Chapter 23
Sebastian: Confronting the Wolf
Sebastian forced himself to stay still, sitting in her windowsill, watching over Lucy until he was sure she was asleep.
Inwardly, he was seething on her behalf.
He couldn’t believe Wilde’s gall. And he had little doubt he’d caused her bruises tonight.
He wished he had caught the healer before he’d left, but this was no time for regrets.
Instead, he quickly dressed himself and strode out the door to their chambers, casting a spell of protection on the apartments within. None but himself and Lucy would be able to enter or leave them until he lifted the spell. He’d have to remember to mention it to the maids.
Knowing he could not get back to sleep, he headed back to their studio. Perhaps he could make some sketches that he might use for the third task. If nothing else, he’d design something that was fit for Lucy to wear to the ball. Something that would make her look like a queen. His queen.
He smiled at the thought. She deserved to wear something beautiful for such an elaborate party. One of his gowns, in a deep blue or green, perhaps. One that was tasteful, but that would show off her curves. A gown that would tell her, without any doubt, that he loved her.
Loved her. He froze in his tracks as the thought crossed his mind. And why not, he wondered. He’d told her he loved her before, when they were courting. It had not faltered or faded over the years. If anything, over the past four days, it had grown more intense. So why not tell her?
He’d have to ask about Thaddeus’s claims that she’d been promised to someone else, he realized. And he’d have to determine if she still wanted him. After all—
A noise in the room ahead tore him out of his thoughts. He gritted his teeth and wished he’d thought to bring a weapon. With all the reprobates sneaking around the Umberian palace, he’d need one.
He tiptoed closer to the room in question; startled, he realized it was his own workroom. He peeked inside and found himself staring at a werewolf a foot and a half taller than him. A werewolf that he’d seen only once before, in someone else’s memories.
“Wilde!” the word came out as a snarl. The werewolf stopped his search of the room—for that’s what he must have been doing.
Most of the room was in shambles. The werewolf had overturned nearly every bit of furniture, sent his pins and needles scattered about on the floor, and knocked over the shelves holding his bolts of cloth.
Now, he glared at Sebastian with a deep-seated hatred.
“What do you want?” the werewolf growled. “Fairy weakling.”
“Vengeance for Lucy, for one,” Sebastian said. He did not advance further into the room. If he didn’t have a weapon, he’d have to rely on his magic. Most of the defensive spells he knew worked better from a distance.
The werewolf scoffed. “She asked for it. And don’t let her tell you any different.” He turned away from Sebastian. “Walk away now, fairy, and I’ll let you live. If not…” He threw a smirk over his shoulder. “Well, who would protect the little madwoman with you out of the way?”
Sebastian bristled and opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, he noticed something sticking out of the wolf’s side. “Where did you get that?”
Wilde turned toward him. “What are you talking about?” he spat.
“The knife. In your side. I know who that belongs to.” Sebastian offered a dangerous smile. “And, if there was any doubt in my mind that Lucy didn’t ask for it, her knife in your flank is all the proof I need to convince myself otherwise.”
Wilde cursed. “Blasted witch,” he muttered, before lunging at Sebastian.
Years of training took over Sebastian’s body. He easily side-stepped the monster and threw up a protection spell around himself. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he advised.
“Well, you’re not me,” Wilde snarled, charging at Sebastian again.
This time, Sebastian wasn’t just on defense.
He murmured something under his breath, and an explosive spell blew Wilde through the outer wall of the palace.
Sebastian cooly stepped over the broken wall and approached the werewolf, who lay there, stunned.
He pressed his boot to his throat, not quite putting weight on it, but ensuring the werewolf was under enough pressure that he was sure that he held Wilde’s attention. “Now, then, we can talk.”
“Coward,” Wilde growled, wriggling slightly, testing Sebastian’s hold on him. Sebastian responded by increasing his weight on the werewolf’s throat.
“If it were up to me, I would gut you like the animal you are. But Lucy wouldn’t like that, so I’m going to let you live,” Sebastian said with a bland smile.
“More like you’re sniveling weakling,” Wilde snapped.
“Be careful about how you speak,” Sebastian growled.
“You forget, I’m an invited guest here, whereas you…
you’ve been breaking in here from the first day of the competition.
And I doubt the emperor is going to like you attacking his honored guests any more than I do.
” Distantly, he was aware of someone else entering the now-destroyed workroom, but when he looked at the newcomer, all he could see was the hood over his eyes and a Lincoln green tunic.
Wilde, sensing Sebatian’s divided attention, tried to stand up. Sebastian raised his hand and murmured a spell that slammed the werewolf back onto the ground. Wilde scowled, but stopped struggling for the moment.
Sebastian adjusted his hold on the werewolf.
“So, here’s how this is going to go. You are not to come near Lucy Savage or any of her family members ever again.
You will leave your life in Moyar behind, making your way to some distant land.
And if I hear that you’ve been harassing another woman the way you’ve harassed Lucy, I will hunt you down and bury you so far beneath the earth that you can never crawl your way out.
