#the real warning here is smartass!sebastian sallow honestly

[anto-pops]

The Serpent's Paramour CH 3 - Sebastian Sallow x Female!Reader

Summary: Sebastian, while sassy and demanding as ever, is being nice. Too nice. It's confusing as hell.

Word Count: 5.8k

Warnings: 18+, aged up characters, explicit language, emotional turmoil

Chapter 3 now up here on Ao3

The days rolled by in a hazy blur.

At least, you were pretty sure it had been days. Sebastian hadn’t been lying when he’d said you were allowed anywhere but outside the house– seeing as you’d been stopped by the Ashwinders scattered throughout the halls anytime you so much as glanced at the exits. The oppressive, hateful stares of the dark wizards made your skin crawl, so instead of suffering under their bitter gazes day after day, you’d opted to stay in your room. There wasn’t much else to do aside from sleep the hours away, though you realistically didn’t sleep much at all. 

You were sheep in a den of wolves. Every sound had you waking with your heart lodged firmly in your throat, and even after barricading the door with every available piece of furniture in the room, your unease lingered.

 During your first full day in captivity, you’d been woken up by the sound of the dresser screeching across the floorboards as an Ashwinder you’d never seen before pushed the door open. Your eyes had narrowed at him upon realizing that the lock to the bedroom really was just for show, and despite the mask that covered the bottom half of his face, you could tell he was scowling at your makeshift blockade. He had let you know that Sebastian was waiting for you downstairs for breakfast and to make your way there when you were ready. 

Out of sheer spite, you didn’t go. 

No one came to fetch you and force you to attend, much to your relief. Instead, you had taken advantage of the spacious bathroom at your disposal and filled the tub with water hot enough to melt your skin off, but you relished in it all the same. After being so tense for the last forty-eight hours, the bone-deep ache in your limbs diminished some, and you’d stayed submerged in the water for close to an hour. Climbing out was more difficult than you cared to admit, if only because being locked away in the bathroom felt like an added layer of security between you and the strangers beyond the door. Afterwards as you’d combed through your damp hair with your fingers, you found that the reflection that stared back at you in the mirror was unrecognizable to you.

You looked sickly. Years of living your impoverished lifestyle had left you skinnier than you’d ever been, and the sharp, contouring lines of your face were a testament to that fact. Shadows rimmed your eyes and gave you something of a haunted appearance, which was magnified by the dull, lifeless glint in your irises. While your hair was longer after a few years of forgoing trimming it, it was dry, brittle, and fell into an unmanageable heap over your shoulders. You wondered if getting your hands on any styling products would improve the state of the otherwise unremarkable mop on top of your head, but you refused to ask Sebastian for anything. 

Even though he was responsible for kidnapping you, he clearly hadn’t put much thought into having a woman staying in his house. Hell, you didn’t even have a change of clothes at your disposal since your belongings were still missing. 

With that somber thought in mind, you were left with no choice but to slip back into your flimsy nightgown before padding out of the bathroom. Not even fifteen minutes had gone by after fixing your barricade and slithering back under the covers when the telling sound of the dresser screeching across the floorboards greeted you. The same Ashwinder from the morning poked his head through, his tone flat and monotonous as he let you know that lunch would be ready for you in the dining room shortly. 

Once again, you adamantly stayed put in bed. Your stomach voiced its disapproval at you loudly, but if there was one thing about you that had remained consistent into your adulthood, it was your stubbornness and willingness to hold a grudge. 

By dinner time, you’d anticipated for the usual to happen; the dresser screeching as it was shoved out of the way, a head poking through the crack in the door, and your inevitable refusal to go downstairs. You wondered briefly how long you could keep this up before you’d collapse from malnourishment, but as it turned out, you wouldn’t have to. The tiny clock on the mantle read seven o’clock exactly when the bedroom door was pushed open, but instead of seeing a person, you saw a tray of food being levitated through the crack in the entrance. It came to rest on top of the dresser before the door shut, and you held out for a minute before the smell of roasted meat pulled you from the depths of the covers. 

