Chapter 9
Persy
There were flowers on my kitchen counter.
Fresh flowers.
As in someone put them there. Someone that wasn’t me.
I blinked twice, and when my vision cleared, they were still there. Beautiful and full of color and sitting in a stunning vase that I didn’t recognize.
No one had been in my house today. No one except…
“Sebastian?” I asked, trying to get his attention even though I’d felt his eyes on me since the second I stepped in the house. And sure enough, when I turned to face him, he was already looking at me. Leaning comfortably into the side of the couch, book in hand, and paint still all over his clothes.
I had half the mind to tell him to change. Even though I’d seen what he’d been painting with my own eyes this morning, I still couldn’t help but feel like there was more I hadn’t seen. And that made me want to snoop.
That was horrible and so, so wrong, especially since I’d told him he couldn’t go in the room on the other side of the studio.
“Are you responsible for those flowers?” I managed, pointing towards the bouquet.
Sebastian shut the book with a muffled snap. “Yes.”
Oh. Alright. Okay.
I was having a very normal reaction to that. A reaction that was definitely the exact same as when my mother or father brought some by. Technically, a man had brought me flowers but it was either from my brother or a friend.
This was normal. Very normal.
“Thank you.” Goodness, my voice sounded hoarse.
Sebastian stood, his cheek pulled into a grin. “Don’t mention it.”
I opened my mouth to tell him how much I appreciated it regardless, but he cut me off with a wave of his hand. “I was serious. Don’t bring it up.”
Within seconds, he managed to get me riled up again. I’d had a rather peaceful day after I managed to calm down from this morning. I had a mild heart attack when I thought he’d snuck out, hoping I wouldn’t find a dead body on the edge of Prometheus if he tried to flee.
What I found felt worse. I didn’t tell him—which was an omission not a lie, but I had been standing there, watching him paint, for longer than I admitted.
I just got sucked in. I couldn’t help but watch as the muscles in his back shifted and moved while his hand moved the brush around the canvas.
He was in so much control in that moment. It was almost eerie, how easily he was able to turn blobs of paint on a palette into a painting so realistic it made me question my sanity.
I was so off-kilter. He was responsible, which, in my mind, made it okay to push him a little bit. “Actually, I would like to know why you bought me flowers.”
Sebastian’s eye twitched. “I didn’t buy you flowers. I bought your kitchen flowers.”
Whatever the dip in my stomach was, it was not disappointment.
“Well,” I said, the sound nothing more than a tool to clear my throat. “It does make the kitchen brighter. Thank you.”
The bouquet was huge, full of bursting, colorful wildflowers that I would have said looked hand-picked if I didn’t know any better. Even though it was tempting to dedicate a great deal of thought to the flowers sitting on my counter, I had responsibilities.
I walked toward Sebastian, coming to sit down next to him on the couch. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, as I was learning how deeply observant he was, but he was picking the opposites to everything I did.
He sat in the stool I didn’t use. On the side of the couch normally reserved for resting my feet. He drank from cups I didn’t favor and mugs that normally sat in the back of my cabinet, untouched.
There was something oddly comforting about that. I’d always felt too observant. Like I noticed things that people didn’t, and if I tried to point it out, they would blink in confusion and say Oh in a way that made me feel bad for bringing it up in the first place.
In my adult life, I’d kept most of my observations to myself. It was only now, when there was someone else who saw things the way I did, that I realized how isolating it was to have to do that.
“How was your day?” I asked, hoping I hadn’t been caught up in my own thoughts for too long.
If I had, Sebastian didn’t seem to notice. Or care, maybe? “Are you asking because you’d like to know if I helped Daphne?”
“If I wanted to know that, I’d have asked. Not everything has an ulterior motive,” I said, to which Sebastian instantly locked up, his muscles going taut like a rope pulled between two opposing forces.
Oh. I tried to keep anything that would be mistaken as pity off my face, but my stomach dipped.
That must have been very lonely, viewing innocent questions as a probe to get information out of someone.
“I’ll try again,” I said, keeping my voice intentionally light. “How was your day?”
Sebastian waited several seconds to respond, though his eyes never left my face. I was getting used to it, because I was pretty sure the color on my cheeks could only be described as a light wash of pink, rather than a fiery blush.
No one ever looked at me like that. It was hard to get used to.
And that was coming from someone who’d been called everything under the sun by people in the throes of recovery and pain.
