Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
SEBASTIAN
Three days of travel and all I could think about the whole fucking time was Maeve and how much I missed being buried inside of her.
I probably shouldn’t have asked her about Sawyer before I left. But when I walked into our room and saw her head resting on his lap in that chair, it took me back to Caelestis—the way she had laid on my lap after I fucked her bent over the armchair in my room.
Needless to say, the sight left me fucking fuming.
Much like I’d expected, she wasn’t thrilled when I told her there was another journal.
But I'd rather her pissed at me over the alternative—which was her pretending like I didn’t even exist. I’d take what I could get, although her choice of words after I told her definitely caused a crack in my heart.
And gods, if I had told her that her mother was going to die, I think it would have broken us both. It was hard enough to see her struggle so much with the prophecy and everything else, I hadn’t had the heart to break hers even further.
She wouldn't get out of my head. Every waking thought was about her. Hell, even my dreams were about her. I replayed our memories constantly, recalling every detail of her skin, from the color of her lips to the birth mark in the dimple of her back.
That woman was as stubborn as they came, but I absolutely loved her for it. She wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, and she also respected herself enough to know what she deserved—which wasn’t me at the moment. Understandably so.
She had to forgive me eventually—I couldn’t handle it if she didn’t.
She had every right to be angry, and not gonna lie, I wasn’t too happy with her at the moment, either. But I could easily move on if it meant I had her back.
I needed her back.
“Hawthorne?”
My heart craved nothing more than to grip her cheeks in my hands and kiss her like she was the blood I needed flowing through my veins. Slip my tongue across hers. Trail my lips down her stomach, teasing her skin until she was wet and whimpering with my fingers inside her tight—
“Hawthorne!”
The sound of Lyrise yelling forced my brain to dart out of my fantasy world. I adjusted my hard cock as subtly as possible, then called over my horse's mane. “What?”
“You daydreaming back there?” he taunted with a snide grin.
I offered him an eye roll, to which he responded, “You ready for this? We’re almost there.”
“Ready? I’m eager to kill this bastard.”
“That’s the spirit,” Sawyer cheered with a fist punch to the air.
“Let’s go over the plan one more time,” Kade advised, looking at Kohen.
“Sharpe, your job is getting cozy with the townsfolk. Get chatty, preferably to someone who knows their way around the castle and can get us inside. Sinclair, you’re going to scope out the grounds and see if you can catch a glimpse of Beaumont.
If you do, keep a close eye on him. If you see him entering the castle or heading somewhere alone, you let us know. ”
I had to fight my eye roll at Kade’s bossiness, but honestly, it was kind of nice to not be the one in charge of things 24/7.
He looked over his shoulder at me and purred with a crafty smile, “You and I will have the pleasure of killing the fucker.”
“Can’t wait,” I sneered.
At the outskirts of the castle grounds, we tied our steeds to a tree by their reins then tugged on our Draemornian armor—contraband, rather. I secured my sword at my waist, tightened the laces of my boots, then strolled all too casually into Draemor.
We hung back by the main gates for a bit, giving Kohen a head start. Though soft-spoken by nature, he was charismatic as all hell when he needed to be, and his good looks were an added bonus.
Maybe ten minutes later, he returned, a stupid grin splayed on his face.
“That was too easy,” he sang, whipping his helmet off and immediately reconstructing his rustled hair.
“You better have good news or I’ll wipe that smile right off your face.” Sawyer held up a slapping hand.
“I met a girl—”
“Dude, Pia is gonna be pissed,” Sawyer interrupted, hand dropping and eyes bulging
“Shut up.” Kohen rolled his eyes. “Anyways, the third person I talked to just so happened to be a girl who works in the castle archives. I told her it’s been a while since I’ve read a good book, and she told me to meet up with her in an hour when her shift starts, and she’ll give me some recommendations. ”
“Kohen, I could kiss you,” Sawyer blurted, to which Kohen scrunched his nose and begged him to stay back.
“Okay, this is all fine and dandy, but that only gets one of us into the castle,” Kade pointed out.
Kohen’s face fell. “I could probably take one of you with me. I’ll just say I had a friend tag along. But a group of four guys who have just been dying to read a good book seems off.”
“Not if they’re anything like Seb.” Sawyer chuckled, and I gave him a glare. I wasn’t too keen on joking with him after the way he was lounging with Maeve the other day.