If only to prolong your life and better plan your escape, you ate in contemplative silence. 

Two more days passed by exactly like that. You were no longer being invited to mealtimes with Sebastian, instead being hand delivered food on a tray within the sanctity of your very nice, very commodious cell. Despite the space to move and the amenities that came with the regal seeming chamber, you refused to view it as anything other than that– a gilded cage. The majority of your time was spent pacing the length of the room while you munched on bread, trying and failing to formulate a scheme that would result in you breaking out without anyone noticing. 

Since you refused to set foot outside your bedroom, you knew sorely little about the layout of the house. There were at least two stories, the second of which you were currently holed up on. The main floor contained the dining room with two conjoining sets of doors that led… somewhere, and a long hallway that also led to a place not yet discovered. From the massive wall of windows that lined the side of your room, you could make out some sort of a garden located either in the front of the house or in the back of it, but it was hard to tell with the towering hedges encasing it. 

In short, your planning was going quite poorly. 

As if not knowing the structure of the house wasn’t bad enough, you didn’t even have the necessary tools at your disposal to survive an escape attempt. No shoes, no additional clothing, no wand. Maybe being denied those basic essentials had been intentional for this very reason. The thought made your blood boil at the indignity of it all, and you contemplated just how long you could last before the magic from the repository would start fighting to be let loose. 

Early in the morning of the third day, you were beginning to go stir crazy. Even though there was no proof to back up the claim, you were positive you’d worn a path in the hardwood floor from your nonstop pacing. The buzzing in the back of your head was your only companion, growing louder and louder day by day as Isidora’s magic grew restless in your veins. All of your nails had been effectively chewed into nubs, the sheets on the bed were half strewn about the floor, and the panes of the windows were looking very breakable. You were considering ripping off the vertical columns of the four-poster bed to smash a hole through the glass to throw yourself from, the two story drop be damned. 

Your brow furrowed as you brought your thumb to your mouth to gnaw absentmindedly at the nonexistent nail there, and in the midst of your pondering, you heard the bedroom door open and bang into the dresser. Without turning to check, you remained facing the windows, assuming that the noise was simply due to another breakfast delivery. You’d hardly touched the last one, but you were definitely thirstier than usual, and you were honestly looking forward to the glass of juice that always came with your modest morning meals. 

“If you wanted to redecorate the room, all you had to do was ask, princess.” 

Your hackles raised and your spine stiffened instantly at the sound of Sebastian’s voice, and it was then you realized that you hadn’t actually heard anyone speak words to you in the past two days. As exposed as you felt leaving your back to him, you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging his existence, so you dutifully ignored him both verbally and physically. 

A resolute sigh sounded from him, and you listened warily as Sebastian entered the room and shut the door, his heavy footsteps reverberating through the floorboards as he planted himself somewhere near the bed. “I told you you weren’t a prisoner here, yet you insist on treating yourself like one. It’s mind boggling, honestly.”

“Is there some other way you expect me to behave aside from staying the hell away from you and your cronies?” In the reflection of the glass, you could see Sebastian turn to stare at the back of your head, and you knew why. Your voice sounded rough– raspy from days of not being used. 

“Touché,” he relented after a short moment. “But I don’t see where starving yourself factors into that line of thinking.” 

If there had been anything within arms reach for you to throw at him, you would have done it in a heartbeat. Instead you had to settle for crossing your arms stiffly over your chest as you addressed the window once more. “Leave. Me. Alone.” 

“Not until you agree to stop acting like a brat,” Sebastian chided, throwing himself down on your bed and tucking his arms behind his head. “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re all skin and bones. Keep this up and you’ll be dead by the end of the week.” 

Your magic stirred beneath your skin, the comment leaving you aggrieved in the worst of ways, and you felt the wards of the house working to smother the power that yearned to boil over and lash at him. He of all people wasn’t allowed to criticize your appearance. For him to so much as think he had the right to tell you what to do made your heart thrum wildly in your ears, and you spun on your heel to fix your icy glare directly on the brunet. 

