A really tense, really awkward moment passed before they finally broke their silent communication and looked over at me. I was sorely tempted to look at my wrist, exclaim at the late hour and tell them I really had to be on my way. Instead, I waited to hear what they had to say. I couldn't read anything out of their expressions, which was a little scary. I kept cutting my eyes from one to the other, and just when I was starting to reconsider the 'Oh my! Look at the time!' plan, Godric spoke.
"Niall lives? In the time, you came to us from?" he asked, a slight crease in his brow. I squinted my eyes, wondering why he chose to ask that out of the million other questions they both had to have.
"Yes, he actually contacted Eric to arrange to meet me. Eric took me himself to a restaurant, where Niall revealed my true identity to me. His son, Fintan, had two children with my grandmother, Adele. One of them was my father. Because of Fairy politics, Niall was not able to contact me until then," I explained, not wanting to give too many details if I didn't have to.
"What Fairy politics?" Eric asked, cutting to the core of the matter. I pursed my lips, wondering how to explain the little I knew.
"Well, I know that Niall's nephew, Breandan, was trying to overthrow him and also kill all human-fairy hybrids. He detested everything human, and that's where he and Niall ran into their biggest problem. Niall also believed his son, Dermot, to be against him, but really, he was under a spell and not evil after all. Niall won, but decided he posed too much of a danger to me to stay in my life, so he sealed the portal between Fae and our world to prevent any more harm to me and I haven't seen him since," I answered, realizing it wasn't much of an answer at all.
"What do you mean 'any more harm'? What happened to you?" Godric immediately asked.
"Well, I was a popular target for those against Niall. Despite Neave and Lochlan's best efforts, I lived," I couldn't help shuddering as I remembered the torture they'd put me through before Bill and Niall had gotten there. I also couldn't help noticing that both Eric and Godric's eyes narrowed at those names. Clearly, they'd met.
"How did you survive?" Godric asked. "Pardon me, but Neave and Lochlan are known for their ruthless nature." Shocker.
"Niall and a close vampire friend of mine got there just before they finished me off," I gritted my teeth and looked at Eric, remembering that he wasn't there and how confused I had been at first. "You were detained, you couldn't come save me." I closed my eyes briefly, remembering in vivid detail when he'd told me how much it hurt him not being able to help me.
"While you were with Neave and Lochlan, I suffered with you," he said, meeting my eyes directly.
The emotion that blazed in the blue fire of his eyes was painful to see.
"I hurt with you. I bled with you—not only because we're bonded, but because of the love I have for you."
I sighed softly, trying to breathe out the ache that I felt in my chest. I really, really missed him and I'd only been away from him for one night. I needed to figure out what was going on here so I could get back to where I belonged. When I opened my eyes, Eric was waiting patiently for me to continue speaking. Godric, on the other hand, was hardcore staring at me. It was a little creepy. I shrugged, deciding to finish my tale of woe.
"My cousin Claudine was killed in the process, leaving Claude the last surviving triplet. He stayed behind when Niall left and sealed Fae off. He and Dermot eventually moved into my place. That's about it," I said, really not feeling like delving into Colman.
"You speak the truth," Godric stated, eyes still intent on my face.
"Yep. Yep, I do," I said with a twinge of sadness. "Trust me, if I could have changed all that, I would have."
Wait a minute. Is that why I'm here? Am I supposed to change that whole mess? I thought for a minute, trying to remember how old Claude and Claudine were. I knew Niall was around, but I couldn't remember if I'd even known the twins' actual age. But how the hell could I change any of that without changing everything? Sure, I would happily skip meeting Bill and all his bullshit, but Eric was my destiny. I knew that like I knew the sky was blue, it was just a fact. How could I change one thing, or anything, without possibly changing my future with him? Had I already changed it? Shit, was I turning my life into something like that Eric Bana movie with the time traveling? Was Eric going to know me now before I knew him? My head was spinning and I seriously needed to calm the eff down.
