Switch (The Forever Series, Book 7) (32 page)

“So it’s true,” he shouts over the roar of the wind that is
whipping my hair into my eyes and blowing my jacket practically off my body.
“You are my daughter.”

Chapter 17

I am bouncing a bolt of lightning between my fingers like it
was a part of me as I take in his words. “Drake,” I whisper in dread, now that
it has been confirmed and throw the lightning at him again. He laughs and
vanishes in a puff of smoke before my eyes. This can’t be happening. He wasn’t
just here. Oh please let this not be happening. How am I going to explain all
of this now? The rain still falls and the wind still roars and wondering why he
left and when he will be back, I stiffen my back as I turn back to the castle
to see not only Cade and CK standing on the terrace, but Sebastian as well.

Ah crap.

I drop the barrier and CK rushes forward, dragging me inside
and I quake in my soggy socks at the expression that will soon be on his face.

“Aefre, what the fuck?” he yells at me, still deafened by
the wind and thunder, until Cade wrestles the doors shut. “Who was that?”

I don’t answer him and I can’t help but look at Sebastian,
who looks back at me with the same fearful expression that is no doubt adorning
my own features.

“Aefre?” CK shakes me and I bring my eyes back to him. “Who
was that?” he asks now more pissed than concerned. “Do you know who that was?”

“Yes,” I gulp and I bunch my fists into two tight balls.

“Who?” he asks now, his face impassive and stepping back.

I look again to Sebastian who nods, face grim. CK turns to
look at him as if just noticing him for the first time. He comes to stand next
to me to show solidarity, but I am all alone in this. Only I can tell him and I
really would rather be anywhere else right now. “Cade? Would you excuse us,
please?” I ask and he leaves without a word, clearly not wanting to be anywhere
near this either.

“Tell me now, Aefre. Whoever that was, I want to know,” his
voice is like steel and I take a deep breath.

“My father.”

His eyes widen in surprise, obviously not expecting that.
“Your father? You know who your father is? Why didn’t you tell me?” The hurt is
palpable and I take his hand, but he pulls it away.

“I have only known for a couple of weeks. I wasn’t a hundred
percent sure. I wanted to be sure before I told. This…it…
he
changes
everything,” I say desperately.

Sebastian puts his hand on my shoulder and I cringe. I don’t
think he meant to do it but CK’s eyes zero straight in on it and without
looking at either us, just focusing solely on Sebastian’s hand, he says, “But
you knew? She told
you
?” He spits out the last word and we both flinch.

Sebastian, being a braver soul than I, steels himself and
says, “Yes. She had to, because of who he is. Because of who she is.”

“And she would be who exactly?” he asks Sebastian but his
eyes are now boring through mine like two black lasers.

“The Dark Fae Princess,” Sebastian says. “Her father is
Drake. King of the Dark Fae.”

“The Dark Fae Princess,” he repeats and his super brain is
figuring it all out in the microseconds it takes him to say it out loud. “The
counterpart to the Light Fae Prince.
You
.”

Sebastian nods and I just stand there, motionless.

“She is your supposed Chosen One,” he states it and then
lets out a sad laugh. “It all makes sense now, the sudden turnabout. Why you
changed your mind about being with him. Because you two are supposed to be
together.”

“I tried to warn you,” Sebastian says. “I told you what I
felt when I touched her. You said it was impossible, that she couldn’t be
Faerie, but you were wrong.”

“And you were right. You two found out and kept it a secret.
Your own little secret to share and keep from me. How could you?” he asks, but
I don’t know which one of us he is talking to. Probably both of us. “You knew
and you didn’t tell me. I expect this from her but not from you.” He turns to
Sebastian and I feel a mild sense of outrage at the “I expect this from her”
comment, but I push it down because I know he is hurting.

“I’m sorry,” Sebastian says. “I wanted to tell you. I asked
her to tell you but she wanted to see if Drake ever showed up looking for her.
If he didn’t then none of this matters.”

Thanks, Seb. Way to throw me under the bus…again.

“None of it matters? Oh, I’d say it matters. The two of you
lying to me about something so important.”

“No, not lying.” I suddenly come to life. “Protecting you
from something that I hoped would never happen.”

“Protect me? I don’t need protecting, Aefre. I don’t know
how many times I have to tell you that and I would rather you had come to me
before he showed up here throwing lightning bolts at you. So what now that he
has come for you? Are you and Sebastian supposed to swan off into the sunset
together?”

