Switch (The Forever Series, Book 7) (28 page)

“I said we do,” he snaps at me and I pull my hands back like
I have been scalded, folding them in my lap and cursing myself for ruining the
mood. “I’m sorry,” he says with a deep sigh, taking my hands in his. “I didn’t
mean to be harsh. There is more to it than just wanting not to rush. Although
that is a big part of it, there is another small part of me that can’t bear to
be with you right now,” he says so softly. “I need a bit more time.”

My mouth drops open at his admission. “Oh,” I say, not
having anything else in my repertoire to add.

“Please don’t take that personally,” he says, gripping my
hands tighter as he registers my tone and expression. “It is my issue to deal
with and I won’t let it get in the way of our time together tonight or again
for that matter. Just give me a bit longer to get used to the idea that you and
Sebastian have been together in the way that you have today, okay?”

I nod hesitantly and he smiles.

“Thank you. It is more difficult than I realized to share
you with him. That the next time I see him, he will have known you like I know
you. Vegas was…nothing, and the others matter not as they are yours and nothing
to do with me, but Sebastian…and this…” he indicates the castle behind him. “I
will find it hard to look at him and you in a room together for a while. Do you
understand?”

“Yes,” I say, even though I am thinking “Vegas was nothing”?
Maybe not to him, the arse.

He nods gratefully. “Then let’s get you to bed for a bit. I
need you awake and happy later.”

“Will you at least stay with me? You can read or work? I
don’t want to be apart from you anymore than I have to be.”

He gathers up the folders but leaves everything else for the
staff to deal with. The sun is disappearing and the clouds are gathering,
almost as if they are responding to the change in our moods. The wind gusts and
I shiver, feeling the chill. He hands me my shoes and helps me stand. Wrapping
his arms around me, he Teleports us to our bedroom and says, “Yes, I will stay
with you.”

He tucks me into bed and I watch him as he stretches out on
the bed with his work.

“Sleep,” he says with a sidelong glance.

“I’d rather watch you. You are the most handsome man I have
ever come across, even more so when you think no one is looking at you and you
relax.”

“I don’t like people staring at me,” he says.

“I’m not just people. I am your wife,” I say, stifling a
yawn.

His head turns slowly towards me. “What did you just say?”

“I said, I’m not just people, I am your wife,” I mutter and
fall asleep.

In my dream I am drifting up the stairs to the North Tower,
I stop halfway up as I can already hear them speaking and I stop to listen.

“I did as you asked, I am unsure why you are so mad at
me,” Sebastian says.

“I’m not mad at you and I just want to know exactly what
you are saying to her. It comes in fits and bursts and before she said she was
my wife. I can’t have her catching me off guard every time she says something
like that,” CK says impatiently.

“I am suggesting to her that she leaves her husband and
becomes your wife. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“But that isn’t how it is coming out. She is getting
confused.”

“Of course she is getting confused,” Sebastian retorts.
“I told you before that I am messing with her whole mind, not just a single
thought but a whole set of them and every time she Shifts, it throws the spell
off course. It is dangerous and quite frankly, I can’t say for sure how this is
going to turn out.”

“Oh, so you are getting all ethical on me now that you
have finally taken her as you wanted her.”

“There was no taking involved,” Sebastian says in a snit
now. “We were together and it was perfect. Christ, that woman knows how to
please a man.”

“Spare me the details,” CK growls at him. “I can do without
the imagery.”

“I’m sure it wouldn’t be too taxing to picture it,”
Sebastian goads him.

“Watch yourself. If you disrespect her, I will beat you
to within an inch of your life.” CK’s sinister tone has me stepping back a
fraction.

“I’m not disrespecting her,” Sebastian says fiercely.
“She has given me everything I ever wanted, and more. I owe her everything for
what she showed me was possible today.”

Silence.

“Don’t you dare fall in love with her,” CK says quietly.
“You will never have her that way.”

“Won’t I? I could quite easily suggest to her that it is
me she is supposed to be with.”