“It was fine,” he said carefully. Then something interesting happened. He kept speaking, and it almost looked like it had happened out of his control. “I didn’t know Daphne was friendly with your Niky.”
I’d ignore the bite in his tone for now. He’d have to get used to Nikolas being around. I just smiled and said, “She’s been coming to visit since the moment he got out of the initial detox.” My eyes drifted over Sebastian’s shoulder, realizing that the sun had already dipped behind the hills, leaving the sky a pastel wash of color. It reminded me of what we were going to start today.
“We can continue that conversation later, if you’d like,” I said, crossing my legs over each other. Sebastian’s eyes tracked every movement. “But before then, I wanted to run something by you.”
“You say that like I have the option to disagree with whatever you have planned,” Sebastian said, his lip curling with a grin.
I couldn’t help but smile in return. “You have a point, but I wanted you to be a part of the conversation, regardless.” Sebastian nodded, giving me leave to continue. “Besides you reinstating heirs, the goal for these six months is to get you back as Apollo. I thought the best way to do that would be for you to reconnect with each piece of your power. I have some things planned for certain aspect of your power—open to suggestions, by the way—but I figured today we’d start with light.”
I was actually excited about this one. We didn’t get much natural light in Prometheus, and no matter how strong I felt I was, it still got to me.
I’d always wondered if there was anything I could do for the other residents, because it was surely affecting them too. I’d even considered trying to split up the old cells and new facility so there would be access to better sunlight, but that was something years down the line.
“Was the paint and studio part of that?” Sebastian asked, eyebrow raised. He doubted everything, didn’t he?
“No.” My voice was honest, the only option there was. “I thought you’d want an outlet.”
Sebastian leaned forward, pulled deeper into the conversation from interest. Like a moth to a flame. “Is that what’s on the other side of the door? Your outlet?”
“Yes.” He was right. There was no other way to answer.
Sebastian’s mouth quirked.“You’re putting a lot of faith in me.”
“Be good, and maybe I’ll tell you what it is.” Be good? Really? And why did that sound so flirty?
Sebastian blessed me with a full-blown, genuine smile now, having obviously amused him. Warmth spread across my chest. I’d made him smile from something I said.
“Oh, I’ll be finding out what’s behind that door, love.” His gaze swept up and down my body in two quick passes. “C’mon, let’s see what you have in store for me.”
For a moment, I’d forgotten what it was that I had planned. Then I snapped back into focus and stood. I gathered a portal behind me, one that would bring us to where we needed to go.
You couldn’t see much through the portal, not if you didn’t know what to look for, but Sebastian’s eyes lit with recognition.
“Clever one, aren’t you, love?” Sebastian said, taking a step toward me.
On instinct, I fell back a step, continuing to retreat as he all but walked me through the portal and onto the edge of a cliff.
I should have been scared of our positioning, especially given the remaining licks of the initial jolt of fear I got every time I saw him, but the feeling never really came.
I didn’t think he was going to hurt me, or at least wouldn’t do it intentionally.
Pushing me off a cliff would be very much intentional.
“Why’d you pick here?” Sebastian asked, though I was sure he knew.
I turned, looking out over the ocean and towards the horizon.
Well, now I felt the fear. Having Sebastian pressed along my back, forcing me to perceive him just through feeling rather than sight. “Best view of the horizon in the Mediterranean,” I explained quickly. It was the most uninterrupted view, giving you access to the best, clearest light we had. While it was already dusk in Prometheus, the sun was still high in the sky, warming my front degrees hotter than the already tingling skin along my back.
“And therefore the most light,” Sebastian said, and if I wasn’t mistaken, the words had been placed right next to my ear.
Nope, that was too far for my bravery to extend for now. I stepped away from Sebastian, walking over to one of the benches placed along the cliff’s edge. On the way over, I took in two quick breaths in an attempt to steady my heart rate.
For a second, I thought it worked until Sebastian came to sit down next to me and my heart kicked off again. “What’s the idea, then? I soak up all the sunlight and that makes me want to return as Apollo again?”
I looked out over the sea as I said, “More or less. I figured you’d appreciate the light after all those weeks inside. We don’t get much sunlight in Prometheus as it is.”
Sebastian hummed, a low sound in the back of his throat. For an entirely unrelated reason, I decided to close my eyes, tipping my head back to feel the sun against my face.
