“Time for what?” he asks, sitting on the sofa, still only in his towel. He’s killing me here.

“Time for you to do your sire duty by her.”

He looks askance. “You mean…” He holds his left thumb up.

I nod. “Yes. We all need to be on the same page here with what is coming, and it is just too difficult, especially with her trying to do her job as well.”

“So I have to go and sort her out? Why can’t you go? You said you’d take responsibility,” he sulks at me.

“I’m not her sire, my love. You are.”

“You are Queen. Just go and ask them for one and they will give it to you.”

“I can’t do that, sweetie. How would that look?”

“Bad,” he admits. “What about the disc? I still have my ring; can’t we just give that to her?” He rubs his finger over the spot where the disc is under his skin.

“Works the same, my love. It’s yours and only yours.”

He sighs. “Fine. I suppose if she can go out during the day, it’ll get her out of my hair more. Can you tell me anything about it?”

“It is a trial that is specifically for you. There is nothing I can tell you about it.”

“Humph,” he says rudely. “Where do we go? How long will it take? What if I fail?” He is starting to panic a bit now, but I grab his hand to reassure him.

“I am going to try and call Corinne here and she can tell us more. It will take a couple of hours or so and you won’t fail. I promise you. You are strong and smart, and you never fail.”

“Easy as that?”

I nod again. “Advice from a sire to a sire. I know you don’t have the bond, but you said yourself you like her, and I know you feel bad she is suffering.”

“What about her punishment though?”

“I think she realizes that she made a mistake and has to live with you not having a bond with her for eternity. I think that is punishment enough,” I say quietly.

“Yeah, I guess so. Well, I suppose I will go and get ready.”

“Wear casual clothes you don’t mind getting ruined,” I call after him, much to his horror.

Chapter 19

Devon returns shortly thereafter, dressed as casually as he can. I shake my head at him, and he says, “What? This is the worst outfit I have.” He indicates his designer jeans and t-shirt.

“Fine. At least you can afford to buy more,” I chuckle.

“How do we do this?”

I shrug. “No clue. I have been trying to call her for months. Xane just bellowed out her name and she turned up.” I frown as I remember that with a flash of annoyance.

“So, you are just going to call her?”

“Not out loud,” I say mysteriously. “Come now. I want to get this show on the road.”

“Right, let’s do this.”

I take his hands and close my eyes. I concentrate, thinking of Corinne, trying to call her to me. I feel a wave go over us and I open my eyes. We have changed locations, but we didn’t Astral here, it was something different. I turn around and notice Corinne sitting behind a massive mahogany desk in what appears to be a library very much like CK’s at Ponte.

“Aefre?” she looks up in surprise. “What on earth are you doing here?”

Tags: Eve Newton Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net