“Fuck off, Sebastian. You don’t have the right to tell me what to do. You honestly want me to just blindly trust a single word that comes out of your mouth? To ignorantly assume that I won’t be harmed if I set foot outside this room when all I was met with when I tried was your stupid harem of dark wizards shadowing me everywhere I went? You kidnapped me, you’re forcing me to stay here, and now you have the audacity to tell me how to cope with it? Go to hell.” 

He rolled over onto his side and propped himself up on his elbow to better meet your scrutinizing gaze, and his fingers tapped thoughtfully against the mattress. “Alright, fine. I’ll tell everyone to stay posted at the exits and quit following you if it makes you that uncomfortable. But I meant it when I told you no one under this roof will hurt you. Even if you trust nothing else out of my mouth, trust that. Have I ever lied to you?” 

“Oh, I can remember several occasions,” an accusatory finger was jabbed in his direction, trembling with barely contained rage as you took in his infuriating level headedness. “How about we start with when you lied about laying off the dark arts? Or when you stole my Herbology homework and told me that Leander had done it and I ended up cursing him out in front of the whole school? Or, wait– I know– how about the time you disappeared all day without a word to anyone, only to show up in the catacombs controlling a horde of Inferi with an ancient relic?” 

His brows drew together at the last statement, but otherwise he seemed wholly unfazed by your monologue. “Technically I never lied then, I just didn’t tell you what I was planning.” 

“That is literally the textbook definition of lying by omission, you ass!” 

Being unable to utilize your magic in such an emotional state made you twitchy, so you took to running your hands through your unkempt hair as you began pacing in front of the window yet again. Sebastian watched you curiously, taking in your agitated appearance with something strikingly like amusement twinkling in his eyes. It pissed you off that he could remain so composed in the wake of your fury, but more than anything, it confused you. He should hate you– loathe you, even. After standing back and letting him be turned over to the Ministry, there was no sensible reason for him to be anything other than cold towards you, even if he did need your help. The snarky, tolerant persona he had displayed since speaking with you the first time made no sense to you. 

Finally, Sebastian looked away, letting his head fall back against his shoulder as he set his sights on the canopy overhead. “I think I miss the old you. She was never so rude to me.” 

You decided not to mention that the ‘old you’ had been the one complacent in his arrest, “Well, I don’t. She was a coward– too afraid of hurting your feelings to tell you what a prick you were turning into.” 

Dreamily, he muttered, “You have such a way with words.” 

“Shut up.”

“You need to eat something,” he urged you again, and one of your eyes started twitching.

“I. Don’t. Care. Leave me alone, I liked you better when you were staying the hell away from me.”

Sebastian scoffed, running his fingers through the front part of his hair as he chewed his lip thoughtfully. You hoped to the gods that he was on the brink of giving up– that he would leave again and allow you to stew in your anger in solitude– but of course that was too much to hope for. He sat up on the edge of the bed a split second later, letting his long arms dangle between his legs as he craned his neck back in your direction. “Let’s make a deal; if you leave this room and come downstairs to eat a full meal, I’ll give you a tour of the gardens. Just me, no Ashwinders included.” 

You paused, looking out the wall of windows as you swallowed thickly. Of course you had wanted to go outside since the day you’d arrived, but to suddenly have the option dangled right in front of your face almost felt like a trap. “Why would you let me go outside?” 

Sebastian flashed you an easy smile, and the sight was like a punch to the gut when you realized how young it made him look. His mature features shifted before your eyes, leaving you face to face with the boy you’d called a friend during your fifth-year instead of the twenty-something year old dark wizard that had kidnapped you. It was easy to forget everything he’d done when he looked at you like that. Too easy, in fact. So you stared down at the floor instead. 

He sighed as he stood up, then you heard the creaking of the dresser as it was levitated back over to its original resting place against the wall. You knew it would be moved back in front of the doorway later, but he didn’t need to know that. Sebastian strode for the exit, casting a coy look at you over his shoulder. “Because it’ll be easier for you to plan your grand escape if you can scout the grounds,” he joked, warranting a frown from you. “And because you’re withering away in here out of pure spite. It’s not the easiest thing to overlook, so what do you say? Do we have a deal?” 

