Sebastian scoffed. “I don’tallowhim to do anything. He tells me what to do, and I do it. Because if I don't?—”
I could sense the anxiety forming in him simply by observing his body language. I knew the feeling well, and hated myself for starting the conversation that made him feel that way.
His head snapped over his shoulder to look at me, his expression now filled with something like anger. “My father is an ass. Because of him, I've seen things…I'vedonethings that would make you absolutely sick.” He blew out a deep breath and folded his hands into fists on the window sill.
I brushed my fingers over his arm to try and comfort him, but he jerked his whole body away from me.
“Sorry. I shouldn't have asked that. I wasn't thinking.”
His jaw tightened, ticking right before he snapped at me. “Listen, I'm glad you and I can be civil now, but we don't need to have discussions like this. We shouldn't. We aren't friends.”
The harshness of his words stung every nerve inside my body. The man he was being right now was a colossal change from the man who humored me just a few minutes ago.
“I'm sorry,” I repeated through my quivering lips. “I didn't mean to make you mad. I just wanted to get to know you better.”
I don't think he even heard my apology, he was halfway out the door by the time I finished speaking. I shouldn't have cared, considering I barely even knew the man. But for some reason, him being mad at me once more, devastated me.
Tears welled up in my eyes, and I wished I could control my own mind to make them go away.
Chapter
Fourteen
Iwoke up before the sun. The sky was tinted red from the rays of light that peeked through the clouds covering Caelestis. I could tell the air was frigid just by glancing outside. Fall had entered the atmosphere earlier than usual this year, and I grieved the weeks of beach time that I’d missed out on.
Careful not to wake Pia, who had spent the night after we celebrated the start of the weekend a little too hard, I stretched and slid off my mattress. I moved to my armchair by the window, which had become one of my favorite spots.
My arms ached as I lowered myself into the chair. Overall, I was doing well in combat training, butgodsthe workouts were kicking my ass. After the show Sawyer and I put on last month, he was switched to a new group and replaced in ours by Kohen. Pia seemed to enjoy our new instructor. She wouldn't say it, but it was obvious that she had a thing for him.
Wielding class, on the other hand, had been tough. I’d been successful at blocking out some of the other students' magic, but had trouble wielding my own without feeling completely defeated. It turned out that controlling the mindof another human was much more complex than controlling one of a crab.
Professor Stoll had been giving King Hawthorne updates after every class session, so at least he wouldn't be surprised at our meeting this afternoon when I told him that things weren't going great. At our last meeting, he was fairly dissatisfied with my wielding ability, so I could only imagine how disappointed he’d be this week to learn that not much had changed.
Sebastian had been cold to me ever since I asked him about his father. Every morning he waited for me on the stairs, reading a book. He'd escort me to classes and meals, but other than that, he was giving me the cold shoulder again. The whole situation really sucked seeing as we had no choice but to spend a lot of time together. I had been enjoying his company for the brief period when things were good, and this bothered me more than I let on, though I wasn't quite sure why.
The view of the ocean became clearer by the second as the night dissipated and the horizon came into view. I watched the dune grass as it swayed in the wind and pulled my legs up into the chair, trying to get more comfortable. I shifted my body to find the best position, but stopped when I felt something hard wedged into the cushion. My fingers reached down into the crevice, grabbing a hold of something hard and pulling it free.
My jaw clenched, my finding reopening the wound from Sebastian's cold words to me.
We aren't friends.
I had put it off for a month, but couldn't wait any longer—I needed to vent.
I crawled back into my side of the bed and gently poked Pia in the nose, the moment reminding me of the many like it I’d had with Delani. I wished she were here. She was always better with guy stuff than me.
Pia yawned, slits of her eyes peeling open. “Morning,” she croaked, still half asleep.
“I need to talk to you about something,” I said, the urgency in my voice helping to fully rouse her.
She sat upright, concern pasted on her face. “Is everything okay?”
I waved the book that I found in her face. “He left this here.”
“Who?”
“Sebastian,” I said as if it were obvious, then passed her the book.
Pia flipped it around in her palms and raised an eyebrow. “Okay? And?”
