by Eve Newton
“So did she.”
Sebastian always feels he must shift some of the blame. He would throw his own mother under the bus if it meant his sire not being angry with him anymore. Not that he isn’t loyal. He is, fiercely so, to him. He can’t say that he has ever seen Sebastian show that kind of loyalty to anyone else. He supposes he should find some comfort in that he doesn’t feel that way towards Aefre. That she is just a means to an end for him. Deep down he knows that isn’t true, though. Sebastian is falling in love with her and if he were anyone else, he would have put a stop to it before it even had a chance to bloom. They have shared so much over the centuries, so many women, but he will not share her affections with his charge. Her body is bad enough. The thought of him fucking her, bringing her to an orgasm, squeezes at Constantine’s heart, but he will allow it for Sebastian. But a baby? A Fae connection between the two of them that he has no control over and no part of? That he cannot allow. If she hasn’t terminated their agreement already, then he will.
“Has she said it is over?” Constantine asks.
“Not in as many words,” Sebastian says carefully.
“If she doesn’t end it, you will,” he tells him. “Now that she is very definitely part Fae, you will never be with her again.”
“You can’t take it away from me,” Sebastian says sadly. “I won’t end it.”
“You will unless you can convince me that you won’t father a child with her,” Constantine says.
“I will wear protection. It won’t be the same, but I will do it,” Sebastian says quickly.
“Not good enough, and you know that.”
“A curse then. I will find a curse. There has to be one,” Sebastian exclaims.
“Fate may not recognize a curse,” Constantine contradicts.
“Please, Dominus,” Sebastian begs him, using the old word for “master,” which he now reserves for placating him. “A curse, protection and withdrawal. I can’t offer any more than that, but don’t take her away if she wants to stay.”
“Withdrawal?” Constantine scoffs. “Do you really think you can do that as well as use protection? Two hours is a long time and if today was anything to go by you would need not only a lot of it, but you would have to interrupt yourselves in order to…get yourself in order.”
Sebastian blushes furiously as he looks away. Constantine has no shame in discussing this. He has done things to both women and men that most people wouldn’t have even thought to try, so the simple act of an orgasm doesn’t embarrass him.
“You were listening?” Sebastian asks quietly, eyes still averted, and he tilts his head in response.
“Not intentionally. It was quite hard to miss. Six times, Vincentius,” he says with a cruel smile. “I know she is good, but that is quite remarkable, even for you. I wonder if that would have been the case had you had to stop to protect yourself.” He knows he is being hurtful and mean, but Sebastian must be put in his place.
“Point taken,” he says tightly, still looking away. “Very well. I will do as you wish.”
“Good,” he says, and turns from Sebastian, dismissing him. He hesitates but then backs off to leave. Constantine throws him a bone over his shoulder before he disappears. “I will come to you tonight,” he says softly, letting him know he has forgiven him. “I will give you comfort.”
Sebastian’s shoulders relax and he nods. “Thank you,” he whispers before he vanishes into the house and Constantine goes back to his precious memories of his sweet Aefre.
Chapter 3
Tuscany, Italy, 1013 – Constantine
The journey back to the castle had been long and arduous. He would be glad to see it again after so many months away. His latest charge had done remarkably well considering she had never ridden a horse before in her life. He smiled at her, remembering that when they had first set off from Normandy, they had shared a steed. He thought he preferred that. Her pert little buttocks pressed up against him, her giggles as she felt him grow hard against her. She insisted after several weeks that she procure her own horse, as they weren’t getting very far, what with him sliding her off the horse and to the ground, many times a day, to have his way with her. She had come to quickly love the act performed between a man and woman after a brutal introduction by that monster who called himself her husband. He had never had more satisfaction in killing than when he had ripped Radulf’s head off. Constantine had shown her how to enjoy herself and how they could enjoy each other together. She could please him like no other woman had in the past.
She was a fascinating creature, so eager to learn and put into practice what he had shown her, and yet she retained this innocence about her that belied her desire and her wanton lust. He could not get enough of taking her, he wanted to be inside her all day, every day. He was losing his focus, as he stared at her and she shifted under his intense gaze.
“Sire?” she asked him. “Is everything to your liking?”
“Very much so,” he murmured, and she smiled prettily at his tone.
“Do we have much farther to travel?” she asked.
“Not too far,” he said and jumped gracefully off his horse. He made his way around to her, sliding his hand up her leg.
“Again?” she asked him with mock exasperation, and he chuckled at her. “Shall we not wait until we are home? At your home,” she amended quickly.
“Your home now, my sweet,” he said to her. “Very well, we shall wait. But do not say that I didn’t warn you.”
“Warn me? About what?” she asked with a slight frown.
He hoisted himself back onto the horse and clucked his tongue for her to move forward. “That I will ravage you for hours upon hours with no mercy given, for your lack of cooperation,” he said with a wicked smile that had her blushing furiously.
“I consider myself warned,” she said with a look that melted his heart and heated up his loins to the point of painful if he grew any harder.
