The Ties that Bind (The Forever series, Book Five) (2 page)

He looks somewhat startled by my threat but then his face
hardens. “May I ask why?” he says quietly.

“You told him he had seconds to make a choice. If you had
made him think he had more time, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” I snap.

He looks at me like I have grown another head. “You wanted
me to lie to him, so that she died?” he asks in disbelief. “Really, Aefre, that
shocks me. I thought your murderous ways were behind you.”

“How dare you? I didn’t do this to her. I am thinking only
of Devon, of
my
charge who didn’t want this. Do you know how difficult
she is going to be when she wakes? He isn’t ready for that, and he shouldn’t
have been put in this position,” I whisper-snap at him.

“That is the price you pay when you cavort with humans,” he
whisper-snaps back at me. “It is a risk especially when the human wants to be
turned,” he adds haughtily.

“If it offends your delicate sensibilities to lie to protect
someone I love, then you should have at least let me turn her,” I say.

“At the risk of what? We don’t know what will happen and
this was not the time to experiment. We are in a hotel, outside of our
hometown. The last thing we need is an even bigger mess to clean up. I told him
his choice and he made it.” He narrows his eyes at me now and a cruel look passes
across his face as he says, “Or would you rather I stepped up and offered to
turn her? Make her a new sibling for you.”

I stare at him in disbelief that he has just said that to
me. Without a second thought, I do something I have never even dared to think
about doing in a thousand years and bring my hand up to give him a resounding
slap to the face. He blinks at me as if he can’t quite believe I had the nerve
to do that, before he brings his own hand up to slap me back. I put my hand to
my cheek and gape at him in horror, before I realize it wasn’t him that slapped
me. It was Sebastian. He had moved so quickly to defend his sire that I didn’t
even see him. “Try that again and I won’t hold back next time,” he snarls at me
before I launch myself at him, claws and fangs drawn. He is just as quick as me
and, expecting my attack, he grabs me by the arm, twisting me around painfully,
his other hand on the back of my neck, keeping my claws out of his reach. I
elbow him--hard--in the stomach with my free arm and as he bends over, the wind
knocked out of him briefly, I bring the back of my fist up into his face and he
loosens his grip. Pulling myself free, I spin, quick as lightning, and have him
by the throat, slamming him to the floor with a loud thud. All the commotion
has caused everyone to find out what is going on, so I have a gaping audience
as I straddle Sebastian and growl at him, “Lay a hand on me again and I will
rip your fucking head off.”

He sneers at me as our sire pulls me off his first charge. I
struggle to get free as he puts me on my feet. I am hurt beyond belief that he
has chosen Sebastian over me, but that is short-lived as he launches himself at
Sebastian, fist bunched, and nearly knocks his head off. He goes skidding
across the floor to end up in a heap on the other side of the room. I step
back, gaping at them. “If you ever so much as look at her wrong again, I will
do the honors,” CK snarls.

“That’s the fucking thanks I get for coming to your defense?
I should have known you’d take her side,” Sebastian hisses at him, as he gets
to his feet.

“I don’t need you to defend me ‘Bastian. Not against anyone
and certainly not against Aefre. Apologize,” he says shortly.

Sebastian glares at me, not with hatred but something fairly
close. Oh well, so much for becoming friends. “I apologize. It is a natural
reaction, as I am sure you can appreciate,” he says formally.

Well, I can’t argue with that. “I accept. I apologize for
flattening you,” I say with just a hint of sarcasm. I turn to my sire and I am
genuinely abashed. “I am sorry,” I say with my eyes down. He crosses to me and
lifts my chin up, saying, “I shouldn’t have said what I did. I am the one who
is sorry. I knew the reaction you would give.” He pauses before adding, “Well,
maybe not exactly.” I smile and he kisses me lightly. “Am I forgiven?” he asks
softly, not just for the sibling remark, but also for the other thing I was
accusing him of.

“Always, my love,” I whisper.

“For fuck's sake!” Sebastian snaps. “This is ridiculous. She
has you wrapped so tightly around her little finger, you forget yourself.”

Constantine turns to his first charge and says, “I won’t
take offense to that, my boy. She has a tendency to make one forget oneself.”

