Chapter Forty-Six
FORTY-SIX
I wake surrounded by hot male flesh. Sebastian’s smoky scent lingers on each breath I pull into my lungs.
I’m facing away from him, with my back pressed against his front, nestled into the curve of his body.
He’s wrapped around me like a vine, one leg pressed between mine, one hand beneath my pillow and the other spanning my stomach.
I shift just slightly, but the second I do, I feel something prodding at my lower back.
My stomach flutters when I realise what it is.
My heart rate kicks up. There is no denying it, even when I wanted to punch him square in the face, Sebastian Zain has always been attractive.
But now that I know what his lips taste like, what his hands and mouth can do to me …
I can’t help but feel my blood pressure rise.
Because I can’t help myself, I shift once more and have to stifle my gasp when I feel how solid he really is. Stars, does he just wake up like that?
Arousal shoots between my legs, picturing what that thing could do to a person – no, not a person. To me. I’m picturing what it could do to me. I’ve seen him in the Training Centre, he’s commanding, brutal, a leader – would he be like that in bed as well?
‘You need to stop squirming against my cock, unless you want it buried inside you.’ His voice is sleepy, deep and utterly delicious as it coasts along the back of my neck.
I inhale sharply at his crass words. Without thinking, I do it again: I push my ass against him. His hand tenses on my lower stomach as he growls into my hair.
‘Arianell,’ he warns, but it only makes me smile, devilishly. I love knowing I have this effect on him.
‘What?’ I tease lightly. ‘I didn’t do anything.’
‘You’re a terrible liar,’ he chides. His teeth graze across my shoulder, eliciting a whole-body shiver from me. All the way to my toes.
‘This is the latest I’ve ever slept in,’ he whispers softly, starting to move his hand, drawing circles with the tips of his fingers right below my belly button. ‘You’re already becoming a bad influence on me.’
My eyes stray to the soft early morning light that’s peeking through the gap in my curtains. It can’t be later than seven, which is the time I usually rise. The thought of being out of my bed before the sun has crested the horizon sounds horrendous.
‘Good,’ I chuckle. ‘Maybe you won’t walk around looking like there’s a stick up your ass if you sleep more.’
His hand pauses on my stomach, then in one swift movement he’s flipped me onto my back and crawled on top of me. One of his hands claim my jaw, tilting my head back to force my eyes to his.
‘And here I thought that smart mouth had disappeared. Maybe I should put it to use, Nocthare.’ I know his words are supposed to sound like a threat, but all they do is ignite a flame within my core.
‘Maybe you should, Zain,’ I counter.
I see the challenge in his eyes, the temptation swirling in them. He wants it. To use my mouth and put it to use. I can see the cogs turning as he gazes down at me. I’m practically begging him with my eyes to take me up on the offer. But he doesn’t fall for it.
‘As much as I’d love to see those pretty lips around my cock, I have to get ready.’ He places a kiss on my forehead, before pushing off my bed and leaping to his feet as if he didn’t just wake up.
If I tried to move like that first thing in the morning, I’d break a bone. I watch, feeling a little disappointed as he drifts into the bathroom. I hear the water kick up in the shower, the spray tapping against the tile. He returns after a moment to dive into his bag over by the unused bedroll.
I sit up in my bed, content to observe him as he pulls out the spare clothes that he packed and walks back to the bathroom, leaving the door open.
My brows rise. Why did he leave the door open? Was that on purpose? Maybe he’s just used to showering in his own room and didn’t think to close the door … or maybe … he left it open for me.
I contemplate my next move for all of five seconds before sliding out of my bed and padding over to the open doorway that has steam already starting to billow out of it.
Before I reach the threshold, I pause and look down at my clothes.
Do I take them off before I go in there?
Do I keep them on? Oh god, why am I still standing here?
I shove down my insecurities and worries, push the door the rest of the way open and walk inside. The second my eyes land on his wet, naked form filling my small shower cubical, I feel my cheeks flame.
