Chapter 39 #2
“Maeve,” Sebastian spoke softly, rubbing his hand through my hair like my mother used to when I was upset. “This is something you will battle your entire life. There will be good times, and there will be hard times. It doesn’t mean that something is wrong with you.”
He guided my body in a turn, pressing his forehead to mine. “You are strong. You can and will power through this, and I’ll be here by your side through it all, just like you were for me last year.”
All I could do was focus on staying alive by counting my breaths, and soak in the tranquility his touch caressed me with.
“You don’t need to be better, because you are not broken.
Look at me.” He lifted my chin with his thumb and forefinger, my soppy eyes meeting his glazed over ones.
“I love you to the ends of the world. I love you to the veil and beyond. To the galaxies and back. And I will always be here, through every hard time, every happy time, and every time in between. You have my word,” he vowed.
“This is not just your battle, it's ours. I will walk with you through every step of it, and you will come out stronger each and every time. I promise you.”
He pulled my head back into his chest, where I allowed regret laced with sadness to consume me until I fell asleep in his embrace.
“Here we are again,” Kohen complained, dropping his tense body into a chair.
Pia fell onto his lap, granting me a worried glance from across the room.
Though it was unlit, my head turned towards the fireplace, studying the piles of ash and dried wood. My cheeks had retained their red hue from my early morning panic attack for the entire day, and if you knew me well enough, you could guess what caused the rawness.
My attention snagged on the door when Delani entered the common room. I patted the ground next to me, though she refused my offer, taking up one of the free chairs.
“I’m sick of being in this room for things that don’t involve drinking,” Kohen whined, this time the complaint accompanied by a borderline childlike persona.
Pia grumbled out a sigh then stood up to grab a glass from the bar cart. She topped it off with a dark liquor and handed it to him, then resumed her position on his lap. “No one said you couldn't drink during these meetings. Now, shush.”
“Where's my father?” Delani asked Kade as he strolled into the room. Her eyes roamed from his boots, up past his taupe pants, then stopped for a brief moment on the outlines of his pectoral muscle.
Interesting. Obvious as all hell, Delani. But still, interesting.
“He gathered a team to search the grounds and the borders of Lumosia to see if they can find any more Hykahs,” Kade responded, his golden eyes glued to Delani’s before he took his seat in the chair next to her. I thought I even saw an inkling of a smile sneak onto his lips.
Also interesting.
Sebastian and Sawyer, after a somewhat reluctant glance towards one another, took the sofa—the only seats left.
I wondered if they had actually talked after the Hykah attack or if they were putting on a show for my sake. I knew Sebastian well, and he was much too possessive to just let what happened between Sawyer and me slide—on Sawyer’s end, at least. But then again, anything was possible, I supposed.
“Let me make one thing clear.” Kohen began, downing the remainder of his drink in a single gulp.
He cleared his throat with a slight purse of his lips immediately after.
“When this meeting concludes, I’m not stepping foot into this room for at least a week.
We don’t leave here until we have a solution.
No more plans.” He put air quotes around the last word.
“We need an actual answer to all of this madness. Got it?”
“Gods, Sharpe, you are already irritating me,” Kade groaned, crossing his ankles. “If you are so insistent on staying out of here, then I hope you have a suggestion of how exactly we do that.”
“Well, clearly the wait and see plan isn’t going to work now that the Hykahs know where we are,” Kohen shot back.
Someone was feisty today.
I forced my attention towards Pia, stealing her attention to showcase the confusion on my face.
Her eyes dipped towards Kohen, then back to me with a one-shouldered shrug.
When a minute had passed and no one else spoke, I took matters into my own hands. “We needed to know how to kill the Hykahs before moving forward anyway, which we did. So what now?” I inquired, pushing off the ground to my feet. “Do we focus on killing Beaumont or destroying his mutant army?
Sebastian’s gaze settled on me, his dark brows rising with his eyes, stopping at my chest. Typical male.
I huffed when no one answered, crossing my arms over my chest and thrusting my cleavage up to practically my neck, just to taunt Sebastian.
