“Before wewhat?” he asked, the deepness of his tone sending my body into survival mode. He looked at me the same way he had in his room, with an expression full of lust and longing.
I wriggled in my skin, shaking to release the pressure his attention was building inside of me. His face was demanding and a smirk developed on his lips while he watched me struggle to form a sentence.
“Before we almost kissed,” I blurted the words out. I didn't mean to, but knew he was waiting for me to say them.
He came closer, keeping me trapped against the wall. Even if I wanted to get away from him, I couldn't. “Is that what we did?” his voice taunted, a hint of seduction laced between the syllables, slipping off of his tongue like a smooth, antagonizing kiss.
He placed a hand against the stonework above my head and I glanced down to free myself from the heat of his gaze. I worried that if I looked back at him, that I would turn ouralmost kissinto a real one.
“I thought so…Wasn't it?” The words stumbled from my mouth. The same tension that filled the air during that moment together seemed to have followed us here, and I couldn’t fucking breathe.
“Well that won’t do, now will it?” Sebastian put a finger under my chin, guiding my head back up to look at him. My lips fell apart as my attention was drawn to his mouth.
“What do you mean?”
“I don't like to leave things unfinished,” he breathed into the side of my neck, his lips sweeping across my skin.
“Here?” I questioned. “Your father?—”
“I don’t give a fuck about him.”
We were seconds away from finishing what we started in his room, when the door to the study flew open. We jumped apart, and despite his claim, Sebastian sighed in relief when he saw Sawyer’s wide eyed expression instead of his father’s.
Sawyer closed the door behind him, kicking off of it as he strutted for us, a devious smile drawn out on his face. “Whatcha guys doing?”
Sebastian shot him a look of warning, ignoring his question. “Why were you in there?” He gestured towards the study.
“Our fathers called a conference to the throne room in ten minutes. I'm on my way to collect Kohen and the other headsoldiers.” Sawyer turned his attention towards my beet red face. “You've been instructed to attend as well.”
“Did they say why?” Sebastian asked.
“Something about Beaumont, but that's all I know.”
My body tensed at the mention of the king of Draemor’s name.
“Oh, and heads up, they are still in there. So you may want to take your public displays of affection elsewhere.” Sawyer winked, then turned his back to us and continued down the hall.
“Are you doing okay?”Sebastian questioned me while he unlocked the door to my new room—mysaferroom—in the soldiers’ quarters. My rucksack that one of the handmaidens had packed for me hung from his shoulder.
I nodded as he pushed the door open. My room was on the same floor as his, just a few doors down. The king wanted me to be as close to Sebastian as possible in case he needed to “rush to my rescue”in the middle of the night.
I scoffed at the thought. When did everyone decide that I couldn't protect myself? They never even gave me a chance to prove that I could.
Sebastian entered the room first, and I stopped in the doorway to take it in. I had grown to like my old room and dreaded leaving, but the size of this new space made up for it.
The layout was the same, but the walls were painted a dull white. A singular ceiling fixture illuminated the entire room, and the scent of wood from the caramel furniture warmed my senses as I stepped onto the bronze carpeted floor.
“Your clothes will be delivered by the end of the day,” Sebastian informed me, swinging my bag off of his back and passing it to me.
I swiped it from him and moved towards my new bed,dumping the contents out onto the duvet. There wasn't much in the bag as most of my belongings were confiscated when I arrived.
I stacked my emotion-covered parchment sheets, which looked as though they had been read by the one who packed them, and shoved them into the desk, leaving one blank sheet out to write on when I was alone. Then, I tried to ignore Sebastian in hopes that he'd leave me alone. I heard the door close, but knew he hadn't left.
“Maeve, you're kinda freaking me out.”
He didn't need to worry. I was fine. It wasn’t like the news that King Beaumont had learned of my name came as much of a surprise. It was bound to happen eventually. Everyone else who had been in the throne room seemed more overwhelmed at the information than I had. Lucan's eyes had turned bloodshot and his skin paled when he took in the news. The whispering soldiers should have terrified me, but I hadn't even flinched. I understood the severity of the situation, but was too used to being a war pawn by now.
“You haven't said a word since the throne room.”
