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“Oh.” I leant into his touch, loving the way he was holding me. “Well, yeah. I figured that’s where we’re going, right? Unless… Oh god. Have you changed your mind? I thought?—”
He cut me off with a kiss. It was hard. Dominant. I melted against him, debating whether we should take it back to the bedroom, when just as suddenly he pulled away.
“I will never change my mind about you, sunshine. It’s just…that’s the first time you’ve said that. Like you can see a future with us. It…it took me by surprise. That’s all.”
My face softened. “Seb, you’re in every day of my future. That’s never changed. What changed was how much I could trust that vision. But now, with you fighting for us too…” I kissed his lips lightly. “I think we’re going to make it. I’m starting to think I don’t need to be scared anymore.”
“You don’t,” Sebastian vowed. “You never need to fear anything ever again. Not even me.”
I cuddled up against him, letting him soothe me through the turbulence. With his arms around me, I relaxed, knowing he wouldn’t let anything hurt me.
After a few minutes, he snorted. “Can’t believe you’re worried about a missile of all things. Have the UK and France gone to war with each other again and I somehow missed the declaration?”
“France? Is that where we’re going?”
Sebastian stiffened slightly but didn’t stop the languid strokes down my spine. “It is.”
“What’s there?”
“My home.”
Sebastian grew tenser as we drove through the French countryside. He didn’t stop talking to me though, nor did he let go of my hand as we zipped through narrow country lanes.
Eventually, he pulled into a long, winding driveway. It was so overgrown, I wouldn’t have known it was there. Sebastian seemed to know where it was though, pulling off the road and driving us through a densely packed woodland.
“Are we nearly there?”
“Yes, sunshine.”
I’d been surprised when he’d spoken in flawless French to the man waiting with our hire car. I had a vague recollection of him having an accent back during my kidnapping, but given I hadn’t heard it since, I’d assumed maybe I’d imagined it.
Apparently not. If this was where he lived, and presumably grew up, then French was Sebastian’s first language.
After we got in the car though, his accent returned to the one I was familiar with. It made me wonder if it was normal for him now, or if there was another reason why he smoothed his original accent away.
He turned the car into the top curve of the driveway, pulling to a stop right where you’d expect there to be a front door. Clicking off the engine, he exited the car without a word. I waited for him to open my door, letting him help me out the car. “Are we here?”
“Yes.” Sebastian’s lips were pressed thin, his skin unnaturally pale, even for him. “This was my family’s home. It’s where I grew up.”
I swallowed, surveying the empty plot. Aside from occasional piles of rubble, there was nothing there.
Sebastian was doing the same thing as me, but was obviously seeing something I wasn’t. From the way he was trembling, this place wasn’t bringing back good memories for him.
Nudging my way under his arm, I pressed myself to his side and hugged him. “I’m here, Seb.”
He squeezed my arm, blinking away tears. “I wasn’t expecting it to be this hard.”
“We don’t have to do this now if you don’t want to. We can come back another time, whenever you like.”
“No. It’s time.” He set his lips in a grim line. “I’ve run from this for too long. I’m not letting it chase me any longer.”
We walked towards the plot slowly, Sebastian taking long, slow breaths as we approached. “This was the entryway,” he told me as we passed over the grass. “It led to a courtyard that had a fountain in the centre. Over there were five stables, a horse for each of us. We were in the process of adding a sixth, for Amelie.”
I squeezed his side, offering him my strength as he spoke.
“This here led into the main castle.”
“You had a castle?”