“You’re so far to the edge of the world, I’m surprised you get the few hours you do,” Sebastian said, his voice sounding more intense, more like a physical scrape over my skin, with my eyes closed.
“It’s only for six months. Well, five really.” The days were already dwindling away. If I was honest with myself, I wasn’t sure if I was ahead of the curve with Sebastian or grossly behind.
“And thank the Fates for that,” Sebastian returned. “I don’t know how you do it. I could never live that far from the light.”
My eyes popped open then, turning to find him already looking at me. A small jolt of shock zapped my chest. There was a completely uninterrupted view of the ocean. It was calm today, enough that the sky and sun was reflecting off the water, obscuring the horizon so that the view looked like one beautiful wash of light.
“You won’t have to if you play your cards right,” I said, my tone verging on playful. I might as well give into it. If I wanted to make any progress with Sebastian, I’d have to build a comfortable dynamic. If a light, teasing tone was what came out, then I’d just have to assume that was natural around him.
“I’ve already made Reyna’s antidote.” My eyes widened in shock and Sebastian’s grin grew. Daphne hadn’t told me that. She’d just told me that her meeting with Sebastian had been interesting and made me promise to come over for dinner one day this week so we could talk more. “I’d say I’m doing better than anyone imagined.”
“You think they expected you to fight me all the way through?” I asked, curious if that feeling was coming from himself or others.
Sebastian’s expression turned skeptical. “Haven’t I been doing that?”
“You’ve been surprisingly easy to work with,” I said honestly. He’d reacted no different than I’d expect for someone in his position. And he’d already knocked off the antidote for Reyna—a huge step in the right direction. “I’ve seen worse.”
Sebastian slapped a hand over his chest dramatically. “Don’t insult me like that.”
A genuine laugh jumped from my chest, so forcefully I had to cover my mouth with my hand to muffle the sound. Sebastian looked so stunned by my reaction, I said, “Don’t look so shocked. I think you’re quite funny.”
Sebastian’s mouth settled into a line, his jaw pulsing once. “A compliment of the highest regard.”
The warmth from the sun was steadying me, and though I didn’t want to bring up business and distract from the conversation we were having, I had something to ask him. It was better that I got it out of the way sooner so he didn’t think I was faking a conversation to trick him into answering.
Actually, that was a thought he should know. “Sebastian,” I said, even though his attention had never wavered from my face. “I have to ask you something. I don’t want you thinking I’m manipulating you into answering, so I’m just going to ask straight out.”
Sebastian’s chest expanded with a breath. “Shoot,” he said gruffly.
“Adrian’s spies have been checking in on those who’d been given tattoos,” I said, my eyes dropping for a moment to his sleeves, still splattered with paint. I hadn’t actually seen the tattoos hidden under there, but I’d been told he had a thin ring of black ink circling his arm for every person he’d recruited. “Daphne’s tonic is working well. They don’t seem to be aware of any involvement and are going about their lives as normal.”
If I wasn’t mistaken, Sebastian let out a sigh of relief. He sucked the breath back in as quickly as it had left him. It seemed to shock him, so I didn’t point it out.
“But I’m assuming there were people higher up in your plan that didn’t receive a tattoo.”
Sebastian scrubbed a hand over his jaw, rubbing two fingers over the joint like it was sore from hours of clenching it in restraint. “You’d be correct.”
I felt my mouth curve into a soft smile, carefully pressing forward. “As I’m sure you understand, we need to make sure that they know this is over. I—”
“I’ll give you a list.”
I blinked, unsure if I’d heard Sebastian correctly. “A list?”
I couldn’t quite read his expression, but the wash of color in his eyes was glowing brighter than normal. “I am intelligent enough to know when I’ve lost.” I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I just nodded. When Sebastian did that to me, I had the urge to keep talking. To my surprise, that was exactly what he did. “I never wanted a war. I never wanted this to be messy. I saw an opportunity to take Adrian’s power quietly, to force him into handing it over willingly. I’ve lost the element of surprise and I have no intention of finding another way to overthrow him.”
That was more insight into the way he thought than I’d ever gotten before.
He didn’t crave violence. That was a greater sign of hope than I would ever tell him.
I studied him quietly. It looked like that moment of honesty had tired him out. I understood that.
“Fair warning,” I said, smiling and keeping my voice light. “I’m about to thank you.”
Sebastian’s eyes brightened with a smile. His grins never reached his eyes, but there was a smile there now. “I’m prepared. Hit me.”