Sebastian opened the door, beckoning you towards it invitingly as you fisted your hands in the hem of your nightgown. As distrustful as you still were of the man, he did have a point. You were rotting away in here, and the chance to set foot outside and breathe some fresh air was too good an opportunity to pass up. 

Wordlessly, you shuffled towards the open door and waited for Sebastian to close it behind him before following him down the stairs. Nothing had changed in the three days you’d spent locked inside the bedroom; the walls were still mostly void of any decor, and the smell of dust continued to tickle the back of your throat as you made your way into the dining room. You saw two Ashwinders stationed beside one of the doorways you hadn’t been privy to going near, and with a wave of his hand, Sebastian dismissed them. They looked at one another cautiously before obeying, leaving the two of you alone to feast on the decedent spread of food that covered the table. 

Your eyes lingered on Sebastian’s back as he walked to the same seat you’d occupied days prior, your brows disappearing into your hairline as he pulled the chair out and gestured for you to sit. How… chivalrous? What exactly was he playing at? Despite your reservations, you sat down and allowed him to push your chair in, watching guardedly as he sat down directly beside you instead at the other end of the table like you’d expected. It all seemed so much more intimate given the close proximity, and you couldn’t help but shift uneasily in your seat at the thought. 

While Sebastian set to serving you some of the eggs and sausages that lined the table, you thought back to his earlier comment in the bedroom. “You know, with all your teasing on the subject, you don’t sound at all worried that I’ll find a way to get out of here.” 

He shrugged, setting the serving spoon down before picking up a spatula to plop two pancakes onto your plate. “Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. I have every intention of making it hard for you, though.” 

The laugh you huffed out was dry and devoid of any humor, “What, are you planning on booby trapping my room or something?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of making you fall irrevocably in love with me so you don’t want to leave.” 

He had to be joking. There had to be a jibe hidden away in that statement somewhere, but the longer you stared at him, the less certain you became. Sebastian looked relatively serious as he picked up a bottle of syrup and drizzled it over the top of your breakfast, not bothering to look at you as you openly gaped at him. 

You were fairly positive you had been in love with Sebastian during your fifth-year. His consistent acts of service and toe-curling praises had understandably paved the way for a sort of crush to form, but that was all it had amounted to in the end. A crush. How else could you explain your blatant disregard for his poor decision making back then? Love is blind, as they say, but even Ominis had called out Sebastian’s steady descent into madness whereas you had made countless excuses to justify his actions. What was that, if not love? 

Towards the end, your infatuation had evaporated rather quickly once you’d realized how far under Sebastian’s manipulations you had fallen. Somewhere along the way he had taken advantage of your kindness and willingness to help, and it had been his undoing. Falling in love with him was such a far off concept to you now, it was almost laughable. 

“What, nothing to say?” He goaded you with a lazy smile. “No ‘shut up, Sebastian’ or secret declarations of love that spanned across the last five years?” 

Forcing your face to remain impassive, you evenly retorted with, “I wouldn’t fall in love with you if you paid me to do it. I’d sooner elope with a Dugbog.” 

You were startled by Sebastian’s booming laughter, the sound rich and belly-deep and entirely genuine. His head tipped back and his hair fell away from his forehead, revealing more of the sun kissed, freckled skin you’d failed to notice the last time you spoke with him. When he caught his breath and wiped a nonexistent tear away from his eye, he turned back to you with that youthful smile gracing his features once more. “Whatever you say, princess. I’ll take the loss in exchange for getting to see something like that.” 

In the next half hour that followed, you were surprised to admit that you’d ended up scarfing down two whole plates. When the trays delivered to your room often arrived, the food was warm but not hot, and something about digging into a steaming, freshly cooked meal in its entirety after so long was too enticing an opportunity to pass up. The buzzing in the back of your skull lessened some, and you found yourself relaxing into your seat more and more over time. Sebastian had simply watched quietly as you gorged yourself with gusto, looking strangely content by the time you set your fork down and pushed the plate away from yourself. 

