throat abruptly. “I want this to be our home again, Aefre. Yours and mine.”
“Well, it was never mine,” I say with a wistful smile.
“I will make it yours,” he says quickly. “I will put your name on the deeds with mine.” He moves closer. “I want everything to be ours. I want to share everything with you.”
I am stunned into complete silence now. I am not even breathing as he takes my hand. That is some show of commitment from my commitment-phobe-of-a-sire. A ring is one thing. It can be taken off and forgotten. Giving me half of his ancient, precious, beloved estate, sharing it with me, making it ours? This is something I thought he would rather die than do.
“Aefre?” he says, worried. “Is it too much? I don’t mean to scare you off, I just want everything to be perfect.”
“Too much?” I gulp. “Yes, it probably is. For you. For me it is everything I ever dreamed about. Oh, Constantine. Why do you always come with the goods at the wrong time.” I take his face in my hands. “Your timing is epically, epically bad, my love.”
He looks chagrined. “I know. I am stupid. A fucking idiot for ever letting you get away from me in the first place.” He takes my hands in his and says, “Never again. I will wait this out now that I have seen the future and we will be together then forever. Always and forever. And this time we are sticking to it.”
“I will hold you to that, you know. Now come here and make love to me. I want you to undress me completely and make it to the bed this time.”
“Such a romantic,” he says to me with his made-just-for-me smile before he claims my mouth with his and proceeds to give me exactly what I asked for.
Chapter 8
Sometime later, I awake from another Lance dream. This one I don’t even want to recount as it makes me want to be sick. His hands on me, mine on him. Ergh. I feel myself go green at the thought. Strangely, CK is sleeping next to me. That is highly unusual for him. I glance at the clock. It is only 4:30 PM. Not unusual for me to take a siesta but it is for him. Jet lag? Or Astral lag? I watch him as he slumbers. It is one of my favorite things to do. I don’t want to wake him, but I have to touch him. I trail my long, red nail down his chest, not startled when he grabs my hand and brings it to his mouth, giving me a kiss.
“You’re sleeping,” I accuse him.