Revelation (The Forever Series Book Three) (2 page)

“I get it now. Your loathing of her. I wish you had told me
all of this sooner. We could have fixed it. Actually, if I am wishing for
things, it would be that it never happened in the first place. Who knows, maybe
we would have been together all this time.”

“Charges always leave their sires. I would have gone at some
point based on that,” I say reasonably and he scowls at me and I giggle.

“Now I think you owe me an explanation,” I say.

He looks up at me confused, “About what?”

“I have told you why I left in 1112. Now I want to know why
you left in 1506.”

“You know why,” he glowers at me.

“I really don’t, my love. I think this little experiment
here has shown us that what we think and what is the truth are two entirely
different things.”

“Fine. Come with me,” he says, standing then all CK-like and
I sigh in relief that my sire is back. “We are in need of another visual aid.”

Picking our way over the bits of broken door, he leads us
back the way we came and stops in front of another closed door. I know exactly
who used to occupy this room but I still don’t get it. He pushes it open and
the room has been stripped bare of any furnishings or decoration. Just an empty
shell of a room that used to be so beautifully painted I draw my breath in, in
shock.

“Why? Why would you do that?” I ask him sadly.

“No reminders,” he says shortly.

“Of what? A man so brilliant that he is still revered today
as one of the most influential men of the Renaissance?”

“Of the man who stole you from me,” he snaps.

“What? He didn’t steal me from you. Nobody could have done
that.”

“Aefre. I know what I heard.”

“Oh, just like I know what I saw?” I snap back and he has
the grace to look away in shame. “Tell me what you think you know,” I say,
softening slightly.

“Fine. I was down at this end of the castle finishing up a
project, if you will, that I wanted to show you. I knew you were in here with
him. I sensed and heard you, but stayed just outside the area of your being
able to sense me.” Again he looks away and I smile inwardly. Being so much
older than me, his range of being able to sense me is greater than my own,
which is why he can sneak up on me, and his eavesdropping skills are to match.
I know I can hear whispered conversations up to about ten feet away, depending
on outside factors, but I know his range is longer. I couldn’t say for sure how
much longer but I would hazard a guess at around fifteen. Same goes for the
other two, which is why CK spelled my Council office so that we could speak
freely.

“You were eavesdropping?” I ask with a small smile.

“You could say that. I prefer to think of it as making sure
you were okay,” he says haughtily and unable to help myself I burst out
laughing. He glares at me but then smiles himself. “Okay, yes I was
eavesdropping. Happy?”

“You were… he made you happy didn’t he? Pleased you well?”
he continues but I ignore him, not willing to discuss it.

He sighs at my silence and says “After you were… ‘finished,’
I heard you talking. You sounded so happy when you said, and I will remember
the exact words until the end of time, ‘When we are married I want a big
celebration. I want the whole of Italy to know how much in love we are.’ And he
whispered that he loved you and would give you anything you wanted. I couldn’t
bear it. I had thought that we were happy. That we were going to be together,
to make it work this time.”

I listen in horror and then say, “We were happy. I loved you
more than ever and I wanted us to be together. What you overheard was me
talking to my best friend about us, Constantine. You and me. Our wedding. How
much I wanted to be your wife. How much I loved
you
.”

“But he told you he loved you and would give you anything
you wanted?” he asks, confused.

“Yes he told me he loved me. He did. But I did not love him
back. Not in that way. And he meant he would give me whatever I wanted as a
wedding present.”

He shakes his head in disbelief. “No. That is not what I
heard.”

“Constantine, it is. Michelangelo was my friend long before
we became lovers. He would join me on my walks through the gardens and we would
talk. About everything. He fell in love with me and I wanted him. We started
sleeping together as a matter of course but I never, ever stopped loving you
and I wanted to be your wife more than anything. That is always the only thing
I have ever wanted,” I admit cautiously, fiddling absently with the ring he
gave me only a few hours before.

His eyes light up at my confession but then cloud over when
he realizes that he too has fucked up by jumping to conclusions. What a pair, I
think wryly.

“Fuck,” he says. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! This is… FUCK!” he yells
running his hand through his hair. “Tell me that’s a lie, Aefre. Tell me that
what I heard is… tell me that I didn’t fuck up?” he says desperately.