“Okay then. Well, we all agreed that it is unlikely that Beaumont has found a new enchanter yet, but what if he has? There’s no way to know for sure without going back there, and I know nobody is jumping at that idea. ”
“We aren’t going back there until we're positive we can kill Beaumont and destroy all of the Hykahs,” Sebastian declared, the statement not up for debate. “And we have some powerful soldiers here, but not nearly enough to be successful.”
“We need a bigger army,” Pia stressed, getting up to refill Kohen’s glass for him.
“Willawood two, get your fighting leathers on,” Sawyer ordered Delani, whose eyes bugged out of her skull.
“Remember the whole, it takes godly power to kill them, thing?” I asked, pointing my nose in Sawyer’s direction.
“Or a stab in the heart or brain," Sawyer pointed out.
At least my explain it like a five-year-old explanation got through to him.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever seen me throw a punch, but the word pathetic doesn't do it justice,” Delani responded, and gods, I loved her dearly, but the girl wasn’t lying.
“Pia’s right.” Kohen finished his second drink in one swift gulp, topping it off with a muffled belch.
“I don’t think we can be sure that we will win this war until we have the army to do it.
I just don’t know where to find the troops.
The Caelestian army has been scattered, and who knows how many of us are even left. ”
Silence filled the common room as we racked our brains, digging through every corner and crevice to try and think of an idea that we hadn’t already ruled out.
“Maybe we could get some Draemornians on our side if we spread the word about what was really going on over there,” I suggested, only to be shot down, like my ideas usually were.
“Fat chance,” Kade scoffed. “Too big of a risk with too little a reward, even if we get some on our side. It’s not worth it.”
Flustered, I decided to sit so I could shove my face into my hands and silently scream. I squished my way between Sebastian and Sawyer on the sofa, taking up the small space that had separated the two of them.
“How many soldiers are here?” Sebastian asked Kade.
“Not many. I don’t have an exact number, but I’d say there are around fifty of us who are well enough trained to be considered soldiers.
Honestly, until you all showed up, we didn’t really have a need for them.
We always had them as backup, but the gods had this land warded.
We were essentially safe from all harm except like…
a bear,” Kade responded, then shot a look at Sawyer, “or snakes.”
Sawyer granted him a vulgar gesture.
“Snakes?” Pia raised a brow. “Sawyer Sinclair is afraid of snakes? Seriously?”
“Oh my gods,” Sawyer groaned, shoving his face into his hands for a moment of peace. “Do I really need to explain this again?” he whined when his grimace rejoined the group.
“Um, yeah! That's actually hilarious. I’ve seen you kill like…tons of people. So for you to be scared of snakes is just amazing to me,” Pia marveled, not even attempting to hide her laughter.
“Okay, yeah. They freak me out! Big deal,” Sawyer rattled, his voice a higher pitch than usual.
“Aw,” Pia dragged out, and only when Sawyer flipped her the finger, too, did she change the subject. “Seb,” her voice perked up, “did your father have any connections with the King of Mealioria?”
Sebastian shuffled to sit more upright. “Um, yeah actually. Him and King Franlow got along. I wouldn't go so far as to call them friends, but they traded goods here and there. I’ve met him quite a few times.” Sebastian placed a hand on my upper thigh, giving it a squeeze and then rubbing his thumb back and forth over the fabric of my pants. “Why do you ask?”
“Do you think he would help us? If we told him what we know?” she questioned him.
“I dunno. Maybe. I mean, Mealioria is in danger, too, and I doubt he even knows it yet.”
Kohen, already slightly intoxicated, found his voice yet again. “Road trip?”
Kade shot the idea down. “No way. Lumosia was built for this. It was created to keep Maeve safe. I don’t think leaving again is a good idea.”
“Oh yeah, super safe, Lyrise. That’s why there's a dead Hykah in the courtyard and two dead Draemornians in the dungeon.” Sawyer rolled his eyes, leaning back on the sofa and locking his hands behind his head.
Sebastian's hand inched closer to the crease of my upper thigh. Mine gently topped his, my fingers intertwining in his much larger ones. Then I lifted both of our hands and dropped his onto his own lap.