“Thank you.” My words were a tad breathier that normal, but I was chalking that up to the breeze getting in the way. I was feeling a little less afraid of him now, so it surely wasn’t that.
“Great, now that torture’s over.” Sebastian rolled his shoulders back like he was physically shaking off the words. “Did you know this was the best light in the Mediterranean or is it just a favorite spot of yours?”
Sebastian had just asked me a question. Had willingly engaged me in conversation. I fought a knowing grin, which would have surely killed the moment if he caught it. “Is both an acceptable answer?”
Sebastian released a disbelieving laugh, and I tried not to note how his strong throat worked with the motion. I certainly did not dedicate any time to noting how the chain of his necklace moved. Or any thought to what hung at the end of that long chain. “You’ll just disagree with me if I say no, so sure.”
“See?” I said through a laugh. “You’re coming over to the dark side.”
Another lick of fear dipped in my stomach when Sebastian gave me a slow once over. Somehow I knew, just from the raise of his eyebrow, that he was noting the way my entire body was turned toward the sun, absorbing every bit of light I could get. “Starved for sunlight?”
The rough and low tone of his voice hit me like an arrow to the chest. It would be all too easy to mistake that lilt for something else. It was unsettling enough that I answered honestly, even though I hadn’t made it a habit to lie to him. “My mom used to call me her sun baby,” I said, smiling genuinely at the thought of my mother. “I’d start crying if I wasn’t in the sun for at least four hours a day.”
A handful of seconds went by before Sebastian finally answered. “Then why do you do it? Why willingly live that far away from it?”
I breathed in, trying to keep my reaction neutral. I’d trained myself not to show how much it affected me for a long time. “It’s beautiful in a different way.”
It was. Prometheus only had real sunlight for about five hours a day. While the rest of the world was covered in bright morning sun and comfortable evening light, our sky was a diluted version of that color. Sometimes, on busy days, I missed the sun completely.
But our nights were pretty spectacular. We had the clearest view of the stars. Every so often, neon washes of color would flash along the sky. It was wonderful, but my loyalties lied with the sun.
“That didn’t answer the question,” Sebastian said, leaning in as he said it. Dammit.
I turned away as my cheeks heated with a little jolt of fear. When he’d leaned in, I got a whiff of his cologne which had the same effect on me as smelling smoke in your house.
It made me want to run.
I sighed, trying to calm my heart with a large breath. “I think it’s okay to set aside my desire to be near the sun when I’m able to help this many people.”
“Sacrificial, are you?”
I shook my head quickly. “No.”
“Don’t lie.” I didn’t even have to look at Sebastian to know he was smiling as he said it.
“My decision to keep some of my feelings from others is not sacrificial.” It wasn’t. Just because I had personal issues asking for help didn’t mean I was willing to jump in front of an arrow for just anyone.
“And what would those feelings be?”
I was starting to understand Sebastian. He was comfortable with silence, and so it was moderately safe to assume that if he chose to speak, he had intended to say or ask whatever had left his disturbingly-full lips.
My inclination was to try to smile and give a non-committal answer. But if I expected him to open up to me, to be honest about his motivations and what led him to his actions, I needed to be honest too.
I breathed in, preparing myself for the small jolt of nerves that came with sharing something I normally kept to myself. My eyes stayed pinned to the horizon, my skin soaking up every bit of sunlight it could as I answered, “I was young when I took over.” I kept out the part about the last person who ran Prometheus and how he got a sick fascination watching people in pain. That was the only reason my parents even agreed to letting me step into the role so young. “People were doubtful. For a lot of years, I would try to do everything myself, proving that I was capable of doing it. It didn’t do me any favors stress wise.”
Even though I hadn’t intended to, I looked away from the horizon and turned to Sebastian. He was watching me intently, his eyes narrowed in focus. There was a distinct look people got in their eyes when they weren’t actually listening to you. A light glaze that made their eyes shine more.
Sebastian’s eyes were clear as day. Each color swimming in his pupils distinct from the other.
“I’ve been trying to get better,” I said quickly, realizing I’d let a few too many seconds pass in between sentences. And telling Sebastian I got distracted by his eyes was certainly not an appropriate explanation. “There are still some days where I get overwhelmed. I’m the worst with the people who have to stay in the old cells.” I shook my head, a chill running down my spine. “I just don’t understand how people can be so dedicated to cruelty.”
