He is startled by my silence, but I have given him no choice but to explain to me now what he is doing with this woman. “Clementine asked me for a favor, but I cannot grant it.”
“Why not?” I ask stiffly.
“It is not my place,” he says and I could stake him for being so cryptic at a time like this.
“Then whose is it?” I ask, forced by his elusiveness.
“Yours,” Clementine says to me before he can say a word.
I fix her with my hard gaze and she gives as good as she gets. “Why?” I ask. “What can I possibly give you? And if it is permission to have sex with my husband, let me save you a load of trouble. Denied.” Eh, I had to get that in there, but I am fairly confident this has nothing to do with that.
I am sure that CK rolled his eyes at me and I know what he is thinking, but I avoid looking at him for the time being.
Clem steels herself and says, “I can assure you if I wanted him, I wouldn’t be asking for your permission.”
I try to remain calm at that, but it is too much. I am an irrational person and being calm has never been my strong suit with regards to women and Constantine. I flick my hand out and there sits a ball of Dragon Fire that I am ready to lob at her should this conversation not be to my liking. She stares at it for a moment before it sinks in that I am very much threatening her and she would be powerless to stop it.
“Aefre,” CK mutters. “That isn’t necessary.”
“I will be the judge of that,” I say and wait for her to ask me her favor as I cockily bounce my orb.
Clementine glares at me with absolute loathing and I can definitely say the feeling is mutual. It isn’t hard to see why I don’t get on with women. The men in my life make it impossible.
“I wanted Constantine to ask you for a vial of your blood,” she says with a flick of her hair.
I close my hand over the orb in my astonishment. I wasn’t expecting that. “Whatever for?” I ask, now more intrigued than annoyed by the blatant request.
“That is not your concern,” she says stiffly.
The orb is back. “I beg to differ,” I scoff. “If you want it you are going to have to tell me why.” Does she think I am a fool? I can think of a hundred different spells and curses off the top of my head that she could use it for, most of them against me, and I’d wager there are a thousand more.
“You are going to have to explain, Clem,” CK says.
She closes her eyes and huffs out her breath as she opens them again. “Your little rescue mission the other day has left me in a bind,” she says.
“You and a few others,” I say nonchalantly. “Not my problem.”
“Yes, it is your problem,” she snaps at me. “You took it away. You owe me this.”
“I don’t owe you, or anyone, anything,” I snap back at her. She obviously wants my blood for the Silver spell, but I am not going to give it to her. Not only because I dislike her, but also because if I give it to her then I have to give it everyone. Kind of defeats the point.
I can see her holding onto her temper and I am about to request that she leave immediately before I fry her arse, when CK steps in.
“She has a daughter, Aefre. The same way I had planned for us. She was turned three days ago and Clem was undergoing the sire trials when you released the Dark Fae. She never got her Silver,” he explains.
I lose the orb as I say, “I am not sorry that I released them, but I am sorry you didn’t get what you wanted. But there is nothing I can do to help you.”
She looks imploringly at CK, but he shrugs and says, “It is not my decision to make.”
Clem looks back at me. She can see I am steadfast and her loathing turns to absolute abhorrence. “I will make you pay for this,” she hisses before she Teleports out.
I blink at CK and say, “If I gave it to her…”
“I know,” he interrupts me. “You don’t have to explain your decision to me, Aefre. I will support you no matter what.”
“I love you,” I blurt out. “I have been a horrible bitch to you today. Do you forgive me?”
“Of course,” he says and gathers me to him. He strokes my hair and I wait for his own apology to me, but it doesn’t come. I don’t want to push him, so I drop it and I think that was his plan all along. Why do we still feel the need to play these games with each other? It’s exhausting.