“No!” I say forcefully. “That isn’t going to happen. I don’t
care what he says, I am not joining his Court to be married off and bred.”

Sebastian’s hand still on my shoulder tightens painfully and
I curse myself to death right now as I realize what I’ve said.

“Bred? You are expected to breed? With Sebastian?” he asks
deathly quiet and I die a little inside at the expression on his face. “You
know this is what is expected and yet you still went to him today knowing?”

“It won’t happen,” Sebastian says, trying to repair the
damage I have caused. “She hasn’t been acknowledged yet. She still might not
be. Drake is a bigot of the highest regard. He believes only in true blood. Liv
is only half Faerie if that.”

“But you still knew. You still fucked each other knowing
that she might get pregnant. This is unforgivable. From both of you.”

“Constantine, please just listen,” I beg him.

“No, I am done listening to your lies. I cannot bear to look
at either one of you. You have betrayed me in a way that I never thought could
be possible.”

“No, Constantine. It isn’t like that.”

“It is exactly like that, Liv. Please leave now, both of you
just get out.” He hasn’t raised his voice the entire time and that scares me
more than if he had. Not to mention he called me “Liv”. His quiet calm belies a
deeper rage and I would have preferred if he had yelled and hit me than have
him walking silently away from me. I take step to go after him but Sebastian
holds me back.

“No,” he says quietly. “You don’t want to go after him. Just
leave him be.”

“I can’t,” I say, the tears falling down my face. “I have to
make him see that I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

“Give him some time. He will see. Just give him a bit of
time. I’ll go and take Cade with me, but you stay. You have a better chance of
getting through to him alone than if I am here. But just give it some time. Do
not follow him now,” he emphasizes but I’m not listening.

“Why are you even here?” I ask.

He doesn’t answer straightaway, just pulls up my sleeve and
I stare at my arm in horror, taking in the swirls and thorns that other me had,
forming slowly and now that I see them, painfully.

“No,” I say. “No. This is going to make everything worse.”

“I felt you use your Power. Only a Dark Fae can control the
storm like that. In spite of what I told Constantine, you have been
acknowledged, Liv. Your father will come back for you.”

I pace the library like a caged animal. Half an hour has
passed. Sebastian left and I am itching to go and find CK and try to make this
right. I am not one to sit around waiting and it is driving me crazy. I decide
to fuck it and go to find him, to confront him. Alone, I might have more luck
as Sebastian said. I don’t have long to wonder where he is, as I hear the
crashing and smashing as soon as I exit the library. He is in the South Tower.
The one with the Substitutes room. He probably went there because he thought I
wouldn’t follow him. Well, screw that. I’m going up there whether he likes it
or not. I race up the steps on foot, not wanting to Astral so that I give him
as much notice as I can that I am coming. I reach the top and see that the door
has been ripped clean from it hinges and I duck as various ornaments come
flying through the open doorway. A vase that probably costs the average
person’s annual salary flies over my head and smashes against the wall into a
thousand pieces.

“I told you to leave,” he snarls at me as I cautiously enter
the room.

“Well, too bad. This is my home as well and I am not leaving
it,” I say calmly.

“Not anymore it isn’t,” he bellows at me and my heart almost
stops beating.

“Yes, it is. It is mine and yours.” I am still being quiet
and calm, the complete opposite to his loud rage.

“Liv, just get out. I don’t want to see you.” Yet more
things crash to the floor around me but I don’t move. “Get out!” he roars at me
as he Vamps out and rips the entire bed to shreds in a matter of seconds.

“No,” I still say and it is the last straw for him. My
defiance in the face of his anger tips him over the edge.

“You want to stay?” he asks then, focusing intently on me,
his eyes black as they pin mine. “You want to be in here knowing what I did to
all those whores wishing it was you?”

My sharp intake of breath at his hurtful words makes him
smile, a cruel and evil flash of fangs as he advances on me now rooted to the
spot. “Oh yes, Aefre. Every second I was in here hurting them, fucking them until
they cried and begging me for mercy, I was wishing it was you.” He pauses to
gauge my reaction. “Does that hurt you?” he asks casually.

I just blink at him, knowing that he doesn’t mean any of it,
he is just saying it to hurt me. “You don’t mean that,” I stammer and curse
myself for my weakness.

