34. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
VERONICA
Life is good.
I took a nap for the first time in… god, have I ever even taken a nap willingly?
I’m pretty sure today is the first day, in my twenty years of living, I laid down because I wanted to.
It’s a luxury I have right now, something as silly and simple as napping.
I’m living the high life, within the safety of the palace walls.
Seven months from now, I’m not sure what my life will become.
Safety is a fleeting thing; what protects me now may not protect me later.
We all know that, but most importantly, Mary knows it.
“Comfortable?” The high-pitched snark radiates hatred from across the room. Mary steps into my private room with her pretty blue eyes narrowed directly at my palm resting over my still flat stomach.
Her presence grows with each step she takes into my room and I make a point not to sit up too eagerly to greet her majesty.
Due to the plush pillows at my back, it’s almost difficult to fully sit up, but I manage.
Mary’s weight dips on the edge of the mattress t, her eyes lifting to meet my own.
In another life, I think I’d feel bad for her.
“I asked you a question, I expect an answer.” My lips purse from the grip of her fingers against my cheeks. The tips of her nails dig into my skin, her thumb indenting into my right dimple.
I lied.
I don’t think I’d ever feel bad for her.
Mary’s blue eyes are the same color as the sky…
before a rainstorm, above the dock in the village.
They swirl with a grey, likely to turn thunderous in any given second, with speckles of white mist from the incoming downpour.
Her irises tell her own story, one full of turmoil, I’m not sure she knows how to handle.
I can only imagine what she sees in my dark brown eyes.
Probably a lovesick puppy, but that’s just a wild guess. I should work on hiding it a bit better.
I swallow and try to flex my jaw from her grip. but it’s useless. Her eyes narrow into snake-like slits. I’m a threat to her. She can’t touch me while I am carrying the heir to Hawthorn. Once this baby comes, I’m honestly not sure what will happen, but I’ll have to figure it out soon.
With the soft click of the door unlocking, Mary’s hand falls from my face, the warmth now blossoming over my stomach.
My gaze flicks to see her hand slide effortlessly under my own, resting against the gown covering my body.
Her hand trembles slightly but it steadies when realizing the vulnerability.
“Mary.” Sebastian’s tone is clipped as he steps into the room.
The pressure on my stomach rises but it’s gone as quickly as it comes. Mary’s eyes meet mine and the brewing storm is gone. Instead, there is complete war raging within those blue irises.
She turns, her wrist caught in his unforgiving grip, but Mary makes no show of her discomfort.
I stare between them, but I don’t speak, not when Sebastian stares at his wife as if he could kill her.
The corner of her lip twitches before the fight fades and her perfected act slides across her pretty face.
“Darling, I am so glad you’re here,” Mary gushes happily, her cheeks tinting a pale pink. Her free hand comes up to rest on his chest and I hold back the urge to roll my eyes. “I just had the pleasure of getting to know our dearest incubator.”
Dearest incubator.
God, I can’t stand her.
Sebastian’s jaw ticks at the nickname, his eyes narrowing for a moment before he releases Mary’s wrist altogether. “My father requests your presence, Mary,” he dismisses. Those honey hues soften as they slide my way, and I’m back to being pliant in the bed.
The fight doesn’t come. Mary stands from her spot beside me on the bed and smiles brightly up at Sebastian with newfound purpose. Her palm brushes against his cheek and she guides his handsome face to hers.
Mary kisses him like a lover holding onto their very last hope. Sebastian’s eyes stay trained on me. The kiss lasts too long, more than it should, and it’s only when the door closes behind Mary, I remember breathing is necessary.
Sebastian takes Mary’s spot beside me, his weight dipping the bed and making my body slide to him in the silk sheets.
I reach out to brush my thumb over his plump bottom lip as if I could wipe away the lingering kiss.
He catches my wrist and brings my palm to his mouth, pressing a kiss of his own against my skin.
The action has warmth blooming in my chest and spreading throughout my bones.
“Did your father actually request her?” I ask. Sebastian huffs a laugh into my palm.
His eyes lift to mine and I admire the mischievousness that lingers.
From here, I can see the corners of his lips crook into a sly smile; the one he only shows when he’s up to no good.
Every day since that night in the garden, I see Sebastian.
My Sebastian. He’s tearing down those walls he built, even if it’s one brick at a time.
It’s only in the moments we’re alone he shows it.
When no one is looking, and he’s allowed to breathe.
That’s when I get to see the boyish charm that took my heart by storm.
I’d have it no other way, if I’m being honest. I don’t want anyone to see Sebastian the way I do, and while I know it’s selfish, I also know if he showed himself like this, someone would want to take it from him.
Georgina sees this part of him, but not fully.
This part of him is for me, and me alone.
“My father will entertain her. Or she will force him to,” Sebastian hums against my palm before dropping it after one last kiss to the inside of my wrist. His head tilts, strands of chestnut hair move fluently with the motion, and I can’t help but run my fingers through them.
He watches me carefully, and I rub two strands of hair between my thumb and index before dropping his hair altogether.
“This is the first time she has come in here alone.” I say and immediately recognize the fear laced in my voice.
Sebastian must notice it too because he sits up abruptly, before I have time to brush it off.
His thumb presses against the center of my chin, fingers sweeping underneath until I our eyes meet.
If he’s searching for answers, he’s wasting his time.
“She won’t touch you, Ronnie.” Sebastian rubs his thumb against the dimple of my chin before shifting, maneuvering us until he’s pressed against the headboard and I am between two strong thighs.
“Mary is a lot of things, but she isn’t stupid.
If she does anything to harm you while you are carrying, she will hang before dawn. ”
I’m not afraid of her touching me.
