33. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
SEBASTIAN
“Ronnie.”
I watch as the brunette in my arms allows her eyes to open.
Veronica fell asleep and while I would love to spend the whole night out here, eventually someone will come looking for one of us.
I can’t afford to show this secret in the light.
Not yet. Not when I don’t have a fucking clue how, without it ending with Veronica’s head rolling.
“Hey,” I breathe, sliding my palm against her cheek. She holds it there, her eyes closing once more as she allows the warmth to lull her. “Ronnie, no, I need you to see something.”
The curiosity that naturally brews inside her has Veronica twisting over beside me.
My lips lift in a small smile as I keep my right hand tangled in her long brown hair, using it as a way to keep her focus up on the starlit sky.
She shifts beside me, and I know if I don’t talk soon, my Little Dove will demand answers.
“You see that?” I murmur against her forehead, my free hand raised to point at the cluster of stars above.
“The stars? They’re pretty hard to miss, Sebastian.”
“No, pay attention, it’s more than just stars.”
Veronica shifts, her shoulder digging into my side. She’s paying attention now, squinting. I want to eat her alive.
“This one,” I say, sliding my hand from her hair to her chin. My fingers direct her gaze until I’m tipping her chin up to where the constellation rests. “That is Coma Berenices.”
My grip falls as Veronica shifts to sit up, her long brown hair falling down the length of her back. She’s squinting, trying to find what the hell I’m talking about, but that doesn’t surprise me. I shift onto my elbows, as I stare up at the faint stars.
“What’s so special about Coma Berenices?” Veronica asks, making me smile.
“It’s not about the cluster itself but the story behind it,” I reply easily. “Queen Berenice II was married to Ptolemy III.”
“Sebastian, who are these people?” Veronica cuts in and I shake my head, rising to settle beside her.
“Five seconds, I need you to not speak for five seconds.” Veronica eyes me before her lips press together in a silent agreement. I run a hand through my hair and continue. “Ptolemy was going off to war and Berenice was worried.” Her lips part and I shoot a warning look.
“Berenice made a vow to Aphrodite that if she returned him home safely, she would cut off her hair. She waited until Ptolemy was home before she did it but when he arrived, Berenice cut her hair and placed it in Aphrodite’s temple.
” Veronica looks even more confused than when I started.
“Aphrodite was so pleased that she placed the hair in the sky, where it turned to the constellation Coma Berenices.”
“I waited for you,” I swallow and look up at the constellation faintly outlined in the sky. “I waited for you, for years. I wanted you to come back, I wanted to find you the moment I woke up and you weren’t there. I...I grieved you, Veronica.”
Her eyes soften, the confusion replaced with an emotion so raw it has my chest tightening uncomfortably.
She stares at me and for once I want to run, I want to find somewhere to hide from the conflicting feelings scorching through me.
I’m terrified, completely and utterly, fucking terrified.
The girl in front of me will be my undoing.
“Sebastian, I swear to God if you cut off your hair I will have to go running, like the last six maids you had.”
I’m going to kill her.
“Jesus Christ,” I breathe, my hands finding her cheeks to cup them firmly in my grasp.
“I wrote letters, I didn’t know where to send them so I gave them to Georgina to give to you.
” My gaze finds hers. “She didn’t tell me until years later what really happened, and even when she did tell me.
” I pause, “I’m not convinced of the story, but I have nothing else to go on. ”
Her skin is warm under my palms and selfishly, I want to keep her face like this, but I can’t.
I allow my hands to slip free, and they fall into my lap.
Veronica still hasn’t spoken, worrying all in itself, but I know she’s trying to process everything.
She knows I know – about her Uncle and the banishment.
She knows I know – about the way her family betrayed my own, and yet, I don’t care.
“He didn’t do it.” Veronica’s voice is so small, yet so fucking firm. It’s confusing. She sounds scared and I’m guessing it has to do with the secrets, that are no longer…secrets. Not anymore.
My jaw flexes and her gaze slides up to the night sky.
She’s frowning and I want to tell her I believe her, but I can’t.
I won’t lie to her and tell her that, it wouldn’t make sense, because it does make sense.
Georgina sat me down on my fourteenth birthday, two years after everything, to tell me what happened.
Veronica’s Uncle, Thomas, had been sick.
He stole from my mother’s jewelry box and took a small fortune of necklaces and bracelets.
The following day, Thomas and Veronica were gone.
They disappeared in the middle of the night and never came back.
Georgina looked so fucking sad.
“Sebastian,” Veronica says again. This time, her voice isn’t soft. It’s set. “He didn’t do it.”