Sebastian pushes water off his face and pins me to the spot with his lust-filled gaze.
‘Took you long enough. Now get in here.’
I strip my clothes off and toss them at my feet, pushing my shoulders back as I feel his eyes caress my skin like a kiss. My chest flushes beneath his gaze as he looks me up and down, lingering on my most intimate of places.
‘Fuck,’ he says, almost reverently as if I’m something to marvel at. ‘You’re so beautiful.’
My stomach flutters. Slowly, I step forward until I’m climbing into the shower with him. Hot water sprays the side of my face, soaking my hair. He moves to give me room, placing my body beneath the spray of water and leaving him standing in the cold.
I take this moment to take all of him in as well. From his sculpted thick thighs to his trim waist, and defined muscles that direct my eyes to the rock hard, thick length bobbing between us.
‘My eyes are up here, sweetheart,’ he teases, a grin spreading across his face, so wide and bright, it makes my heart ache.
Heat pricks at my eyes, seeing him smile like that. Because for the first time, it’s for me. He’s smiling like that – for me.
He notices the tears pooling in my eyes and immediately his smile falters. ‘Hey,’ he pulls me against him. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’ My head shakes and because I want to place that smile back on his face, I say, ‘I’m just scared if I let that thing near me, it’ll rip me in half.’
Sebastian’s head tips back and he lets out the most outrageous laugh. It’s loud and deep, echoing off the bathroom walls and I think it’s the most wonderful sound I’ve ever heard.
Xavier sits across from me in a dimly lit corner of the library, where we’ve found a quiet spot in one of the little alcoves to set up our books and study together.
Tilly’s got a shift on in the infirmary.
She’s been busting her ass off lately, taking on extra shifts even though she doesn’t need to, especially not as a first year.
I felt terrible after ditching our elemental class yesterday as I never got to properly congratulate him on wielding for the first time.
‘I thought you were mad at me,’ he admits now with a worried glint in his eyes that I spot when I pull back and look up at him from my book.
‘No, Xav. You were brilliant. It’s me who I was angry with, but that has nothing to do with you. That’s my mess. I just needed some time to work through a few things.’
‘Did it help? Are you all right now?’ he asks, shifting on the faded brown library chair to look at me.
‘I’m okay. Really. It’s you who we should be talking about though.
You blew a damn branch off a tree!’ I didn’t tell him what Professor Fern said.
That the crystals were fake. Even though I desperately want to.
I want to shout from the rooftops that my friend is a freaking natural at wielding.
But I know Professor Fern will tell him when the time is right.
‘It wasn’t that big a branch,’ he replies a little sheepishly, his cheekbones deepening to the colour of a rose.
‘Please. Three years of training at ValAc and you’ll be one of the best here.’
‘Speaking of, I was pulled into the headmaster’s office this morning. He heard about what happened and he’s offered to mentor me for a few weeks.’
‘Oh … wow, Xav. That’s huge.’ And terrifying. ‘Did you accept his offer?’
‘I did. It’d be nice to use my element again without breaking anything.’
There’s a light in his eyes that I haven’t seen before when talking about his magic. I don’t want to tarnish his excitement by overshadowing it with my concerns, so I keep my lips sealed and say I’m happy for him. At least one of us is improving.
My eyes drop to the next passage of the book I’m reading, but since Xavier brought up Headmaster Zain, all I can think about is Agate’s library on the other side of this one.
Xavier is nose-deep in his own book opposite me, all quiet and studious while I struggle to focus.
It isn’t until he drops the pencil that he’s been tapping against his book rhythmically that I look up at him.
It rolls off the table with a clink and hits the floor.
Then proceeds to roll beneath a dusty looking shelf.
We both turn to the shadowy grove it slid beneath.
‘Well, it’s the spider’s pencil now,’ he says.
‘It could be, or you could just get it out.’
‘I’m not sticking my hand under there. I might not get it back!’
