The Ties that Bind (The Forever series, Book Five) (30 page)

“Yes,” she says quickly.

“Good.” I hold my hand out and several come up to help me
out of the tub. I grab Cole’s and he smiles shyly at me as I alight gracefully.
“Now if you wouldn’t mind my husband,” I emphasize these words, needing to know
I can say them now, “and I would like to be alone.”

“Aefre,” CK says to me. “We need to talk at some point. Very
soon.”

“When I am ready, I will come and find you.”

He narrows his eyes at me but I stand my ground. I am done
being a pushover. Not even for him.

“Fine,” he says dismissively and I want to smack him. Even
now he has the capacity to make me feel subordinate and weak.

“Dawn?”

“Yes, Liv?” she says without hesitation.

“I have not forgotten our lessons. If you wish to continue I
will make time tomorrow before we head back to Toronto.”

“Yes, please,” she says eagerly. “I have been practicing
what you have already taught me. I hope that you will be happy with me.”

I blink at those very submissive words but there again she
is human and I have clearly shown here tonight that I am not. “
Très bien,”
I
say to her with a slight case of
déjà
vu
as Sebastian said that to me earlier but I don’t remember why. I cast
a quick glance at him but he has his impassive face in place and then I forget
about it. It doesn’t really matter.

“Fine. You all may go,” I say in as superior of a tone as I
can muster but get nowhere near my sire’s effortless dismissal.

With varying degrees of annoyance they all do leave and then
it is just me and Cole.

“Hey,” he says to me with that half smile I love.

“Hey,” I say back, relaxing.

“You are pretty badass. You think we don’t respect you but
you are wrong.”

“I’m not so sure. But I don’t want to talk or think about
that. I promised you awhile ago that I would show you my safe room. I would
like to do that now, if you want?” I hear the question in my voice and I clear
my throat. “I will show it to you now,” I say decisively and he hides his smile
behind his hand.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” he bows at me and I roll my eyes. He is
making fun of me but I will allow it…just this once.

I step into my closet and turn right. I disable the security
and step inside.

“Hey, I have a question,” Cole says. “You have a biometric
scanner and wards on here. How was it that Constantine was able to come here to
get my ring?”

“His print is also in the scanner.”

“Oh. And yet, you haven’t added mine?” he is pissed now. I
wasn’t going for this mood and now I am getting pissed.

“Cole. He is my sire. I trust him. If it weren’t for him, we
would have had to wait until we got home for me to give it to you.”

“Do you trust me? I mean really trust me?”

“Of course. You are my husband. I love you. Please, can we
not argue about this and I can show you the things that mean the most to me,
that I have saved through the centuries, hard times and good times?”

“Yes, of course. I’m sorry. I have been dying to see what
else you have in here,” he says with a small smile.

“Then let me show you.” I lead him into the room that is the
same size as my bathroom. Drawers and cupboards fill every wall, along with a
few artifacts adorning the walls in the few open spots.

“Where will you start?” he asks, gazing at the portrait of
me.

“Here.” I pull open a cupboard and take out a beautiful
sword. Crafted to perfection and as sharp today as it was back then. Handmade
to fit his towering height. “This is Fraser’s sword,” I say as I hand it to him
shyly. His eyes land on mine in surprise. He hesitantly takes it from me, “You don’t
mind?”

I shake my head, “No. Not for you.”

He looks at me adoringly and then admires the hilt. “Shit.
This is beautiful. And Christ it’s heavy,” he jiggles it in his hand. “How did
he manage it, being human?” I think it is more of a rhetorical question so I
don’t answer, until he looks at me actually expecting an answer.

“Skill and strength. And as you know he was…” I put my hands
up high in the air.

“Large,” Cole says with a small smile.

I nod.

He hands it back to me and I return it to its rightful place.
“Have a look. Anything that takes your interest I will tell you about.”

He points straight away to the mace on the wall and I smile,
“The fall of Constantinople in 1453.”

“I think there is more to that story,” he says in question.

“If you are asking if it was founded by my sire, then yes.
It was his city for a time until he had to disappear and move on.”

“That’s why you went to defend it?”