And I will be listening, Wilde. I have friends in nearly every kingdom and, in my position, I have the ear of some of the most powerful men and women in the world.
I will not take kindly to you breeching the term of our agreement. ”
“You can’t give me orders,” Wilde said as he thrashed beneath Sebastian’s boot.
“Maybe not. But I certainly can.” The words drew both the fairy and the werewolf’s eyes to the newcomer.
He lowered his hood to reveal the face of Prince Robert, but not the Prince Robert Sebastian knew.
This man had dressed himself in the same uniform as the men who’d attacked him and Lucy on the road.
Anger had twisted the prince’s face into a scowl as he stared down at Sebastian’s prisoner.
“After all, when you joined my band of merry men, you swore to obey my word as law, did you not?”
Wilde scoffed. “Like any of us believed that oath was real.”
The prince’s anger twisted into a cool smile. “Well, then, that was your folly, was it not? To agree to an oath with a Fey without believing it was real.”
For the first time, Sebastian saw a flicker of fear on the werewolf’s face. “A…a Fey?”
“Indeed. It’s common knowledge amongst my men.
I’m surprised you hadn’t heard the rumors,” Robin said.
“Now, get out of my sight. And don’t let me catch you near Lady Lucy again, or my friend’s wrath will be a dream when you compare it to what I will do to you.
” He nodded at Sebastian, who, with great reluctance, released his hold on the werewolf’s neck.
“Oh, and one more thing.” Sebastian reached down to the wolf’s side and, with a sharp jerk, removed Lucy’s dagger from Wilde.
The werewolf howled in pain as he took off running, not looking back at them.
Sebastian and Robin watched him go with mirror-image frowns on their faces. After a moment, Sebastian turned to the prince as he tucked the knife into his belt. “Are you really a Fey?”
“Half,” Robin said. “The evil half. My mother was a trickster Fey, famous for hoodwinking powerful men into marrying her, only to bleed them of their life and will to live. It would have been the same for my father, except…” He shook his head.
“Let’s just say you do not want to get my big brother angry, even at the tender age of five. It wasn't not a pretty sight.”
Sebastian found himself wondering what the older of the two princes had done to the Fey trickster.
“But I think we should fix the damage the monster did before Lady Soto or Lord Han come asking what happened.” Robin surveyed the destroyed wall behind them. “I cannot think they’d be happy with this mess.”
“How did you come to be here at this time of night?” Sebastian asked as he stepped back into the destroyed room.
The prince followed him. “Ah, I was inspecting one of the entries. My fellow judges were…enamored with it, but if I may make a confession—”
“You don’t see the clothes that Emilio and Tomas claim to have made.” Sebastian nodded and began a spell to repair the wall.
Robin shrugged. “I always knew I was not fit for my brother’s position. I don’t care for our people the way he does and I feel I could do so much good outside of my title. But to not see clothes that supposedly determine whether you’re a fool or not fit to be in your position…it’s humbling.”
“Except there are no clothes,” Sebastian said bluntly as the wall finished repairing itself.
“Lucy and I checked it this afternoon. There was nothing on that dressmaker’s dummy, no extraneous fabric lying around…
there was nothing. I believe the two men are conning the emperor in an attempt to…
well, I’m not sure. It made more sense when they were going to poison the garments. ”
“Well, perhaps they think it will be easier to attack the emperor if he is bare. After all, not all clothes have protection spells on them.” Here, Robin bowed his head in deference to the designer. “They provide some protection, though. And they cover most of the essential bits.”
“So the ‘invisible suit’ is going to win the second competition?” Sebastian guessed.
Robin made a wry face. “Unfortunately. Not to worry, though. It was very close between your design and the invisible suit. I expect yours would have won if two of the three judges were willing to admit that they couldn’t see the blasted suit.”
Sebastian shrugged. “Well, at least that should mean that I’ll be able to compete in the last day of the competition. Hopefully, Lucy and I can put a stop to whatever mischief those two reprobates are planning for the parade.”
“If I see anything odd, I’ll let you or Lady Quinn know,” Robin promised. He surveyed the mess of the ransacked room. “Do you want any help cleaning this up?”
“No,” Sebastian said. He gave an apologetic smile. “I’d rather do it myself. I won’t be able to sleep tonight anyway.”
“Nor I. I’m half tempted to patrol the halls outside your quarters, just so I know your woman is safe.” Robin shot Sebastian a questioning look. “You haven’t told her about…what we discussed earlier, have you?”
Sebastian shook his head. “I haven’t had the chance. And I don’t know how much she knows. As far as I know, she believes herself to be her parents’ biological child. I wouldn’t know how to approach the subject. And after tonight…” He grimaced. “I don’t want to add anything else to her plate.”
Robin nodded. “Well, once this competition is over, I’ll sit down with both of you and try to sort this whole thing out. And you send me a message if you see anything…threatening her safety. I’ll come at once.”
Sebastian nodded and began sorting through the debris. As he did, he considered all he had learned that evening and wondered how much he dared to tell Lucy. He just prayed he could find the words he needed. He didn’t want to hurt her any more than he already had.