14. Chapter 14
14
Chapter 14
Violet
I had only gotten drunk once in my life, and I hadn’t had wine since. It was only a few years into mine and Calum’s relationship.
Calum’s parents had gone on an anniversary trip to Sartova, a small town on the north end of the Mountain Realm. Calum’s father gifted Celine a home in Sartova in the early years of their marriage. Since Celine was native to the Ice Realm and had to leave her home for an arranged marriage, he wanted her to have a place where she felt comfortable. Sartova was the perfect place for that because it sits on the top of a mountain that was always covered in snow and looks out into the Ice Realm.
Celine never deserved him.
Since Calum’s parents and my father were gone, Calum thought it would be a good time to let me try wine. He knew my father wouldn’t approve because of my heart, but he wanted me to experience it. It was a good time—until it wasn’t. We both got drunk, trashed the dining room, and passed out in the sitting room.
An unexpected storm ruined Calum’s parents’ anniversary trip so they came home early . . . and found us in the sitting room.
Having to sit and listen to our parents yell at us while nursing a throbbing headache from a hangover was enough for me to never want to drink again.
To make it even worse, my father brought it up for weeks after the incident saying it was too dangerous with my heart condition and that I had to be more careful—which was exactly why I tried it when he wasn’t home.
Be careful . The words I had always had to live my life by.
I’m glad I had put a pill in my pocket before we left the castle today. I didn’t know we would be out so late, but I knew better than to go somewhere without a pill. Just in case.
I took the pill as we walked towards the door at the bar. I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible because I didn’t want to hear any comment about it from Bronwen.
Going to a bar with Bronwen seemed like a bad idea from the start, but it got even worse when we walked in and I realized it wasn’t just a night out for the two of us.
Sebastian and Adar were standing at the bar top.
“Bronwen,” I said as I stopped at the door. Sebastian was staring at me, like he sensed it the second I walked through the door, and based on our last encounter, there was no way this would end well.
Other than a few females gawking at Sebastian, no one seemed to make a big deal of the fact that their Sovereign was in the bar with them. Even with his casual clothes—a long-sleeved black top with pants to match—nothing could diminish his striking blue eyes and the shadows creeping up his neck like tattoos.
Despite his female admirers trying to get his attention, he never took his eyes off of me.
“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Sebastian and Adar were meeting us here,” she said as a smile grew on her face.
“You forgot ?” I looked at her with a knowing look.
“No, but I knew you’d object if I told you earlier. Just live a little, Violet,” she said as she pulled me towards the bar.
Live a little .
She was right. My time here in the Night Realm where I had the freedom to do whatever I pleased was limited. I needed to enjoy myself. And what would happen if I just had one drink? I could ignore Sebastian.
Doubtful. But I could try.
One glass of wine turned into two, which turned into more, but I needed them. I couldn’t live my entire existence around being careful because of my heart condition. What was the point of living if I just feared death the entire time? And it felt so good to make decisions for myself, even if it was something as simple as telling Bronwen I would have another drink.
The bar was small; the bar top was on the back wall with a few stools and a couple tables on both sides. Most of the room was open for dancing, which seemed to be what everyone came here for given the crowd of fae enjoying themselves and dancing to the angelic voice of a dark-skinned faerie with small weblike wings on her back and the drums of the two males with her, both with silver skin, black holes for eyes, and tails swaying to the music. It was dark, with only the candles on the walls lighting the room.
We sat around a table in the corner, and Bronwen talked the entire time—something she seemed to always do. She either just didn’t like silence or really liked to hear herself talk.
Adar found a lonely fae pretty quickly and left us to dance with her. This was the first time I ever saw Adar act normal. Like he was actually enjoying himself.
“Sebastian, I know you said no more family meals, but I’m growing bored of the mundane tasks I do around the castle. I need something else to focus on,” Bronwen said as she stretched her arms across the table to add a little drama.
“If you continue putting me in a room with Nathara and Lilian multiple times a day, someone will end up dead,” Sebastian said while ignoring the spectacle she was making of herself.
“So . . . not multiple times a day,” Bronwen said, skipping the part where he threatened to kill someone. She sat up and began tapping her finger on the stone table as she ran those words through her head. “Then it’s settled! We will just have dinners.”
“Why can’t it just be us?” he asked Bronwen, but he didn’t take his eyes off of me. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of me since I walked into the bar.
“You want your sister out of the realm. Excluding her and her new family from group dinners may look bad. They want an arranged marriage with her because they want an alliance with the Night Realm. With you . They could back out of the engagement if they learn she means nothing to you and that you don’t intend to keep an alliance with them.”
