Chapter 50
Chapter
Fifty
Igasped when my body flew upright, putting me into a sitting position on a bed that was not mine.
Instant panic consumed me as I glanced around, not recognizing the room in the slightest. I tried to kickstart my brain into remembering the space, wondering if it was somewhere I’d been before that I couldn't recall.
The room was small and tidy, its sage curtains drawn to a close, preventing me from getting a hint at my whereabouts. The wood walls almost reminded me of home, before I remembered that my home no longer existed.
I sat up a bit straighter. My entire body ached, as if it were crushed. Wait—
I was crushed.
Recollection swarmed me as I recalled the details of what happened. Last I knew, I was face to face with Beaumont, preparing to destroy him before the castle caved in on me.
I took inventory of my injuries. There were a few scrapes and bruises on my arms and legs, but other than that and a general soreness, I felt fine. Someone must have healed me because the odds of surviving what I did were slim. So incredibly slim.
My eyes peeked at the iridescent constellations on my arms and more memories came rushing back to me. I shuffled back towards the headboard, pulling my hand to my mouth, and chewing the tips of my fingers as more unease filled me.
Was I in Draemor?
Did Beaumont make it out? Did he bring me here?
Was Sebastian okay? Sawyer? Pia?
Was Kohen even alive?
I rocked back and forth, hugging my knees to my chest like an infant. Tears poured from my eyes in response to the fear building up inside of me.
“Hey, hey, Maeve. It's okay. It's me.”
My head skipped to my right when something familiar finally appeared, Sebastian's voice calming me instantly as he stepped into the room.
“Oh thank the gods,” I whispered as he rushed for me and threw himself down beside me on the bed.
He cupped his hands around my cheeks, then sucked my lips into a long, deep kiss. When he pulled away, he dipped his forehead against mine, releasing a throaty sigh.
“You're okay,” he assured me again, and though nothing felt okay, I trusted him. “How much do you remember?”
I looked down with focus. “I remember everything until the castle fell.
I think Beaumont got away, or was crushed.
I'm not sure. After that, nothing.” I raised my head, reality sinking in.
“What the hell happened? Are you okay? Is Kohen okay?” I sputtered out question after question as I scanned my eyes over his body, looking for any injuries.
“How did we get here? Where even is here?”
Sebastian chuckled a little. “First of all, yes. Kohen is okay. We made it to the tunnel just before the castle caved in, and Pia was able to heal him enough to keep him alive until we made it out. Sawyer is fine, too.”
Alleviated, I nodded, waiting eagerly for him to tell me more.
“What happened is that you kicked fucking ass. You mutilated the Draemornians with starlight just before the castle fell.”
“I remember all of that—” I glanced up at Sebastian as confusion toppled over me. “How do you know what my new magic is? Weren't you in the tunnel when I did that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
He bit his inner cheek, nodding slowly. Stray strands of his dark hair wavering with the motion. “Yes.”
“So how do you know what I did?”
Sebastian shifted uncomfortably. “I tried to tell you. Wanted to tell you so many times, but I—” He looked down, avoiding my eyes.
I flipped through my memories, recalling what he said just before Beaumont showed up—something about things he hadn't told me.
“Tell me,” I demanded.
His gaze collided with mine, his eyes filled to the brim with sorrow. “I'm sorry,” he apologized.
“For what?”
Sebastian sucked in a sharp breath as he rose to his feet, angling his back to me. “I’ve known more about this war and about you than I’ve let on.”
My heart suddenly had to work extra hard to beat. “Care to elaborate?”
“You're going to hate me.” He hung his head.
I didn't think it was possible for me to hate him, but then again, I had no idea what he was about to tell me.
Sebastian turned back to look at me and his posture sank as he blurted out the words that caused my heart to break.
“My mother was a seer, which I know sounds crazy, but it happens.
Once in a while there's an anomaly, and she was it. I found her journal a few years back. She wrote visions that she had, a lot of them having to do with the war we are in and you.”
I interrupted him with an eye roll. “You realize that sounds like a load of crap, right?”
Sebastian huffed a laugh. “I know, but I swear on everything I love that it's true.”