I’d seen so many people change. Or not even change, just understand that the choices they made in the past harmed themselves or others and embrace the resources we gave them to try to rebuild their lives in a way that fulfilled them.
The people who had no other priorities than watching people suffer were the ones that made my blood run cold.
“What do you mean trying to get better?” Sebastian asked. There was a touch of curiosity in his tone and it made my heart lurch with hope.
“I see a doctor once a week to talk things through.” The same doctor he’d be seeing tomorrow, but he was smart enough to infer that. “Part of that is talking about anything in the old cells that made me feel shaken up.”
“Like what?” Sebastian bit off, so harsh my back snapped straight under the force of his tone.
I felt my cheeks color with heat. My face had always been reactive. I’d never really minded it before, but something about Sebastian’s heavy observation made me want to try to hide it. “Um,” I began, then had to lightly clear my throat. “People get very angry. A lot of people call us every name under the sun. I don’t like to physically restrain people, but sometimes that’s necessary. One time someone—”
My words died in my throat when I registered Sebastian’s posture. His muscles were coiled up like a snake about to launch out of the grass and sink its fangs into prey.
“Go on, love. Finish.” I wasn’t sure that I should, given Sebastian looked two seconds away from popping the joint in his jaw out of place. Not to mention my body only seemed to register the tone he’d used and the words he’d said.
Trying to remind myself of the context before that image solidified, I answered him, “One time someone got ahold of my hair and tried to pull me in a cell with him. I was fine, but the worst part of it was his hands were still covered in blood. I was so busy, I couldn’t even wash it out until that night.”
Oh, no. No, answering him was probably the wrong idea.
If I wasn’t already scared of him, I would have been now. He was seething, his nostrils flaring and breaths heavy, enough that I wasn’t convinced he wasn’t about to start spewing fire.
“Sebastian—”
“He touched your hair.”
I blinked, trying to make sure I’d heard him correctly. “Well, yes. But it was—”
“He’s still there?”
I was trying to figure out the expression on Sebastian’s face, because the only thing that was registering was deep, unbridled rage. And that made no sense.
I swallowed thickly, the motion doing nothing to clear the tightness in my throat. “No. He died a few months ago.” He’d died in his sleep, going quietly down to the Underworld.
“Good,” Sebastian bit out.
I sucked in a breath that one might have described as a gasp. My mouth was opened to respond with something like I don’t wish death upon anyone, but Sebastian was standing and walking to the edge of the cliff before I had a chance to.
My feet were moving to follow him before I could figure out whether or not it was a good idea to stand next to a cliff’s edge with him.
You’re safe with him, a voice in the back of my head said, with such conviction I was forced to believe it. At least for now.
I wasn’t sure the swoop of my stomach whenever Sebastian pinned me with that multicolored gaze was going anywhere soon.
Sebastian’s arms were crossed, his thick biceps stretching the fabric of his long-sleeved shirt. He must have been working out when I wasn’t home, because no one just looked like that. “What else is on the list?”
“Hmm?” I hummed in confusion, trying to figure out what he was referring to.
Sebastian shifted on his feet, pulling away from me then drawing closer again. “This reconnecting with my power thing.”
“Oh,” I breathed, resetting my thoughts. “I’m open to suggestions. But I figured arts, medicine, music, and prophecy to start. We got light out of the way today.”
There were other, smaller aspects of his power—archery, poetry, dance, truth, among others—that we could certainly hit.
We really did need Apollo. We needed a good Apollo. He had such capacity to make our world a brighter, more beautiful place.
Sebastian looked down at me, his eyes doing that familiar pass over every inch of my face. “Fine.”
I brightened immediately, unable to stop the physical manifestation of my relief. There was gratitude all over my face, which was normally followed by a thank you. Sebastian had told me he hated when I said that, but he was looking at me like this was exactly the reaction he was expecting.
Maybe even … wanted?
It was fragile and so, so new. I forced myself to settle, to act like his agreement hadn’t made my day.
I didn’t quite want to leave yet, I’d prefer to watch the sunset. Especially knowing that while this part of our world had at least another hour of sunlight left, and surely a spectacular sunset to accompany it, Prometheus was already dark and full of stars.
But I also didn’t want to hold Sebastian hostage.
“Unless you have pressing plans, take pity on a poor god of light and stay until the sun sets,” Sebastian drawled from next to me.
I couldn’t stop the bubble of excitement then, my body bouncing up on my toes. “Yes, that would be lovely.”