"I really need to go to sleep," I admitted, tiredly brushing a strand of hair away from my face. I had a million questions of my own, but I needed to get to bed.
"Of course," Eric responded immediately. He turned back into the bedroom, motioning me to follow. "Forgive us, we are not used to feeling the pull of the sun as keenly as one your age."
I walked toward the doorway, noticing that Godric was still studying my face. He gave me a small smile when he saw me look at him, which I returned warily. I wasn't sure what was up with him turning into Creepy McCreeperston all the sudden but I wasn't a big fan. When I got into the bedroom, Eric was holding a linen potato sack out to me. I grimaced when I realized that must be some sort of nightgown, but figured it would be a hell of a lot more comfortable to sleep in than the dress I had on.
I took it from him, nodding my thanks, and he retreated to the door. I cleared my throat, realizing I had no idea how to get out of this dress. I figured if anybody in the world knew how to get one of these things off, it would be the blonde Don Juan walking away from me. "Um, Eric?"
"Yes?" He turned his head, one eyebrow raised curiously.
"Could you help me get out of this dress?" I asked, squinting one eye uncertainly. He flashed his bad boy smile at me and turned back into the room immediately.
"I thought you'd never ask," his voice was like velvet but the words were so Typical Eric that I had to snort out a laugh. I turned my back toward him so he could reach the ties.
"If you can just get it untied, I can take it off myself," I told him, wanting to be clear. I heard him make a 'tsk' kinda sound and felt him pulling on the laces.
"As you wish," he sounded martyred and I had to roll my eyes. After a few minutes of tugging and pulling, I felt the heavy outer dress sagging down. He immediately began work on the corset laces. "We'll figure this out, you don't need to fret about it," he said softly behind me. I felt a sudden lump in my throat at his words, and blinked my eyes rapidly a few times.
"I know," I answered, clearing my throat again. We basically had to figure something out, eventually. I was just worried about how long it would take us. I couldn't imagine being away from Eric for much longer. My Eric, that is. "You're probably losing your mind with worry right now. In the future, I mean."
His hands stopped for the briefest of moments and I'd have loved to see his face right then. He recovered quickly, and a moment later I felt the greatest sense of relief as those laces came loose as well. His hand brushed against my bare neck, sending goosebumps racing down my back.
"I'd be a fool not to," he whispered against my ear. I could feel his breath against my skin and had to repress the shudder that threatened to shake my body. My breath hitched for a second, but I recovered quickly. I turned to give him some sass but he was no longer behind me. He had zipped into the other room, and I exhaled a deep breath. He was essentially Eric, but technically I'd met him only hours before. I didn't know how I felt about jumping into bed with him right off the bat. I mean, I knew how I felt about it (tingly, excited, rip roaring' ready to go) but I didn't know how I felt about it. Would it be cheating? Technically? If I slept with him off that bat, would he respect me like he should? I know that sounded stupid, but I also knew a big part of his initial attraction to me was my resistance. Did I really want to sleep with him? Or did I want to sleep with him because I knew how much he would mean to me, 500 years down the road?
I shook my head, really wishing I had a Magic 8 Ball to help me out with some of this. I let the dress slide down and stepped out of it, stretching my back out and turning from side to side. I grimaced when I saw the marks left on my skin from the stupid girdle. Or corset or whatever the eff that torture device was called. I shook out the nightgown Eric had handed me, not wanting to know where the hell he'd gotten it. It was really soft, though, and looked pretty comfortable, so I wasn't going to worry too much about it. I pulled it on over my head and sat down on the edge of their bed. As I started pulling the pins out of my hair, I was nearly overcome with wanting Eric there yet again. I tried not to think about it as I pulled pin after pin out, softly scratching my scalp intermittently. Mrs. Cotillard had really done a good job. I reached up to pull another pin out and felt another hand bump mine. I turned my head sharply to see Godric standing behind me. He smiled, a little awkwardly.