“Was that what you were reading in the archives the night we overheard Lucan? That's what you stuffed away and wouldn't let me see?”
He nodded softly and cleared his throat before continuing to wreck me with his confession.
“As soon as I saw you last summer, I knew who you were.
She predicted you—described you in detail.
She also saw two outcomes of this war, though she didn't give many details about them, only that one outcome involved someone important dying. At first I thought it was you. I was relieved beyond measure to learn that it was Blythe.”
That's why he didn't want me to fight. That's why he pushed so hard to bring me to the tunnel. He was trying to change an uncertain fate.
Sebastian took a deep breath, spilling the rest of his confession in a mess of stutters and shambles, as if he'd been holding the words in for so long that they’d forgotten how to piece themselves together.
“She also wrote about your power. How it was more than just mind compulsion, but she didn't elaborate too much on what. I pieced two and two together the more I got to know you, and the more I learned about Blythe and the prophecy. I didn’t know for certain that you would be able to control the cosmos, but it was in the back of my mind for a while.”
He sat back on the bed and I leaned away from him, absolutely appalled. “How did you just ‘piece that together’?”
“She wrote a small entry about the cosmos. How a god was responsible for them, but did not name who. I thought at first that maybe it was Zenith.” His voice lowered. “When I found you after the sacrifice and saw the markings on your arms, I knew my assumptions were right—”
I held my hand up to stop him. I’d heard enough.
He’d been lying to me for the better portion of a year. Well, not so much lying as he was withholding information. Regardless, the betrayal hurt the same. “You knew about me from the very moment we’d met, and didn't say anything?” I asked, my shock reflecting in my voice.
He’d kissed me—slept with me—all while hiding that he had information about the prophecy.
About what was going to happen to me. He could have cured so much of my fears had he just told me.
Looking back, it made sense. There were clues along the way.
The way he stared at me when we first saw each other at Jewel-Light last summer as if he already knew me.
My eyes burned as they filled with scalding hot tears. No longer caring that I had no idea where we were, I stood up and pointed to the door. “Get out.”
Sebastian shook his head. “No. Maeve, there's really more I should tell you. And please let me explain,” he begged, his own eyes turning wet.
“Get. Out,” I repeated icily, needing him gone.
Sebastian rose to a stand, ignoring my plea for him to leave. “I love you, Maeve. I never meant to hurt you. I was going to tell you everything, the time was just never right—”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Oh bullshit. I have a few ideas of when the ‘right time’ may have been, Sebastian.” His name rolled off my tongue like a curse.
“Maybe, oh, I don't know, when we first met?
Or when I was so weak and sick from using my power that I couldn't eat—a little heads up that things would change would have been nice.” I began pacing, tapping a finger on my chin as I roamed.
“Maybe when I saw you reading the journal in the archives that night. Or maybe before you fucked me.” I turned to face him, showing the anger displayed on my face.
My shoulders drooped, and my voice broke and cracked under the weight of my sorrow. “Before you told me you loved me?”
My gaze fell to my feet to watch my tears splash on the floor. Sebastian reached out for me, but I rolled my shoulder back and away from him.
“I trusted you,” I squeaked out.
“Maeve…” he whispered my name apologetically.
“For the last time, Sebastian, just get the fuck out!” I screamed and cried at the same time.
The harshness of my words visibly shattered him. But I was too broken, too devastated to care.
“I know you're mad, but please try to understand. And just let me finish. Your father—”
“No! Don't you dare mention my family. They are all dead, and I bet you knew about that, too, right?”
“I—”
My anger came to a head and I shoved him hard in the chest, the moment all too reminiscent of when he returned from Craterra. My heart ached at the memory of what we shared the night of his homecoming. That evening held some of my best memories with him, even though it began much like this.
I swallowed the nostalgia and pushed him towards the door. My shaking fingers twisted the knob and tried to guide him out, but he got caught on his exit, slamming into another body.
My eyes rose to meet a set that looked quite similar to mine. I knew by the resemblance who the man was before he could even tell me. Which either meant that none of this was real and I was actually dead…
Or he never was.