“So, who's coming with me?” Kohen questioned.
My hand raised.
“Okay, so change of plans.” Kade clasped his palms together.
“Sawyer and I will stay watch out here. If the opportunity presents itself, we’ll kill Beaumont.
” He glanced between Kohen and me. “Same goes for you two. Remove your armor and go get your reading on. Meet back here at dusk, or sooner if you complete the job.”
Thirty minutes later, Kohen and I had made it through the castle's gates and waited outside the bounds of the kingdom's courtyard for the bookkeeper.
When she arrived, I introduced myself under an alias then kept my head down as much as possible.
I didn't need her taking a guess on who I actually was.
We followed her inside the castle and down twists and turns of corridors, winding until we reached the archives that were separated from the hallway by a set of rounded doors.
I felt bad for using the poor girl to break into the castle, though if I wasn’t here for duty, I would have completely lost myself in the archives of Draemor. I’d thought my father’s library was incredible, but this one was right up there with it.
Aldous Hawthorne.
I wondered what my poor excuse of a father was up to. I couldn’t say I missed him—not after everything he’d put me through for literally my entire existence—but a small part of me did hope he was at least alive.
“So, what genre are you two looking for?” the girl asked. Her straight, black hair swung over her shoulder as she bounded up the navy-carpeted stairs of the archives.
Once she left us to our own devices, the plan was for Kohen and me to split up and search for Bitchmont. This pitstop was just our excuse to enter the castle. Although I couldn't say I minded getting a glimpse of the magnificent library.
“My friend here is into erotic romance, but I’m somewhat of a history buff myself. The older the manuscript, the better,” Kohen said, shooting me a tight grin.
Douche.
“How old are we talking?” she questioned him, her thin, rounded eyebrows arched as she visibly tried to ignore his first remarks. “Any texts earlier than the past two centuries are in King Beaumont’s study.”
Perfect.
“Oh, really?” I sighed, trying to exaggerate my disappointment. “That’s too bad. I assume he doesn’t let anyone borrow them, does he?”
She froze on the stairs, her hand settled upon the railing as she turned halfway to meet us.
“He does, actually! He just asks that they be returned the same day, and he often likes to know why the individual is reading such ancient writings.” She leaned in closer, cupping her hand around her mouth to whisper.
“If you ask me, I think it's a bit odd how secretive he is with them.”
That was strange, but not something we really needed to worry about right now.
“Can you remind me where his study is? It’s been so long since I gave him a visit,” Kohen said politely, flaunting his teeth in a oh-so-sweet smile.
“Second floor, by the infirmary.” The girl’s eyes narrowed, and I could tell she was beginning to cross the line of suspicion. “But he prefers that visitors make an appointment instead of just showing up.”
I ran a hand over my forehead, sweeping it through my hair.
“We’ll have to keep that in mind. In the meantime, can you show us the romance section?
” I patted Kohen on the shoulder. “I’ve been trying to get my friend into erotica for some time now.
I really think it's a genre he would enjoy. He’s quite kinky once you get to know him. ”
Her cheeks glowed a vibrant red as she fought to hide her smirk, but she nodded and continued up the stairs.
“I’ll get you back for that,” Kohen snarled under his breath, shouldering me into the railing.
“You started it.”
Just to keep it convincing, I made Kohen check out the dirtiest book I could find. He punched me in the gut when we left the archives, but the pain was well worth the satisfaction I got from watching him pass the bookkeeper his selection.
In the corridor, he shoved the text into his rucksack. “I hate you,” he spat. “Daddy’s Dirty Dungeon Doll? Seriously?”
“That was priceless. Who said murdering a king couldn’t be fun? And we are so going to read that, by the way. It's been on my Tbr for a while actually.” I chuckled under my breath as my gaze swept the corridor.
“What’s a Tbr?”
“A to be read list.”
“Oh.” Kohen froze, waiting for my composure to crack. “Wait, you're actually serious?”
“No. But I have read a different book by the author, and it wasn't half bad.”
The dimly lit hallway was empty aside from the flickering lanterns that lined the stone walls. “There's a staircase at that end.” I noticed, pointing to my left.
We scurried up a flight of the marbled stairs, gathering our surroundings at the landing before continuing on. A few civilians roamed the halls, but none gave us a second glance.
“Do you think Beaumont would recognize us?” Kohen whispered, his nose pointed at the floor.
“You? No. Me? Yes.”