"Do you mind?" he asked, gesturing toward my hair. I shook my head, slightly thrown off by his offer. I turned my head back away from him and felt him gently pulling pins out. "Many, many years ago, I had a younger sister. I used to help my mother with her when I was a very small boy, and dressing her hair was one of the things I enjoyed doing. Of course, I used to complain and go on about it, to keep up my reputation," he said, chuckling. "But I actually found it very soothing. Times were much different then; we were always scared. I found that when I focused my attention on Leefa's hair, I forgot to be afraid," his voice was wistful and I was shocked that he was telling me these things. I floundered for something to say as he continued to take my hair down.
"Her name was Leefa?" I asked, hoping that wasn't too intrusive.
"Godelieve, actually. It means 'loved by the gods'. She thought it sounded too much like my name, so she preferred Leefa," I would swear he was smiling. I had the strangest feeling of vertigo, trying to figure out why the hell he was telling me this, or helping me with my hair. I knew that when I met him, in 500 years, he would be reformed and repentant. However, based on Eric's stories, he should be far from that now. He let a section of hair down and it brushed against my neck, causing me to shiver for the second time that night. I cleared my throat.
"What happened to her? Do you know?" I asked, not sure at exactly what age he'd been turned, or what the customs of his people were. He may have been off and married while she was still a child, for all I knew.
"When I was nine years old, my people were overtaken. We were Thracians, but have been called Dacians, Getae, Visigoths, it doesn't really matter. We were conquered by Romans, of course. They owned the whole world at that time. The soldiers who burned my village to the ground took me as a slave, killed my father and raped and murdered my mother and sister. Leefa was six years old," his voice was now detached, like he was reading from a history book. "Loved by the gods, indeed."
I mentally cringed for asking in the first place. What the eff was I thinking? I should have known it would be something horrible like that. I could seriously punch myself in the throat sometimes.
"I was taken back to Rome, though I nearly didn't live through the journey. When finally, we made it, I was of course sold. I was a pretty child, and despite my tattoos, I was purchased by a wealthy bachelor named Romulus almost immediately. He treated me like a son in some respects. I was educated, well fed, healthy. His temper, though, was mercurial. I was abused according to his whims, I never knew what to expect. I grew jaded, at a young age. I believed I should be out fighting a war as I'd been trained by my father to do. Instead, I waited on this twisted man hand and foot. I was little better than a castrato, in my own mind," he had pulled all of the pins out and was running his fingers through the length of my hair. I could feel my head lolling back into his hands and fought my eyelids to stay open; I hated the bleeds but I felt like I needed to hear the end of his story.
"I could tell you horrifying tales of the 'parties' he would hold, the guests he would invite to his home, and the role I played in entertaining them. But that's not something to be discussed with a lady. Suffice it to say that I was very bitter after years of this treatment. Then one day, a man named Remus, of all things, came whirling in like a wind and killed Romulus before my very eyes. I was stunned, and scared. Even after all of that, the years of helplessness, the impotent feeling that had been ingrained in my personality, I still wanted to live. I actually fought against the man, which he found quite charming. He was vampire, of course. He was my Maker," he said, his voice trailing off to a whisper. My heart squeezed as I processed the things he'd told me and I felt a fierce desire to protect him. Which was silly, of course. For all I knew, he was the most formidable creature on the planet.
"I tell you this because I believe the time you come from is much different than the time we are in. I imagine you will see some things that you will wish you hadn't, probably you will do some things you will wish you hadn't. I want you to know that we don't always get to choose what we must do. I was bitter nearly my entire human life." I was seriously fading here, his voice getting quieter as I began to fall asleep. "I raged against the gods for my fate and the fate of my family. And then Remus came, and made me like him. And we were gods. And so are you, my child. You shape destiny now, you no longer need to fear it."
EnterSandman.