I couldn’t believe they were talking about this in front of me. If this got out, it could jeopardize the engagement which was obviously something Sebastian wanted to happen. And yet they were saying it in front of the daughter of the Commander of the Mountain Realm.
“I’ve seen the way Calum is with Nathara. He’s in love. He will marry her with or without an alliance with me,” Sebastian said.
My heart sank when I heard those words. I grabbed my glass and drank what was left.
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed at my reaction to what he said.
“Well, I disagree. You can perform your duty for the greater good and handle dinner with them for a few months,” she said, doubling down.
Sebastian glanced at Bronwen and gave her a nod.
“And on that note,” Bronwen continued as she looked down at my empty glass, “I will go get us some more wine.” She grabbed my glass and walked to the bar.
“Did you enjoy yourself today?” Sebastian asked as he continued to study me.
“Yes, not as much as Bronwen did though.”
“Do I even want to know how much she bought today?” he asked as he rubbed his forehead.
I giggled. The wine I drank was taking away the little willpower I had to ignore Sebastian.
“Probably not. But why do you buy everything she wants anyways?” I asked. I knew Bronwen’s reason, but I wondered if there was more to it. Bronwen said there was nothing going on between the two of them, but they were so close. And the way she talked to him without any fear, there had to be something going on.
“She deals with Nathara and Lilian so I don’t have to. I’d buy her the world if I could for that.”
I didn’t know if it was all the wine I had, but this was the first time I actually felt comfortable around Sebastian. I wanted to know more about his relationship with his sister and why he couldn’t stand to be around her, but I didn’t want to risk upsetting him and him turning back to the cold Sebastian I’d seen before.
“Oh, I love this song! Come dance with me!” Bronwen said as she ran back over to the table and grabbed me and Sebastian and pulled us to the dance floor.
The wine was in full effect as I felt the music run through my body. I danced with Bronwen, forgetting everything around me until a cool hand grabbed me and spun me around.
Every ounce of better judgment left my body when my eyes met his. There was such hunger and wanting looking down at me.
He wanted me, and I liked it.
I danced with him. Our bodies were closer than they had ever been, and they moved in rhythm with the music.
My heart was racing, and every part of my body was begging me to get closer to him as if the centimeter between us was too far apart. The hand he had wrapped around my waist felt too good, and I wanted to feel every part of him. And the crooked smile he gave me as he looked at me, like he could devour me—my gods, it warmed me deep in my belly. But as soon as I felt myself giving in, Calum popped into my mind. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do this to Calum. I needed air.
I pushed myself off of Sebastian, broke through the crowd of drunk, dancing fae, and went out the door.
As I stood there on the street trying to calm down, a pale-skinned, dark-haired fae walked out of the shadows.
“What are you doing out here all alone?” he asked as he looked at me, tracing the curves of my body with his eyes. I knew this wasn’t good. The look in his eyes told me I wasn’t safe, and every instinct in my body told me to get away from him.
I turned to go back inside but he grabbed me by the back of my head and pulled me away from the door. I started to scream but nothing came out. It was like he had taken away my voice. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make a sound.
He took me to the side of the building and slammed me against the wall. He bit my neck while he attempted to pull my pants down. I pushed him away, but it only made him madder.
He grabbed me by the throat, hitting my head against the wall again as he said, “Don’t try to stop me. It will only make it worse.”
Tears started to run down my face when all of a sudden something ripped him off of me and threw him against the stone wall of the building in front of me.
Sebastian walked over to him, and his shadows grabbed the fae and pinned him to the wall.
I stood there, frozen in place, as Sebastian looked at the fae and said, “She’s mine,” before plunging his hand in the fae’s chest and ripping his heart out. He turned around to look at me. His eyes were dark, and he was still holding the fae’s heart in his hand.
He killed someone right in front of me, and my mind was telling me to run before I was next. But I couldn’t.
Because deep down, I didn’t care what he had done.
He protected me. He saved me.
Even as he walked towards me, blood dripping from the once-beating heart in his hand, blood splattered across his face, and a sinister look in his . . . black eyes, I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to move.
He stopped as Bronwen and Adar came running into the small alley where we were standing.
“What the hell did you do, Sebastian?” Bronwen asked as she looked at the lifeless body on the ground.
“Take her home.” His words sliced through the air as I still stood there, unable to move my eyes from his.
The ride back to the castle with Bronwen was silent.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what Sebastian did. I knew he was capable of it as he’d done it so many times before, even to his own father. But to see it firsthand . . . I’d never seen someone kill. And Sebastian didn’t hesitate.
The part that scared me the most was that in that moment, I wasn’t afraid of him. As he stood there with evil in his eyes and a bloody heart in his hand, I felt safe. Because he did it to protect me.
S he’s mine .
Those words would forever be engraved in my mind.