The sun was setting, and they were finally in sight of the castle. He pointed it out to her, and she shaded her sensitive eyes against the dropping sunlight. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed, and he wholeheartedly agreed, but he was only looking at her. “I’ll race you,” she said with a laugh of delight and with an expertise he wouldn’t have given her credit for, she spurred her horse forward and he struggled to catch up. He watched her from behind, her golden hair flying in the wind, her buttocks raised as she galloped towards the castle gates. He hoped that Lance and Vincentius and all the others had left, as he sent word for them to do. Having shared everything in the past, he knew they would fail to understand why he was keeping this one all to himself. He could not explain it to them. He could not explain that he had fallen so far in love with her, she was all he could think about. She had lived up to everything he had expected of her thus far. The Hunting issues aside, once she overcame her difficulty, she had been insatiable. Living for the Hunt, the chase, the fear. Her excitement of joining together beside the bodies of those they had slain thrilled him. He had never known a woman like her, and he was certain it would be another one thousand and seven hundred years before he found another. If at all. He truly believed she was a one-of-a-kind, and he thanked Jupiter every day for being at that marketplace, on that day that he found her. She eased the beast deep inside him. He hadn’t once had an urge these last months to seek out those women he could unleash himself upon. He hoped it would last, that she had changed him, that she could keep him calm and happy as she had been doing but doubt lurked. He feared that one day he was going to break again, and he could only pray to the old gods that she was not around when it happened. He couldn’t bear to hurt her. Not in that way.
He planned to introduce her to some light play soon. He thought she was ready for that. Maybe that would help him keep the monster locked away.
He pulled up beside her as she slowed, her breathing quick and uneven in her excitement. “Do not slow down now, my love, if I don’t have you soon, I fear that I am going to explode with unfulfil
led desire.”
“Then lead the way, sir. I wouldn’t wish any harm to come to you due to my actions.” She smiled at him again in that way that started the fire burning in him. He took her hand and steadily led the horses towards the castle gates. A quick word with the guard on duty confirmed the departure of all his unwanted guests. It was not taken very well, he was told, but they daren’t defy him. He would deal with them later. Until then, he was eager to get his hands on his beautiful girl.
“Come, I will show you to your bedchamber,” he said as he pulled her down to the ground.
“My bedchamber?” she asked. “Are we not to share a chamber?”
He balked at the idea. Sharing at a resting stop was one thing, to have someone with him the whole time was something else. Even if it was her.
“No, my sweet. You need your own space to do your own things, as do I,” he said, thinking of the numerous women that he had about the castle.
“My own things? Whatever do you mean?” she asked him sadly. “I only want to be with you, to do the things that you want to do.”
He let out a small sigh. It was a charge’s reaction and one he should have been expecting. For all her strength and fire, she was still a brand-new Vampire in his very old world. “You have never had your own space that is just yours to do with as you please. Wait until you see the bedchamber, I have had prepared for you. I am sure you will find it to your liking.”
“Is it next to yours?” she asked fearfully.
“It is the closest chamber to mine,” he said carefully. There were no chambers next to his, which is how he liked it. “You need to be close to me, and as such I have made the necessary arrangements.”
“Will I be able to visit with you every night?” she asked.
“Or I will visit with you,” he answered. He was uncomfortable with these questions and her lack of fortitude. He had to keep reminding himself that she was new and young to boot. Too young. He had wanted to wait and tell her about him and how they lived but it did not work out that way. She nodded bravely and she was then distracted by the castle. She had never been in a castle such as this. The one in Normandy was small compared to this. There were many things that she had not done, and he could not wait to show her. “If I remember, there is something that I warned you about,” he said playfully, and her eyes, the color of the summer grass, lit up.
“Yes, I do believe there was. I cannot remember what it was,” she said just as playfully as he pulled her up the steps, ignoring the greetings of the servants and whatever guests were still permitted to stay.
“Then let me remind you,” he said huskily as he pushed the door open to her bedchamber and ushered her inside. “This is yours.”
Her eyes went wide in astonishment. “Just mine?” she said.
“Yes, of course,” he said and then remembered that this room was probably as large as the entire cottage she had lived in before.
She threw her arms around him and he twirled her around, closing the door with a loud thump, and carried her over to the bed where he let her drop gently to the floor. He ran his hands up her thighs, bunching up the skirts of her gown. Her lips parted, a mesmerizing darker red, which was a sign of a healthy appetite of fresh human blood. He kissed her, moving his hands further up her thighs until he was squeezing her pert buttocks. She yelped softly as he bit her lip with his fangs down. He turned her around and ripped the gown from her, splitting the seams until it fell to the ground.
“You are going to have to stop doing that,” she said over her shoulder at him. “I am running out of gowns to wear.”
He laughed softly. “You will never have to worry about running out of anything ever again, my sweet. I will look after you for eternity.”