She must notice my hesitation. Before I can fix it, she stands up, her dress swaying against her ankles. I get to my feet immediately, watching her pretty brown irises darken in the night sky, narrowing in on me in a warning not to argue.
“Veronica.” I start. She steps backwards.
Our eyes meet and I’m doing everything I can not to push her into a corner. Veronica is much like a wild animal and will run if spooked. I take a step forward and she takes another one back.
“Veronica, I’m not saying he did it,” I steady my voice.
The night air is growing cooler and I wish I put my shirt back on.
“All I’m saying is that I wasn’t there. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe you.
Can we not do this?” It was ten years ago, almost eleven.
None of it mattered anymore, no matter what actually happened. Nothing could change where we are now.
“Whatever happened, happened. It’s in the past.” I immediately want to retract my words, because Veronica’s face falls in a way that has my chest tightening, and I can’t breathe.
“Am I in the past too, Sebastian?”
Her voice is broken. This may all be in the past for me, but not to her. I can see that now. Veronica is still living the life we were supposed to leave behind. She is chasing a ghost of me.
What else were we supposed to do? Nothing would have come out of it anyway. I still would have been promised to Mary. I still would have married her. But it would have been so much worse if Veronica was there, watching me with those big, sad, brown eyes.
If anything, it was a blessing she disappeared when she did, and that fucking kills me to admit.
“Veronica…” I say, stepping toward her, only to watch her step back again. “That isn’t what I meant, and you know it. I’m just saying that it happened years ago, nothing either of us say right now changes anything from what happened back then.”
“Am I in the past too, Sebastian?”
The ache in my chest only grows with how Veronica stares at me. She wants to run and I can see it in the way her bare feet flex against the grass. If I don’t reel her back from the demons raging war in her mind, she’ll run. I can’t let her go again.
“My Uncle loved you. He loved Georgina and this kingdom…” Veronica’s voice tightens and my heart sinks. “He loved this garden just as much as we both do.”
Her dress is rumpled more than it before, but it still looks so fucking perfect on her. My muscles itch with need to pull her to me, to just hold her and take back the past ten ungodly years that have passed.
Nothing I say will change the past. I can’t bring Thomas back from his grave, nor can I prevent the jewelry from going missing. If I knew back then, could I have done anything? I was twelve years old and still needed a light to help me sleep.
“He didn’t do it.” Veronica says again, her voice tight and filled with so much pain it breaks my heart.
“Veronica…” Her name comes out hushed.
She doesn’t hear me. She just repeats the same four words, as if she is trying to convince herself of what she is saying. The evidence is there. Any chance of justifying his actions disappeared the moment he fled.Thomas took Veronica before anyone woke. No one even witnessed them leave.
“He...he didn’t…”
I lift my hands, needing to anchor them to keep the tremor from passing through each tendon.
My palms slide tentatively against her cheeks, cupping them in a hold that has a breath leaving us simultaneously.
Tears track down her porcelain skin and I try catching the drops with soft swipes of my thumbs.
“Stop,” my command is soft, as I gently dip my chin to settle my forehead on hers. Those chocolate irises are filled with pain and the sight of it breaks something deep inside my chest. “Please, just...Ronnie, I…”
“I know, I know,” Veronica murmurs, our noses brushing as she shifts closer. The lengths of her lashes flutter against the apples of her cheeks.
Everything is going to be okay. We will figure this out and we will do it together.
“Sebastian.”
Our heads turn, temples still connected, as Georgina’s voice hushes over the garden. I smile as she comes into view, the memory of being caught out here by the same woman makes this nearly comical. Except, I am half naked and there is no sticky residue from tart berries on our cheeks and fingers.
“The night watch will be out in a few minutes, it’s time to go back inside.” Georgina’s smile is sad and I can’t imagine how hard it is for her to have to tell us this. Not now.
I swallow and nod, turning my attention back to Veronica who stares at me with her big doe eyes.
Her lips are pulled together and I know she’s keeping herself together the same way I am.
There’s nothing I want more than to spend the rest of the night out here with her.
I want to hold her as she falls asleep, and I fucking intend to, just not right now.
Georgina extends her hand out to Veronica as she clears her throat, dragging us back to the nightmare we’ve landed ourselves in. My hands drop as Veronica makes her way to Georgina, the tightness in my chest borderline suffocating.
They are two feet away from the latched gate before Veronica turns and runs back to me. Her hands find my face and I can’t help the way I lean into her touch. It’s warm and grounding. I need her. Does she even know how much I need her?
“Forever?” She breathes against my lips.
“Forever.”