“No kidding,” he says with a sneer. “I expect this
infatuation from the weaker ones, but you? I am surprised. I mean, I know she
is a good fuck but Christ…” he trails off, running a hand through his hair as
everyone silently stares at him. My eyes go wide in horror as my brain catches
up with what he has just said. His eyes snap to mine as he also realizes what
he has just said and I open my mouth to do damage control, as he sneers and
opens his mouth to twist the knife a bit more. We both look at our sire, who
looks like he is about to kill both of us as I say, “He used his gift on me.”
Sebastian says quickly, “She made a move. I wasn’t going to say ‘no.’”

The tension in the air ratchets up a thousand notches and no
one says a word. Sebastian and I are staring at our sire who has turned his
back on us, more out of restraint not to kill us than out of dismissal. Devon,
Lincoln, and Scott sidle quietly and slowly back into the bedroom, choosing
Jess in her prone state over me in my soon-to-be dead one. I don’t blame them.
I kind of wish I could also retreat.

Constantine turns to look first at me and then at Sebastian.
His face is impassive, unreadable. Unfortunately for me, Sebastian has 1760
years on me at our sire’s side and has the capability to adopt the same blank
expression, and he stares impassively back at him. Constantine turns back to
me. “When?” he asks.

“Yesterday evening. Before we came downstairs for dinner,” I
stammer.

“I see,” he says, knowing exactly when. I can now see the
process as the wheels turn and his eyes soften slightly as he continues to look
at me. I can see the relief pass across his face as he knows this was before I
knew about Sebastian and his magickal persuasion and would therefore have no
reason to make it up to protect myself. I must look absolutely terrified as he
tries to smile reassuringly at me, letting me know he believes me, although it
comes out more like a grimace. He turns to face Sebastian, the expression
disappearing instantly. “I told you that if you used your gift on her I would
finish you. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t rip your head off right
now,” he says.

Sebastian looks back at him in disbelief and says, “You
believe her over me? You know what she is like, a wanton little whore with no
more thought for anyone but getting what she wants. Has all her little fuck toys
lined up nicely in a neat little row at her beck and call. I knew all I had to
do was pay her a bit of attention and she would come begging for it.”

My mouth drops open shock. That’s what he thinks of me? He’s
known me all of a week and I am hurt that he thinks so little of me. He
couldn’t know me less if he tried. And, hello? Talk about a big fat lie!
Arsehole. I am staring at him now with open hatred and I am pretty sure he can
feel it radiating off me as he shifts uncomfortably.

Constantine regards him for a brief moment after those awful
comments and says, “If you knew her as well as I do, or at all even, for that
matter, you would know that every emotion she feels, every thought she has,
passes across her face momentarily before she tries to hide it. It is endearing
and one of the things I love most about her. It also makes it almost impossible
for her to lie to me. And lest you forget, my boy, I know you just as well, if
not better. When you want something, you get it whether by your own charms or your
ability. She denied you and that annoyed you, so you went after her.”

Sebastian is glaring at him for being called out. “She
didn’t take much persuading,” he declares. He sulks, still trying to shift at
least some of the blame, adding, “I hardly had to try.”

“Of that I have no doubt. She already expressed an interest
but was honorable enough to not follow through even when I offered us to her.
Even though it was something she really wanted, she still turned me down, as
you don’t fall into the rules.” Constantine looks smug as he says it. I have to
inwardly huff at him as he hardly offered, I just assumed he was going to and
he ran with it when it was clear I wasn’t going to follow through. The reason
for his smug look is that Sebastian is now glaring at him, knowing that the
reason we didn’t have a three-way (or four-way if you include the incident with
Devon) was not because of him, but because of me. “So you see, whether you had
to exert yourself or not, you still used your gift on her and that is not acceptable.
Oh, and don’t think you will get away with the insults. The last person to call
her a whore had his head chopped off by way of the flames of Hell,” Constantine
adds.

I am pleased to see Sebastian looking slightly wary at that
and I remember Lance’s final moments with a shudder.

“Although…” Constantine continues as he turns to look at me,
“I am surprised it worked. I was under the impression you were now immune to
such things.”

“That makes two of us,” I mumble, not happy to be back under
the microscope.