I’m afraid of her taking him away from me.
I’m afraid of what happens after the baby is born.
The warm press of Sebastian’s lips to my shoulder pulls me from the torturous thoughts before they are able to eat me alive.
His large hand spreads across my stomach and I immediately wish the gown I’m wearing would disappear, so I can feel his skin against mine.
I need the contact. I need him to ground me, to take these thoughts consuming me, and throw them away. Even if only for a moment.
“Sebastian,” I swallow, “I…”
He slides his hand to my breast before I can say anything more.
The end of my dress bunches up with ease as Sebastian’s other hand slips beneath.
His palm feels molten against the bare skin of my stomach and my hips lift off the bed at the touch.
My body thrums with need, the feeling zipping straight to my core and igniting a vicious ache.
I’m overwhelmed by the need to be touched, so much that I drop my head back to rest on his shoulder. Sebastian’s hand skips over my aching breasts, his hand gripping my throat as he dips his pinky beneath the waistband of the panties resting across my hips.
“You…?” His breath fans against my cheek and I moan.
“Ah ah,” Sebastian tuts in mock disappointment, “if you can’t stay quiet, I’m going to have to cover your mouth.”
In reality, I know I shouldn’t want him to silence me, but the fucked-up part of my brain tells me I do. God, I do.
He must sense the fuckery happening in my mind, because when I tilt my head to look at him, Sebastian stares at me with narrowed eyes. The black of his pupil nearly consumes his honey hued irises, swallowing the color. He looks feral. I’ve never seen someone’s eyes so blown out before.
“That’s what you want, isn’t it? My Little Dove wants to be silenced as my fingers ruin her perfect little pussy.” Sebastian growls low and that dull ache that pulsed below becomes a full-blown throb.
A low groan leaves me while the words repeat on a loop within my head.
I wouldn’t consider myself to have ever been interested in sex.
The whole act of it seemed so forced to me.
I know I’m naive in that sense, Sebastian being my first and all, but why would I go looking for something I could do myself?
I just never felt the need to. People have always let me down.
Putting trust in a man to get me off seemed like another wave of crippling disappointment.
With Sebastian, it’s different. I am in dire need of whatever he is willing to give me. At this point, I am almost positive he could get me to the very edge of release, walk away and I’d be saying thank you.
Yes, I’m absolutely pathetic when it comes to this man, and yes, I’m okay with that.
The soft back and forth of his pinky against my skin is torture. It’s amazing.
“Sebas—” My words are lost against his fingers as they press into my mouth, resting on my tongue. I moan against his index and middle finger, my hips rising off of the silk sheets .
His boots hook under my ankles, spreading my legs farther apart until I’m crying out against his fingers.
My lips morph around the digits, teeth grazing against them as he strokes my tongue.
His body heat surrounds me, and I welcome it eagerly.
The teakwood and burnt vanilla of his cologne makes my head spin. Everything is him.
I am drowning in him.
“Fuck,” Sebastian murmurs, the sound ragged and breathy, “you’re soaked.”
The cotton of my panties does nothing to hide the arousal coursing through me.
It doesn’t help that his index finger continues to slide up and down my clothed folds, soaking the fabric more.
Jolts of pleasure shoot up to my spine and through my pussy with each stroke.
I can feel my stomach starting to tighten.
Sebastian keeps my legs parted, his boots pressed firmly into the mattress.
If I wasn’t on the brink of exploding, I’d tease him about the dirt he might get on the clean sheets.
Right now, he is showing me the unhinged side of him, one that doesn’t care about being proper and tidy.
It’s the Sebastian I fell in love with. The one who throws caution to the wind, with enough provoking.
His cock is stiff, pressing into my back through his dress slacks.
I want to reach back and touch him, show him the same blinding pleasure he is showing me, but I can’t.
Not when his fingers are finally sliding inside my pussy walls, curling until I lurch forward in pleasure.
They pump into me with their own measured melody, my hips rolling to the same tune. My body is alive.
I need to cum.
Sebastian’s lips move against my neck, teeth nipping and tongue licking. There are so many sensations, I’m dizzy. His palm rubs against the fabric of my panties, over my clit with just enough pressure. The coil inside me twists with each brutal pump of his long fingers.
It twists and twists until the band snaps and I let go.
“Fuuuccck,” Sebastian groans against my neck, the wet sound of my orgasm crashing against his moving fingers fills the room.
He’s panting behind me as his fingers guide me through the high of my release. It’s a wave I never want to come down from.
My hips return to the mattress, the sticky evidence of just how hard I came making me wince. I feel as if I’m sitting in a pool of my own…
I bite down onto his fingers causing him to hiss before he yanks his hand away from my mouth altogether. Sebastian grunts as he moves behind me, but I’m too focused on the puddle beneath me.
“Oh my god,” I breathe out, my cheeks heating with the realization of what I’d done. Something I didn’t think was actually real.
“You bit me.” Sebastian says.
“I peed!” I squeal.
“What?” He sounds generally amused, shifting himself until he’s lying haphazardly along the top of the bed. His boots swing off the sheets, and back presses into the pillows.
I watch in horror as his eyes flick down to the wet spot on the sheets where I was sitting. The corner of his lip twitches and I immediately want to bury myself into a hole.
Sebastian looks at me, his elbow propping his body up while his cheek drops to his shoulder.
He’s so handsome, especially right now. If I weren’t so mortified over my body forgetting how to handle a full bladder, I’d admire him.
His eyes shine with a playfulness I melt over, and the discomfort leaves me the moment a laugh bubbles out of his throat.
He pulls me to him, our bodies colliding in a fit of soft laughter with secret kisses.