“Yes. CK, Dmitri, and I were there. Unfortunately, in spite
of our obvious advantages, we were but three out of many and the defenses
didn’t hold.”

“Wow,” he says, impressed. I leave him to have a poke about
as I watch him admiring my belongings. He falls upon the Fabergé egg almost
instantly and holds it up, “This one?”

“Yes.”

“It’s gorgeous. Why don’t you have it displayed somewhere?”

“It belongs in here, with everything else,” I say simply.

He nods and moves on, poking through all the drawers until
he happens upon those that I knew he would. He stops and stares. “Your wedding
rings. Yours and Frasers,” he says as he continues to just stare at them.

“Yes,” I say again. He breathes in deeply and I know he
feels jealous.

“What went here?” he taps the small empty space next to
them.

I step closer and take his left hand. I twirl his ring and
he grins. “This. This was here, waiting for you,” I say quietly. He drops a
light kiss to my lips and continues his perusal.

“What’s this?” he asks, picking up a small fist-sized rock
and turning it around.

“A rock,” I say with a serious face.

“So I can see. What of?”

“A bell tower.”

“Where?”

“London.”

“Liv. Why are you being evasive? You said anything I wanted
to know about you would tell me.”

“It is from the bell tower where CK and I first used to
meet. He gave it to me after I woke up.”

“Oh,” he says flatly.

“Cole. Don’t be like that. It’s a part of my history.”

“I know. I just wish that I knew you then.”

“You know me now.” I take his hand and lead him over to a
set of drawers on the opposite wall. I gesture for him to open it and he does.
He stares into the drawer and laughs, “Hardly seems to fit in with the general
theme of the room.”

“The general theme of the room is items that mean enough to
me for me to keep.”

He picks up the receipt from our first dinner date and
fingers it. “I like that you kept it. I still have something you gave me,” he
says and pulls out his wallet. He hands me the business card I gave him all
those months ago and giggle. I place it next to the receipt and he smiles.
“Perfect,” he murmurs.

“You know. I wasn’t planning on attending that night. Devon
dragged me at the last minute.”

“Remind me to thank him tomorrow,” Cole says with a laugh
but then sobers. “God. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I hadn’t met
you. I can’t think of not being with you. Not being a part of your world.”

“Our world,” I correct him. “But me either. If I hadn’t met
you, things would have turned out so differently.”

“No kidding,” he says. “Sometimes I wonder if you would have
been better off.”

“What?” I say incredulously. “Cole. Don’t say that. Yes,
things have been mad since we got together but I would never, ever change any
of it.”

He picks up the silver circlet that I wore to our wedding
and he twirls it. “This is in the wrong place,” he says absently.

“No, it is where it should be.”

“That was the second time you wore it. It should in the
drawer where you got it from that day.”

“No. It is exactly where I want it. A perfect circle that
never ends, just like my love for you.” It’s corny but has the desired effect
as he smiles at me.

“I want to add more to that. Take me to the hotel in Toronto.”

“What, now?”

“Yes, now.” He takes my hand and I Astral us to the bedroom
at the Shangri-La, hoping and praying that housekeeping isn’t knocking about.
Fortunately it is empty and he lets go of my hand and crosses to the bedside
cabinet. There is a photo of the two of us in a beautiful silver frame that is
new. It was taken the night we went downstairs at the hotel bar last week by, I
assume, a fan of Cole’s.

“This is kind of creepy but it was left for me at
Reception,” he says as he sees me notice it. “It’s a nice photo, seemed a waste
to trash it.”

I chuckle, “Yes, it definitely falls into the creepy section
but I agree, it is a nice photo. This is what you wanted to bring?”

He shakes his head, “No. This.” He opens the drawer and
takes out a little trinket I bought at Casa Loma. He hands it to me, “As dates
go, I think it was pretty special. Hunter issues aside.”

“Yes, it was. I enjoyed it. It was…normal.”

“Normal isn’t what I was hoping you would say,” he says
dryly.

“Normal is good!” I say emphatically. “Christ knows we have
so much abnormal.”

“Well, that is true,” he admits. “Will you put it in your
drawer?”