“You would betray me for her?” CK asks in disbelief. “A
couple of hours in the sack and you would throw away our entire relationship?”

“No, of course not,” Sebastian says after a few moments.
“You know that I would never do that. I just don’t see why I always end up
losing out. Why don’t I ever get to be happy?”

“Oh ‘Bastian. I know you feel that way but you mustn’t. I am
still trying to fix this. I will find a way to reverse what I did.”

“I told you I don’t want to be fixed. Not now, not now that
I have her.”

“You don’t have her,” CK says quietly. “She’s mine.”

“Then why aren’t you with her?” Sebastian asks bitterly.
“Why are you up here arguing with me?”

“It is not my intent to argue with you, but you need to
be put in your place. If I can’t trust you with her, I can’t let you continue
with this arrangement.”

“What? You would take her away from me even after knowing
what she did for me?” Sebastian is furious.

“Can I trust you with her?” CK asks calmly and I can hear
lots of smashing and crashing going on.

“Fuck!” Sebastian yells before more crashing. “If you
take her from me, you might as well just stake me. I am not living this life
without her. Not now.”

“Then you need to think about what you said. I need to be
able to trust you. I asked you to do this for me, if you turn around and try to
take her for yourself because of something you are hoping is true, you will
leave me no choice.”

“It is the truth, but I won’t,” Sebastian whispers.
“Please don’t take her from me. You can trust me. Please,” he begs and I hear
CK grunt.

“Very well.”

“This is getting too complicated,” Sebastian says
quietly. “Please, can you just do it yourself from now on?”

“You know why I can’t do that. I intend to keep the
promise I made to myself, if nothing else, until the end of time.”

“But she won’t know. Just take the burden off me.”

“I can’t ‘Bastian, I’m sorry. If she ever did find out
about my Power and I never told her, she would always wonder if I had used it
on her. I have too much to lose.”

“So do I!” he shouts. “You are her sire. Chances are she
would forgive you at some point. If she finds out what I have been doing to
her, she would never forgive me. She has no cause to, and I have a lot to lose
as well.”

“I need you ‘Bastian. I need you to do this for me,” he
says soothingly.

“So you keep your hands clean and leave me flapping in
the wind?”

“No, I wouldn’t let that happen. But yes, you’re right, I
need to keep my hands clean.”

I am shocked at this exchange. Not only are they are
speaking of me as if I am some toy to be fought over but they are talking about
spelling me. And what is the deal with Sebastian’s switch in temper? And CK has
Powers? What is all that about? I am vaguely aware that I am dreaming and that
I have dreamed, at least some of this, before. I am seriously paranoid. I can’t
listen to any more of this. I turn to glide away and bump straight into Remiel.

“You,” I snarl. “I might have known you would have
something to do with this.”

“I am merely here to make sure you are listening to what
they plot. I have nothing to do with the content.”

I brush past him after casting a critical eye over him.
He is dressed up in some garb that makes him look like a Prussian General.
“Been reading again?” I indicate his dress and he looks down at himself.
“Whatever do you mean? I like this look. Very dignified.”

“Whatever,” I grouse as I float back down the corridor
towards my bedroom as he follows on foot. “Go away,” I say to him.

“Not yet. I have been trying to get you to see for ages
now that you can’t trust your sire. He is having Sebastian influence you. Your
will is strong but his is stronger. You have no idea who he is, and he will
succeed if you allow this to continue.”

“No, this is a lie. I do know who he is. This is just
something you have made up to mess with me.” I try and speed up my floating but
to no avail, I am just slowly inching my way down the corridor and I can’t get
away from him.

“No messing. Although that is fun. I do quite enjoy our
time together.”

“If this is true, why are you showing me? What do you get
out of it?” I ask.

“Two less people in my way.”

I have no idea what he means so I just stare at him. “I
am quite certain that you wouldn’t care to continue with your relationships
with either of them, if you knew what they were doing to you. You would cut
them off and as I said, two less people in my way.”

“Your way to what?” I ask through gritted teeth as I
don’t seem to be going anywhere now. I am just wafting about like some sort of
ghost. I don’t even have feet which is most disconcerting.