Sebastian’s hand moved in front of my stomach, hovering just an inch off my skin. “Don’t go tumbling off the cliff, love.”
See? Safe.
I shook off the voice, focusing in on Sebastian. The wind was starting to pick up, blowing a stray, dark brown curl onto his forehead. My fingers itched with the urge to push it back for him.
My body was clearly keeping an eye out for me, because having to watch him do it himself, having to watch his bicep flex as he raked his hands through his hair was … disconcerting.
“Should we go sit back down? Save us both the risk of me ending up in the ocean.”
I’d said it with a light, even joking tone, but Sebastian’s expression only darkened further. “After you,” he said, clearly wanting me to turn so the hand hovering over my stomach could move to my back.
“I’m quite steady on my feet, you know,” I said as I walked back to the bench.
Sebastian didn’t respond until I was seated. “I know you are. Doesn’t hurt to have someone to help.”
My eyes narrowed even though my lips were pulling into a smile. “Is that supposed to be a comment about me asking for…” My words trailed off as Sebastian took a seat next to me.
His thigh couldn’t have been more than an inch away from mine.
That somehow made the sensation of him sitting there ten times worse. I was going to go crazy if I had to just sit there, feeling him just a hair’s breadth away. I’d rather he just touch me and get it over with.
But he was sitting perfectly still, poised like a statute.
“Asking for help,” I finished through a hoarse throat.
Sebastian smiled, his tan skin glowing in the golden hue of the light. He really was meant to be seen like this. “Think what you will.”
A small laugh jumped out of me, barely caught by my hand reaching up to cover my mouth.
Sebastian’s smile dropped the barest inch before curling back up again.
Something in that action made me nervous, enough that I spoke without thinking. “What should we have for dinner?”
Oh, goodness. What was wrong with me? There were so many dangerous things about the way I’d phrased that.
Sebastian either didn’t notice or didn’t care, because he said, “I have ingredients for pasta sitting in the fridge,” without missing a beat.
“Did you enjoy the market?” It was one of my favorite parts of Prometheus. Constantly bustling and full of people who extended the same kindness they’d once been given to others.
Sebastian made a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat. “No one would let me pay for anything.”
“Oh, Fates forbid,” I returned with a smile. Though the sun was still beaming down on us, I turned towards him, resting my arm on the back of the bench and crossing my legs.
It only made sense.
My neck would hurt otherwise.
“I’m assuming that’s some extension of the treatment they give you?” Sebastian shifted in his seat, rotating slightly towards me, as he rested an ankle on his knee.
I shook my head. “No. It’s true no one lets me pay for anything, but I never told anyone to treat you the same.”
Sebastian looked me up and down, like he wasn’t quite sure he believed me. I was too busy trying to dispel a little jolt of fear from his perusal to care. “Everyone was pleasant. If not slightly scared of me.”
The way he said that would be something I would shelve for later. We’d spoken about too many heavy things today. “Pasta sounds lovely,” I said, shifting the conversation back. “And thank you for cooking.”
“Your other chef isn’t upset I’m stealing you away?” Sebastian’s voice had gone thin again, something I was realizing meant he didn’t quite care for the person he was speaking about.
Odd, given he’d never met Kostas.
“No,” I said through a laugh. “I think he’ll be happy to have the break.” Which really meant he had more time alone with Nikolas, but their budding relationship was still too fragile for me to feel okay looping Sebastian in on it.
Sebastian made that humming sound again, which I was only marginally better prepared for.
It was that small bit of unsteadiness that pulled me fully into the conversation, missing the point where Sebastian had asked me a question about the new structures in Prometheus.
I didn”t pay attention to the way I responded or the questions that followed. Mine in return.
It wasn’t until too late that I’d realized we’d settled into a conversation far more causal than any we’d shared before. Sure, Sebastian’s cool charm was still locked into place and I was still sucked into it, shooting back quips with far more ease than I’d ever before.
But the conversation had slipped away from me, moving forward easily and comfortably, until the sun had fallen behind the horizon and the sky erupted with a sunset.
I wasn’t sure how long we would have stayed there, maybe even until the sunset had faded into a pleasant blue dusk, had my stomach not growled with hunger and Sebastian stood quickly. “Lead the way, love,” he said, waiting for me to stand with his hands clasped behind his back. Like he was holding them there lest they run away from him and do something insane like touch me. “Dinner time.”