I shake my head, “I can’t, my love. You fucked up. I fucked
up. We are a pair of fucking stubborn idiots.”

He looks at me so sadly I want to cry. I do cry and it
breaks his heart to see me so upset. “I am sorry Aefre.” He holds me close and
it eases some of the pain. Pulling away he says, “Leave me now for a while.
Please.”

I shake my head. “No.”

“Leave me,” he snaps and I go, my heart breaking all over
again.

Needing a drink after this awful afternoon, which admittedly
was my own doing, I think in disgust at myself for being such a fool. Actually,
no: this is Cole’s fault. He was the one who dredged all this needing to know
business up again, I think angrily. But then I sag my shoulders. I can’t blame
him. None of this is his fault. I make my way to the kitchens. Empty. I wonder
briefly where all the staff is. My eyes land on the massive studded door at the
end of the kitchen. I gulp. The dungeons. I cross over quietly and hesitantly
try the handle. Locked, of course.

“Ms. Nelson?” A woman’s voice behind me startles me and I
pull my hand guiltily away from the door. I turn and a pretty young Italian
Vampire is standing at the other end of the kitchen. “May I help you with
something?” she asks.

“Erm, it’s Mrs. O’Dell,” I say and she nods hesitantly.
Clearly CK is in denial and I inwardly huff at him. “I was looking for Scotch.”

She pulls a bottle and two glasses out of a cupboard near
her head and places them on the big island in the middle of the floor. “Mrs.
O’Dell, I am Marguerite. Mr. D’Arcangelo said that he would be bringing you and
that I should make myself available for you if you need me.”

“Thank you, Marguerite. But please call me Liv. How long
have you worked for Constantine?” I ask politely.

“Liv,” she nods. “Just a little over two hundred and fifty
years,” she says. “It is nice to have some guests again. I seem to rattle
around this place all by myself these days,” she says and I start in surprise.

“He doesn’t come here often?”

“Not much, anymore. And always by himself,” she replies. I
must look far too interested in her words as she suddenly looks pained as she
realizes she has said too much. ”Please let me know if I can be of service to
you,” she says then back to being business-like. I nod, disappointed she
clammed up.

I point to the dungeon door on an impromptu fishing
expedition. “Is the wine cellar down there now?” I ask innocently.

She shakes her head carefully, warily, “No, it is still off
the dining hall, ma’am.”

Ma’am? How did we go from Liv to ma’am in less than a
minute? She clearly knows what’s down there but would never spill the dungeon
beans out of the knowledge that Constantine would kill her if he ever found out
she blabbed. Even to me.

“Well thank you for this,” I say as I pour the Scotch out
into the two glasses and she nods in relief that I am not going to press the
issue of what is behind door number one.

Smiling at her I go off in search of CK. I have left him
alone for long enough now.

Heading up the staircase I find him on the main corridor
sitting on the floor in an alcove staring thoughtfully out of the window. He
takes my breath away as I watch him for a moment. I know he knows I am there
but I can’t tear my eyes away from him. “Sit,” he says and it jolts me back
into motion and I hand him the glass. He accepts it and puts it down next to
him.

I sit opposite him in a matching pose of knees up, our bare
toes touching slightly. I remain silent looking out at the view he is looking
at. Rolling hills for miles. I remember always wishing we could fly so I could
see them from above.

“Still wishing we could fly?” he smirks slightly and I grin
at his uncanny ability to read my thoughts.

“Maybe it’s one of my newfound Powers. I’ll have to try
sometime,” I say and he laughs, relaxing slightly.

“What were you going to talk to me about? That night, that
made you… agitated?” I ask quietly.

As if expecting the question he holds up a ring in his hand.
He drops his knees, straightening his legs and I crawl forward over him peering
at it. Sitting on his lap I take it from him and he lets me, still staring out
of the window. It’s a ring made from Faerie Silver.

“I don’t understand. You had already given me one,” I say in
confusion.

“It’s not a protection ring,” he says quietly and a
realization creeps up on me but I push it away not wanting to think about it.

“No,” I say adamantly.

