Sebastian
Seven Years Ago
Not my dad.
He’d tell me I was disgracing the family name by getting drunk in some bar and that I should be at home learning the family business.
Shame I wasn’t interested.
The fights had been brutal tonight.
Luckily, all I’d left with was a split lip and probably some bruising on my lower abdomen.
It was too late to use the front door, and I didn’t want to risk it if Dad was home, so I did what I always did: I climbed through one of the spare bedroom windows.
The one around the back of the house was my usual choice. Clive, the estate manager, always made sure a specific alarm was off so I could get in without anyone noticing.
I rattled the window, gently pulling it up so I could haul my body through.
But something felt … off.
I knew what that something was when I was met with a right hook to the face.
I rubbed the spot, cursing, before the sudden illumination of the room forced my eyes to blink a few times as they adjusted.
Then, I saw her.
This girl stood there with her arms folded, looking straight into my soul.
Her bright blonde hair was bunched up in a bun on the top of her head. Her pyjamas were covered in butterflies. But it was her eyes that captured my attention. They shimmered grey like the moon in the night sky—a beacon in the darkness.
“Are you just going to stand there staring all night?” Her voice was filled with sass. A vibrant little soul, apparently. Her eyes dropped to my split lip. “Oh, crap.” She scurried closer to me. “I didn’t do that, did I?”
Before her finger could find my lip, I grabbed her wrist to stop her.
“Safe to say that wasn’t you,” I said, lowering her hand before I let go. “I’m going to take a wild guess here and presume you’re my new little sister.” I flashed her a smile, but I wasn’t sure it didn’t come across as more of a grimace.
“Please don’t call me that. We aren’t blood related.” She climbed onto her bed, grabbed her pillow, and hugged it. “Besides, we’re both adults.”
“Adults?” I questioned. “Aren’t you like, fourteen?”
She flung her pillow at me, hitting me in the head. “I’m sixteen.”
“So grown up.” I teased her, tossing it back.
She huffed. “What kind of adult climbs through a window in the dead of night?”
“This kind of adult, clearly.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Did you hit your head to go with that split lip? It looks really bad. Shall I go get your dad?” She climbed off the bed.
I grabbed her arm to stop her. “No.” Her eyes flicked down to my hand, then back to meet my eyes. “I wouldn’t, if I were you.” I let go of her arm, and she slowly sat back on the bed.
Silence fell between us for a moment. It wasn’t awkward, but it was necessary. Her face softened, and those eyes stared deep into my soul.
“Aria.” She held out her hand.
That may have been her name given to her, but I wasn’t going to be calling her that. She reminded me of the Greek goddess, Nyx. This girl had managed to add light to pure darkness with one look, and no one would ever be able to put that spark out, just like the goddess herself.
This girl wasn’t going to be overlooked by anyone.
“Sebastian,” I said, taking her hand and shaking it.
“I was expecting to meet you at the wedding,” she confessed, looking at me.
“I had business arrangements.”
She looked me up and down. “You look too young to have business arrangements.”
I let out a small laugh. “Welcome to being a Knight.”
“I’m not a Knight. I’m a Summers, and that will never change.”
I felt sorry for her, being dragged into this family. Being a Knight came with certain expectations, and unfortunately, my dad didn’t allow anyone to tarnish that name. I’d keep her safe from everything that came with it, though.
“Aria Knight doesn’t really sound right, if I’m honest. Summers suits you much better,” I teased. “Now, budge up so I can see what terrible taste in movies you have.” I climbed onto her bed, bouncing next to her.
She pushed me, then grabbed the pillow to make a wall between us.
She handed me the remote, and I turned the TV on.
I felt her eyes on me. “You’re not what I expected.”
My eyebrow arched, but my eyes were fixed on scrolling through the TV. “Oh yeah. How so?”
“I thought you’d be some stuck-up Chelsea boy.”
My eyes flicked down to her. “Guess you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Like I haven’t heard that before. How did you cut your lip?”
My eyes met the TV again. “Nothing you need to worry about, Nyx.”
“Nyx? That’s not my name.” Her face screwed up in confusion.
“Well, that’s what I’ll be calling you.”
“But—”
Before she could finish, I interrupted her. “What do you want to watch?”
Her mouth closed, her eyes now on the TV.
“Oh, that one.” Her hand found mine on the remote to stop me from changing it.
My eyebrows rose as I looked at her. “Romeo + Juliet?”
“Yep,” she replied with the biggest smile on her face.
I let out a heavy breath and pressed play, then threw the remote on the bed. I guessed this was going to be me for the next couple of hours. It wasn’t like I was going to sleep, anyway.
The film started, but I felt her eyes on me. “I’m not saying I don’t like the name Nyx. I mean, she was a Greek goddess.” Surprise filtered through me. “It’s just no one has ever called me anything but Aria.”
“First time for everything, Nyx,” I told her, placing my hands behind my head. “Like me watching this film.”
“You’ve never seen Romeo + Juliet? Did you not go to school?”
“Of course.” A soft laugh fell from me. “Where I went to school, they made us read books, even if we didn’t want to.”
I’d been forced to go to private school and had been expected to be the top of my class for everything. My father had always told me there would be consequences otherwise.
“Oh! Well, the book is my favourite, but you might like this. They have guns.” She smiled at me, burrowing into the covers.
I chuckled to myself. There was something about her. Something special.
I wasn’t sure how long we’d be family for, but I decided there and then that I wasn’t going to let anything hurt her. I’d keep that light safe, no matter the cost.