I could feel Sebastian’s disappointed scowl as he took his turn speaking. “I personally don't feel like it's safe to stay here much longer. We’d be better off on the run or in Mealioria. Even if King Franlow refuses to lend us his army, he may let us hold up there for a while.”
“Worst comes to worst, we can always return to Lumosia,” Delani offered, giving Kade a look that could almost be described as a pout.
Kade’s jaw ticked, but he nodded once in response to her suggestion. “Fine. I’m in, but you’ll have to get Archer on board, and good luck with that.”
“I’ll handle that.” All I had to do was convince him that I was safer elsewhere. He wouldn't argue with logic. I didn't know my father well, but I knew that much.
Sawyer nudged me with his elbow, stealing my attention. “I like this plan a lot more than your shitty ideas that end with you dead,” he whispered into my ear.
“We can keep them as a last resort,” I replied smugly, nudging him back.
The lingering question about Sebastian and Sawyer actually being on good terms turned into genuine doubt when Sebastian's disgruntled sigh tickled my neck.
“Alright then.” Kohen slapped his thighs before he jumped to his feet, heading to the bar cart for another drink. “When are we leaving?”
Sawyer pushed up to his feet, joining Kohen and swiping a nearly full bottle. “Not tonight, that's for sure. I’m joining you at the booze fest this evening.” He tossed his head back and downed a good inch or so of the bottle in one swig.
“Same,” Delani agreed, looking at Pia. “Wine?”
“I’ll pass tonight, I’m beat,” Pia declined, rubbing the dark circles under her sunken eyes.
Sebastian’s beautiful eyes silently asked if I wanted to join before he even spoke. “Are you up for this?”
I braced a hand on his upper arm, tenderly palpating his muscle.
“Honestly, no. I can't believe I’m saying this, but I just want to relax.
You stay. Have a fun night with your friends.
Maybe try to make up with Sawyer, if you haven't yet,” I coaxed, honestly having no clue if they were on civil terms or not.
His eyebrows lowered skeptically as he pinned me with a stare. “I’ll go with you.” He stood up, reaching a hand out for me to take.
“Seb, I want you to stay here and have fun. You deserve it after everything that's been going on.” Though I rejected his offer of company, I still let him pull me up to my feet.
He looked like he was going to argue with the way he sucked his lower lip in, clamping the skin in his teeth.
I held a finger against his lips, silencing him before he could get a word out. “Maybe I'll have a surprise for you when you get back.” The alluring whisper slipped from my lips and into his neck that my mouth was flush against.
He tossed his arm over the base of my spine and pulled me into his chest, dipping his lips to my ears. “What kind of surprise?” he purred.
“The kind where I’m naked with my thighs spread on our bed, waiting for you to have your way with me.”
He sucked in a breath. “Fuck, Maeve, you should know better than to taunt me like that with other people around,” he growled for only me to hear while subtly adjusting the front of his pants.
Our bodies tore apart when Kade cleared his throat from behind us. “You guys have a bedroom. Why don’t you use it?”
With a wink, Sebastian glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, we do.”
My palm met my mouth with a harsh slap meant to muffle my laugh.
Kade mumbled something to himself, then poured himself a very large drink from the bar cart, skipping the ice and instead filling the glass to the brim.
Regaining his composure, Sebastian turned back to me and brushed his fingers over my constellastones. “I just worry—”
“I’m okay. I swear to you. It was just a tough morning,” I assured him.
He hesitated, but a bat of my eyelashes convinced him. His hand dropped back to his side. “Okay. I’ll only be an hour. And if you need me—”
“I know where to find you.”
“I love you.” His lips found mine, pulling me into a kiss that had me wishing I told him to come upstairs with me.
With a nip of his lip and a mimic of his words, I pulled away from Sebastian, my gaze mistakenly raking over Sawyer’s.
His brows furrowed, then he dropped his head to his bottle and turned away from me.
My face tightened almost uncomfortably. I still needed to talk to him about what happened in the arena. I knew that. But that conversation was going to be tough.
Listen, I know you have feelings for me and I also know that kissing you back totally sent out mixed signals, but I never stopped loving Seb. Never. Not even for a second. Please forgive me for being the worst in the world at deciphering my own emotions.
Yeah, Maeve. That should go over well.