She sighed as he stroked her shoulders and down her arms and then, pulling her to him, he bit into her, tasting her blood that was just like her. So sweet. He flexed his hand, aching to touch her, but he couldn’t like this. He had to settle for either biting her or touching her. He hoped one day he could do both. To feel her wet and inviting as he took her blood, the thought made him moan softly and she gasped. He released her from the bite and the second his claws were gone, he delved his fingers into her, kissing her softly over the healing wound. She arched her back and his other hand found her breast. Her perfect, small breasts, which he could suck on for hours. He wanted to take her like this right now. He bent her over, telling her to stay in place and he quickly got himself free. He stroked himself a couple of times before he pushed himself inside her. She was so wet and so tight it made his balls ache. He moved his hand into the golden thatch of hair between her thighs and gently pinched the nub that he found nestled there. She squeaked as a shiver went over her as he rubbed her, his fingers slippery with her desire as the hard length of him was pounding into her. He felt her tighten and throb around him and with a loud groan, he let himself go, spurting inside her, unable to hold on any longer.
His thoughts end there as he is now outside Sebastian’s door. He doesn’t bother to knock as he pushes the door open. His boy is waiting for him, as he knew he would be. It has been many years since they were together in this way. Decades even. It has been even longer than that since Constantine was with a man other than Sebastian. He wonders briefly what Aefre would make of this side to their relationship. Knowing her voracious sexual appetite, she would revel in it. Watch them take each other greedily, before she made them take her the same way. With that thought dancing nicely in his head, he closes the door with a soft smile that his beloved boy returns.
Chapter 4
Kingdom of the Dark Fae, March 2013 - Liv
Who knows how long I have been sitting on this mud floor? Time seems to have no meaning here. I wonder if they even have clocks or calendars for that matter. It seems like awhile anyway. Long enough that I have fallen asleep and woken up and had a visit from Remiel in the process. Turncoat. I should have known he wasn’t to be trusted. Still, my sire is safe, and I am sure he will comply with my request to not try to rescue me. Can’t say the same about any of the others. I wonder how they will decide since democracy is not high on Constantine’s list of favorite things. As I sit here for longer and longer, I can only assume that they have taken me at my word and left me here. Which is fine, but I am getting bored. If Drake doesn’t turn up soon, I might go mad. Maybe that’s his plan? Maybe he knows I am here already?
I sit and twiddle my thumbs, fiddling with my charms and my rings and then he appears. In a puff of smoke just outside the bars of the cell, he is there. Drake. King of the Dark Fae and my father.
“Well, well,” he says with a smirk. “I knew you would be capable; I just didn’t think you would do it.”
I stand and face him. “Does this make me worthy?” I sneer at him, giving as good as I get.
He laughs. “Oh, yes. I would say that I am proud but…” He shudders. “You are still behind the bars and a crossbreed that makes my skin crawl.”
“Oh, really? If I am such an abomination why did you come to find me? I was doing just fine without you. Better even,” I tell him.
“Yes, I am sure you were. However, you are clearly my daughter and as much as I would like to deny you, that seems impossible,” he says.
I stand right in front of him, the bars separating us by inches. “Deny me. I dare you,” I say to him and he laughs.
“Oh no, my dear. You are mine and you will take your place in this Court,” he says firmly.
I grab him by his tunic front and pull him towards me. He flinches against the iron, but it doesn’t burn him. Must be a King thing. “Do you really want to test me?”
He grabs me back and says, “Do you really want to test me?”
“Might be fun, I’d like to see how I measure up against a Fae King,” I say confidently.
“Oh my girl, you will take your hands off me right now before I take them off for you. Make no mistake that I hold any affection for you. You are here to do a duty and nothing more,” he says mildly.
&
nbsp; “Whatever,” I say, sounding just like a petulant teenager and letting him go, but not before I do massive power pull on him and free myself from the cell.
He starts in surprise and then laughs. “There you go. All it takes is the right motivation.”
“In that case, I will be leaving now. I have places to be, people to see, that kind of thing,” I say.
“You aren’t leaving,” he says.
“Watch me,” I say as I prepare to Astral my arse out of here. Or at least attempt to. I’m not sure if I can now or not. I certainly couldn’t from inside the cell.
“Leave and I will return for you and not only bring you back here, but I will bring every member of your so-called family back here with you, to rot inside their very own cells.” He smiles as he has my attention. “I am sure your sire can hold his own, at least for a few weeks. He is remarkably difficult to kill, and he still owes me his blood, but I wouldn’t bet on the others so much.”
“You are sick. What do mean he owes you? And if you threaten my family again, I will kill you,” I snarl at him, pissed that he has me over a barrel.
“Is that any way to speak to your father?” he asks with a laugh, ignoring my question.
“I will fight you to the death to protect them. You will not get your hands on any of them,” I say, going all fierce in protection of my boys.
“So protective. It’s misguided, really. You should care for your own well-being more than theirs,” he says.
“Fuck you. You clearly don’t know the first thing about family,” I hiss at him and get a resounding slap across my face for my efforts.
“Use that language with me again and I won’t stop at just a slap,” he threatens.
“Oh yeah? What will do you, strap me to the floor and bleed me out like you did with my sire?” I ask cockily.
“As much fun as that would be, I need you well and alive. At least for a time. No, I think somewhere more in the region of ripping your fangs out and then removing every single one of your claws. I hear that hurts and has dire consequences for your kind,” he says innocently.