‘You’re so dramatic,’ I laugh, handing over my pencil for him to tap instead. We study for another ten or so minutes until I can’t force myself to stare at the pages any longer.
‘All right, what’s eating at you?’ Xavier asks, popping my pencil behind his ear. ‘I can practically hear your teeth grinding together.’
I sigh and close my book, using it to lean my forearms on. ‘I keep thinking about the Imber Stellarum celebration.’
He nods. ‘What about it?’
‘We need to make a better plan. I don’t think the three of us going down there is a good idea,’ I say. In fact, the more I think about it the more I don’t want either of them going down there with me, in fear of landing them in the crossfire if we get caught.
‘Okay, so, what do you propose?’
‘I think you and Tilly need to stay up top and keep a look out. If you give me directions I should be able to get down there myself. That way if anyone were to come into Agate, you can distract them while Tilly runs down to warn me to get out of there.’
His lips purse. ‘I don’t like the idea of you being down there alone. Plus, I thought we agreed that if we were all down there, we could sift through the shelves quicker and then get out.’
‘I know. But it’s easier to hide one person than it is to hide three. Especially when one of them is a giant!’ I make a point to lean sideways and look at his long legs that are stretched over onto my side beneath the table.
His face remains serious, clearly not falling for my feeble attempt at making light of the situation. ‘What if something happens? What if you can’t get in? Or you get lost, or you’re stopped by one of the librarians that looks like they’re three gusts of the wind away from dying?’
‘Then I’ll turn around and run. If they’re so old, they won’t be able to chase me up the stairs.’
‘This isn’t funny,’ he scolds. ‘Anything could go wrong down there. At least take Tilly with you, and I’ll be the look out. If I see anyone coming, I can distract them long enough and then make up an excuse to head down to the library.’
I sigh, knowing he’s right and from the determined look in his eyes, I get the sense that he’s not going to drop this.
Reluctantly I nod. ‘Fine. I’ll talk to Tilly and see what she says.’
‘Talk to Tilly about what?’
I almost leap out of my damn skin. Spinning around, I see Tilly walking over toward us. Her curly hair is tied up into a bun on the top of her head, but several tight curls decorate her forehead and the nape of her neck. They bounce a little with each step.
‘Aria thinks she should go down to the library by herself,’ Xavier says, leaning over to the table beside ours and yanking a chair away from it to put beside him.
Something between a scoff and a laugh erupts out of Tilly as she plonks herself into the chair. She crosses her legs over one another and cocks a sharp brow my way. ‘You don’t need to talk to Tilly. She says no and that it’s a stupid idea.’
I frown.
‘Told you,’ Xavier says smugly.
‘Plus, if I’m being honest, there’s something I want to look into when we’re down there, so I have my own selfish reasons for wanting inside Agate’s vault,’ Tilly adds.
‘Then it’s settled. You and Tilly will go down there, while I stay in the Grand Hall to keep an eye out for anyone coming back from the celebration.
The two of you can cover more ground, and look for what you both need.
And hopefully be out quickly enough that we don’t have to make up some excuse about why you’re both walking out of my unit while everyone is coming back in. ’
‘I’ll just tell them we were having a three-way and needed privacy. Easy as that.’
‘Tilly!’ I chuckle behind my hands as Xavier’s cheeks deepen to a red that almost matches the colour of his hair. ‘Sometimes I get worried about the things that you let out of your mouth.’
‘I have to let it out somehow, it’s not like I’m getting any action around here.
The people in my year are all so stiff and boring.
They wouldn’t know what to do with a vagina if one landed on their face.
’ She sighs woefully and leans her chin on Xavier’s shoulder to look up at him.
‘Do you have any friends in your unit that look like they know their way around a vagina?’
His eyes meet mine, wide with panic. I can’t hold back the laugh that spills out of me this time. He looks like he needs help, but this is far too entertaining, so I settle back in my seat and say nothing.