“Don’t I?” he asks as he glides closer to me in Hunting
mode. I inadvertently take a step back and it pleases him. “You should be
afraid. I have let you get away with far too much over the years. You need to
be punished. Do you want me to punish you?” He is now standing so close to me
with his hand around my throat, his claws digging painfully into me. He knows I
can’t go anywhere as he has cut off my ability to Astral, and I can see it in
his eyes that he is going to play with me as a cat would a mouse. All those
times I pushed him to show me his monster had been a big, big mistake. I don’t
want to see it. Not when it looks at me like it hates me and wants to tear me
apart.

“Constantine,” I whisper and he tightens his grip on my
throat. I can sense a Power building but it isn’t coming from me. It is coming
from him. I have never felt anything quite like it before. His eyes are now
completely black, as in not just the irises, but his entire eyeball is glowing
an evil black that I didn’t even know he was capable of. I struggle to breathe
as the pressure starts to increase in the air. It is stifling, like it is
pushing down on me. The wind picks up in the room, a swirling vortex that we
are standing in the middle of and I am actually terrified, as I don’t know this
man standing in front of me, not even a little bit. I choke as he squeezes
tighter and the wind speeds up and the unseen pressure pushes down on me,
literally forcing me down.

“That’s right. On your knees, whore,” he says to me as I
drop. The only thing holding me up is his hand at my throat. “I have tried to
treat you differently, I never wanted to use my Powers on you as I wanted
everything you felt to be real, even if it wasn’t love for me, I still never wanted
to manipulate you in this way. Even now, when you need to see reason I couldn’t
do it. Had to have someone else do it because I couldn’t bear to think about
hurting you that way. Violating your mind. Bending you to my will. But no more!
You are no better than all the others,” he shouts at me as if he is about to
rip my head off, and I know now that the visions that Remiel were showing me
were all true. It is the thing I need to get my own Power to work. It’s there
all right, hovering under the surface, but I am not used to it. Not used to
calling it to me to defend myself with it. He has nearly three thousand years’
worth of experience over me, and it shows. I start to coil it up deep inside,
ignoring the pressure he is putting on me. It is exactly as he just said, he is
bending me to his will and it is scary, scary stuff. Even more so that I never
even knew he had this Power. “All this time, all I wanted was complete control
over you,” he continues as he lets me drop to my knees. “But you could never even
give me that. Not just once. You belong in here with the rest of the whores to
be taught who owns you,” he snarls the last sentence at me and I gasp as he
backhands me so hard across the face I go flying into the unforgiving stone
wall behind me. My head bounces painfully off the wall but I shake it off and
stand. I am fighting against his own Power and it enrages him further.
“Complete control,” he roars at me over the twister that is whipping around the
room, ripping everything into even more tiny pieces. “Submit!” he yells at me
as he grabs the front of my sweatshirt. “Submit!” His inner monster has
completely taken him over and had I been a weaker Vampire, I would have been on
my belly ages ago by now, groveling at his feet, but there isn’t a chance in
Hell he is going to win this Power struggle. He may have finally revealed his
scary ass Initial Vampire mojo, but I have some scary ass Queen of The
Underworld Power of my own lurking somewhere. Somewhere where I wish it would
hurry up and show itself before he kills me. Or at least tries to kill me. That
thought petrifies me more, as at least if we both knew how I could die it would
be quick and painless. As it is, he throws me across the room and I slam into
the opposite wall, rattling me painfully as I slide down it, only just staying
on my feet. “Don’t fight me, Aefre,” he warns. “You know how much I can hurt
you.” And just to remind me he slashes his claws down me, cheek to navel,
ripping my clothes and slicing my skin wide open. My blood spurts out all over
him as he nicks an artery and I hiss at the agonizing burn his claws have left.
I sink to the floor trying to fight through the pain, as he cut me so deep he
hit my rib bones on his way down. Fuck. He is vicious. When I said that I would
rather he take it out on me than walk away…I was being a fucking idiot. I
should have done as he said and left. He may be only slightly physically
stronger than me now, although my own strength seems to have abandoned me in my
time of need, but he knows how to fight and harness his Power and he isn’t
afraid to hold back. To be truly ruthless and merciless. Even on me. “Give in?”
he taunts as I take a deep breath to steel myself. Never, I think to myself and
it gets me on my feet. Just.