He looks at me then. “It took me months to procure. I wanted
it made from Faerie Silver so that it would stand the test of time. I wanted to
put it on you and have it last for eternity, never tarnished, never chipped,
never replaced. Never taken off. I was agitated because I was about to make a
commitment to you. One that I had never made before in over 1500 years. I was
nervous. Not because I didn’t want you, but because I wanted you so much it
scared me. I wanted to be good enough for you. I wanted you to only see the
good in me. The evil, the monster, I never wanted you to see it. It comes out,
Aefre, I can’t help it. I didn’t want to come to you like that. Maybe I should
have taken my chances,” he says sadly.

I stare at him dumbfounded. Never in a thousand years have I
heard him talk like this. Opening his heart up, being so vulnerable.

I pull him to me and kiss him with so much emotion racing
through me, my head is spinning. I just don’t know what to say or do.

“There’s more,” he says when I let him go.

What? More?

“Come with me.” I climb off his lap and pocket the ring as
he stands. He stalks off back in the direction of the right wing from hell and
I cringe but I follow. He stops suddenly and I crash into him as he turns
around. He grabs my arms to stop me from falling over. “Sorry,” he mumbles.
“Aefre. Have you thought about what would happen if you tried to sire again
now? Now that you are clearly more than your average Vampire,” he asks.

Erm, no, the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. “I’m not
exactly in the market for another charge, my love. I have my hands full with
two I’ve got,” I say wryly and he chuckles.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then.”

“Why? Do you think it wouldn’t go according to plan?” I ask
now worried.

“I don’t know. It is something we shall have to look into,”
he says cryptically and turns back around.

“Hey, wait a minute,” I say grabbing his arm. “I told you
I’m not in the market for another charge. Experiment or not.”

“Yes, I heard you,” he says, infuriating as ever, and he
grabs my hand and leads me back to a room a little way down the corridor from
the empty room of doom.

He stops at the door and hesitates, wondering if he should
open it or not. Again he turns to me with a question, “Do you think it is
possible to co-sire a Vampire?”

“Pardon? What do you mean ‘co-sire’?” I ask, perplexed.

“Exactly how is sounds, Aefre,” he says, exasperated at my
apparent denseness.

My tired brain trying to play catch up thinks it over. “You
mean two Vampires draining and feeding a human? Two lots of Vampire blood?”

“Yes.”

I blink at him as if he has lost his mind and stay silent.
He blinks back at me clearly expecting an answer.

“I have no idea,” I say eventually as I have nothing else to
say and he actually rolls his eyes at me.

“You’ve never thought of it before?”

“No! Why would I? I can’t think of anyone who would want to
do that. It would be like being parents together or something…” I trail off and
my eyes go wide as saucers as I apparently reach the conclusion he was hoping
for.

“What?” I squeak as he unlocks the door and pushes it open.

A massive cloud of dust swirls out of the room and we both
cough and wave our hands about trying to clear it. “Sorry, I have not opened
this room in several hundred years,” he says in between coughs.

Several hundred years’ worth of dust is piled onto every
surface and my Vampire night vision kicks in as he strolls in to open the heavy
curtains again creating a dust storm to be proud of… not.

My mouth drops open in horror as I see the room clearly now.
Closing it again quickly in distaste and dust I turn in a circle, my eyes
bugging out of my head.

“It’s a nursery,” I croak as my eyes take in all the
furniture of a centuries-old nursery.

He is studying my reaction closely with a closed expression.

“Start explaining D’Arcangelo,” I round on him in
stupefaction.

His set mouth lifts on one side at my last-naming him but
then resumes a grim line as he sees I am not altogether clear on what he is
showing me.

“In 1506, before I left you, I was so in love you Aefre. I
was happy. I had not ever been so happy. With you, with us, and our planned
life together. It took you so long to get over what Lance did to you I was
worried for a really long time you wouldn’t ever be yourself again. When you
came back to me, when you started talking about a future for us again I was
overjoyed. I wanted nothing more than to make you my wife. No, that’s
incorrect,” he says, stopping briefly to organize his thoughts. “I wanted you
to be my wife but I did want more than that. It wasn’t enough. I wanted
something that would hold us together forever. Our Vampire bond wasn’t enough,
a marriage commitment wasn’t enough. But a child, our child was what I wanted.”