“Our drawer. And yes.” I take his hand and Astral us back to
the safe room. I hand it back to him. “You do it.”

He places the key ring carefully next to the receipt and
business card. “We need to do more interesting things,” he muses and I burst
out laughing.

“Are you saying I’m not interesting?” To which he bursts out
laughing.

“Christ, Liv. I’d prefer it if you were a bit less
interesting.”

“Well, I can’t help you there, I’m afraid.”

“I just meant that the things we do together should be more
interesting. More, I don’t know… this,” he gestures expansively around the
room.

“All in good time, my love.”

He closes the drawer and opens the one underneath just as
something to do. It is jam packed with items. He spots a frayed blue ribbon and
stares at it.

“I guess this is the Devon drawer,” he says.

I shrug, what can I say?

“This is what I am talking about.”

“Cole, Devon and I have half a millennium of memories. Our
drawer will be packed out too in five hundred years. In fact we will have two
drawers,” I say, sliding my fingers into his jeans pocket to pull him closer to
me.

“Two drawers? I like the sound of that, but I love the sound
of you saying that we will still be together in five hundred years.”

“Of course we will. We will always be connected as Devon and
I are. More so because of our Holy union,” I say before I realize that he
misinterpreted my earlier statement. Oh crap on toast, I need a muzzle, I tell
you. He steps back from me. “I see,” he says, which always means he is not
happy with me.

“Cole,” I start to do damage control but he stops me with a
finger to my lips.

“Don’t,” he says. “Whatever it is you want to say, just
don’t.” He heaves a big sigh, “Just answer me this. How come you and Devon
never got married? I mean it was your plan to begin with, why did you never
follow through?”

I frown at him. I am not happy with this line of
questioning. I remember what I said to Devon right after he fed Jess his blood
and that we still haven’t discussed. We are heading into dodgy territory here
now and I don’t want to talk about it with Cole. Certainly not before I have
spoken with Devon about what I said.

“Does it matter?” I ask instead.

“Yes.”

I stay silent.

“The fact that you aren’t sharing makes it matter even more
now.”

“I can’t honestly say,” I offer up eventually. “Yes, we had
planned to be married but it kind of got lost in the ensuing events.”

“What ensuing events?”

Now this I don’t mind discussing as it directs the questions
away from the marriage that never happened.

“The murderous rampage we embarked upon.”

He blinks at me. “I remember you telling me about that in
Monaco. It doesn’t sound like you to encourage it and it doesn’t like him to do
it,” he says sadly. “So much history, so much time I didn’t have with you.”

“You wouldn’t have wanted me back then,” I say seriously.

“Perhaps,” he says and takes my hand. He leads us out of the
room and I close the door. “What I don’t get is you call the time after you
left Constantine and before Lance took you as your ‘Evil Years.’ Isn’t a
murderous rampage considered evil?”

Well yes, obviously.

“And another thing,” he says before I can answer, “How is it
that after what happened to you, you were still happy to kill?”

Wow. He is digging deep here. I lead him to our bed and sit,
adjusting the towel I am still wearing. I look down and grimace and change into
something a little less uncomfortable. Pleased with my choice, Cole’s eyes set
ablaze as he stares at me, hair dry and straight, and a sexy black, lacy
Victoria’s Secret baby doll. “You can try to distract me but it won’t work,” he
says but kisses me anyway, his hand slipping inside and onto my breast and I
mentally high-five myself. He tweaks my nipple and pulls away with flashing
eyes. “Spill, O’Dell.”

I laugh out loud in delight that he last named me, with our
shared last name. “I love you.”

“I love you,” he says and waits.

“During my ‘Evil Years’ I was vicious and unfeeling and I
tortured people for my own amusement.” I dive in at the deep end, “I hurt and
killed so many people I truly believe that I got what I deserved when Lance
took me.”

“No Liv, don’t say that,” he says desperately, taking my
hands.

“Cole, I will spare you the gory details but I was a
terrible, terrible person. Look at what I did to Gustav.”

“You weren’t the one who trapped him in there.”

“No, I was just the one who turned him and locked him in a
dungeon to begin with. Don’t defend my actions, Cole. You have asked me a
question and I am trying to answer it.”