“Interesting,” he says curiously. “Aefre. Would you excuse
us, my dear? Sebastian and I need to talk in private.” He doesn’t wait for me
to nod before he grips Sebastian’s arm and Teleports them--I assume--upstairs
to our suite. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

I relax now that they’ve gone and this is over.

“He used magick on you?” Lincoln bellows at me and I nearly
jump a mile. I turn to face him with my hand over my heart.

“Christ, Linc. You scared the crap out of me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that before? I wouldn’t have been so
hard on you.”

I mentally chuckle that he thinks his words were harsh,
bless him. He has obviously never been on the receiving end of a Constantine
tirade before.

“I didn’t know when we spoke. I only found out about it a
few hours ago. I knew something was off, but I just couldn’t figure out what,”
I clarify.

“Liv. This is unacceptable. He raped you. Why aren’t you
more pissed off about it?”

I stare at him and then at Devon and Scott who are staring
back at me, not looking best pleased. “Raped? No, I don’t know about that. I
mean, I have been raped before. That wasn’t exactly how it usually goes,” I
muse, glancing at each of them in turn. Scott is looking like he wants to die,
as he is once again caught up in the sex and scandal that is my life.

“Did you say no?” Lincoln roars at me.

“Yes, twice. But then I…I don’t really know. I was just…”

“Doing it?” Lincoln hisses at me and I glare at his
repetition of my words earlier.

“Lizzie, I have to agree, it sounds like rape. You need to
do something about it,” Devon says worriedly. “What are you going to tell
Cole?”

My eyes snap to his, “Nothing. I am not going to tell him
anything. None of you are. Do you hear me?”

“I don’t think that is such a good idea,” Lincoln says. “We
all know. That’s a big secret to keep among so many people.”

“It gets kept,” I say in the most authoritative tone I can
muster and it must have been convincing as they fall in line. “We have a bigger
issue to deal with now,” I add and Devon looks crestfallen as I have just
reminded him of his worst nightmare come true.

“I had better go and see what’s going on,” I say wearily and
after hugs from Devon and Lincoln I Astral back upstairs, conscious that I am
still dressed in my pajamas.

I land in on the two of them chatting like old pals. Well, I
suppose they are, but I was thinking there would be more battering and less
chatting going on. I am quite upset now that my honor clearly did not need
defending quite as badly as I thought.

“Constantine,” I say in that way so he knows I am pissed.

“Liv,” he says back, in that way so I know he knows I have
called him Constantine.

“May I have a word?” I say sweetly--too sweetly--and he
knows there is a shitstorm brewing.

“Of course. ‘Bastian, please leave us.”

“Sure,” Sebastian says with a contrite glance at me.

Oh, he fucking wants to be friends now after he threw me to
the wolves. Jerk.

He leaves--via the door, I am happy to note--and I turn my
furious glare on my sire. “You two seem to be all chummy. You have forgiven him
for what he did?”

He sighs, that world-weary sigh he has perfected, and says,
“He has explained. I have accepted his reasons. Please just leave it at that.”

Err, What?

“Are you fucking kidding me? He raped me!” I yell, going
with Lincoln’s terminology to make my point. Although I don’t believe that, per
se, as I know the difference.

His eyes snap to mine. “Is that how you feel?” he asks
earnestly.

“Yes,” I state, to make my point. I am being unfair, as I
was obviously enjoying it once it got going, but at the same time, I did not
want to.

“You feel that strongly about it?” he asks seriously,
suddenly looking very worried.

“Yes,” I state again with absolute conviction. Now we seem
to be getting somewhere. “He completely manipulated me. I didn’t want to do it
and yet I had no choice. Do you know how disgusted with myself I feel? Do you
know how awful I feel that I betrayed my husband? That I betrayed you? Do you
know how shitty I feel that I cannot ever tell my husband about this in case he
leaves me?” I ask. I am beyond angry now at his blasé attitude towards this. My
rage is flaring up again and my Dragon isn’t very pleased either as She moves
swiftly across my back. He is staring at me in horror at my words. I bring it
all home as I say quietly, “He violated me and you don’t even seem to care.
Does he mean that much to you, or do I mean so little, that you can just
overlook this?”