“To getting what I want,” he says easily.

“Which is what? Me in your little fantasy world?”

“The bigger picture,” he says and my eyes flutter open.

Chapter 15

I sit up suddenly and CK says, “Aefre?”

I turn to him, sitting right where he was when I fell
asleep. He is covered in papers and he doesn’t look like he has moved, so he
can’t have gone up to the Tower to speak to Sebastian. Can he?

“Weird dream,” I say and he looks concerned.

“The Thirteen kind?”

“Maybe, I don’t know. Have you been sitting here the entire
time I was asleep?”

He blinks at me and my strange question. “Yes. You asked me
to stay with you so I did.”

“You are sure? You didn’t go anywhere?” I press.

“I am quite sure. Is there a problem with that?”

I smile in relief. “No, not at all,” I say as I lean over
and kiss him. He responds to my kiss but doesn’t deepen it, so I pull away as
he obviously isn’t ready yet.

“I like being here while you sleep,” he says. “I feel like I
am watching over you, keeping you safe.”

“I feel safe when I am with you.”

He smiles in pleasure. “Want to tell me about your dream?”

“No, it’s already forgotten,” I say. “Although I wonder if I
can ask you something?”

He looks at me with dread. “Please, Aefre, no more drama. I
don’t want anything to spoil our time together.”

“No drama. Just a question.”

“Tell me about what and I will decide whether to answer
you,” he says in the tone he usually reserves for negotiating deals.

I too, however, am a good negotiator and come back with,
“I’d rather you say you will answer me first.”

“Now that makes me think that I would rather not answer.”

“Constantine,” I say in my most coaxing tone. “If we are to
be together, shouldn’t I be able to ask you anything and have you answer me?”

He narrows his beautiful, almond-shaped eyes at me and puts
his pen in his mouth as he thinks over my question. “Yes, I suppose you should.
Although if you are going to ask me a serious question that requires my full
attention, you might want to cover up a little bit. Your breasts are far too
distracting.”

I look down and pull the sheet up with a smile. “Better?” I
ask.

“Well no, I would rather be looking at them but I am
guessing this question is regarding an unpleasant topic and therefore a modicum
of modesty should be acknowledged. Fire away.”

I take a deep breath to steady myself. This is going to go
one of two ways: he will either answer me or he won’t. “Before Lance took me,
was he normal?” I ask in a rush, looking him square in the eye, wanting to see
his initial reaction.

The pen that had been resting between his teeth drops to the
bed as he takes in my question. “I beg your pardon?” he says, raising his
eyebrows as he recovers quickly. Too quickly, dammit, I didn’t see anything,
exasperating man.

“You heard me. Don’t make me repeat it.”

“Yes, I think I heard you. I certainly heard words, although
I don’t think that they belong in the sentence in which you placed them.”

“Just answer me, CK. I want to know if I…”

“If you what?” he pounces on my slip-up. I wasn’t going to
ask if it was me that broke him, but as usual I need a muzzle.

“Did I break him?” I ask quietly.

He looks stunned. “Aefre, what makes you ask a thing like
that?”

“Something that Rem…err, The Thirteen said to me.”

“Do not believe anything that creature has to say to you. It
lies,” he says fiercely, still upset about him taking our intended life and
playing with it in my dreams.

“Why would he lie about that? He has all of Lance’s memories
and feelings. He told me what happened.”

“When did it tell you?” Emphasis on the “it.”

“When I asked him on Saturday. Before he turned into Fraser,
he came as Lance. I asked and he told me.”

“What exactly did it tell you?”

“Stop asking me questions. You are supposed to be answering
mine. A simple yes or no will suffice.” I am annoyed that he is quite neatly
dodging the question.

“Do you have to know?” he asks quietly. “Is it something
that you have to know?”

“Yes,” I say simply.

“Very well.” He clears his throat. “Yes, he was normal.” I
close my eyes as I hear his words and he adds, “Well, in as much as he could
be.”