Your cheeks flushed as you took notice of his unwavering focus on you, and you attempted to hide the redness of your face with your napkin as you wiped your mouth. “Sorry… guess I was hungry.” 

Instead of teasing you or boasting about being right like you thought he would, Sebastian simply shook his head and stood from his seat before charming away the dirty dishes. “Don’t apologize, I’m glad you ate something,” he admitted softly. “Come on, let’s go. A deal is a deal.”

Sebastian didn’t wait for you as he strode towards one of the sets of doors in the massive dining room, and your eagerness to get outside again overpowered any reservations you might have had about following him. Without a word, you hurried after him, stopping a few feet short as he produced his wand to cast a simple unlocking charm before throwing the grand oak slabs open. 

Even though you knew you’d been heading to the garden, you hadn’t expected it to look so colorful. 

While the house’s interior seemed to take gothic architecture to a new level, the exterior was something straight out of a children’s book. Cobblestone walls lined with moss and ivy loomed overhead, towering at least fifteen feet tall, and the hedges you had previously spied through your bedroom window took up the entirety of the far side of the backyard. Clusters of wildflowers decorated the ground, running right up to the edge of a small pond that sat in the middle of the enclosed space, and the body of water was surrounded by intricate stone carved benches. It looked like the kind of place you would find alongside a cottage in the woods, not the dreary, colossal manor you found yourself inhabiting. 

As soon as you stepped out barefooted into the lawn, the brisk, autumn breeze was blowing your hair off of your shoulders and caressing your cheeks. Your eyelids fluttered as you took in the earthy scents that met you; the pollen from the flowers, the bark from the trees, the damp dirt beneath the grass. In that brief moment of tranquility, you felt lighter than you had in days. 

The feeling was fleeting, however, seeing as you were immediately stifled by the wards that evidently stretched outside. Your magic strained against the invisible, oppressive force that worked to smother your abilities, and the sense of peace you’d barely been able to enjoy for a full minute evaporated into nothing. You shuddered at the loss, letting your head dip towards the ground as you wiggled your toes in the dew covered grass, and you became acutely aware of Sebastian’s prying eyes fixing on you. 

He wordlessly shrugged off the wool overcoat he had on and stepped behind you, ignoring the way you tensed as he draped the warm, thick attire over your shoulders. 

“I’m fine, you don’t have to–”

“You’re still in a nightgown with no shoes on,” he muttered quietly, as though he was only just now realizing it. He adjusted the flipped collar of the coat, letting his fingers linger against the skin of your neck for a moment longer than necessary, and the contact had your stomach churning. It was the first time he’d touched you since bringing you here. “I’ll have Nora bring you some new clothes later. She should have some things that fit.” 

Sebastian stepped away from you rather suddenly and shoved his hands in his pockets as he casually moved further into the garden, leaving you frozen with confusion as you watched his retreating form. Your chilled hands clasped the woolen collar of the coat tighter around your neck, your brows furrowing and your heart clenching in your chest as you contemplated why the man was being so tolerant of you– so nice, even. On his orders, his Ashwinders had stolen you from your room in Bainburgh and brought you to him, stripping you of your magic and your freedom. He had taunted you and told you to your face that you would help him obtain the relic he needed whether you liked it or not. In doing so he was jeopardizing his safety and yours, all because of the dark power within you that would inevitably consume you without the aid of the ancient magic sites or your wand. For all intents and purposes, he wasn’t someone you should let your guard down around, much less trust. 

But then there was you. The girl– now woman– who had stood back and let him be taken to Azkaban all those years ago. Back then, you had been afraid of what it would mean to not speak up– too anxious at the prospect of doing nothing about Sebastian’s infatuation with the dark arts, only to regret your complacency later on. Ominis had said as much to you in the Undercroft that day. He had thrown your feelings for your mutual friend in your face and told you that your blind loyalty would only enable him, and that as much as he didn’t want to, turning him in was the only option. 

You had been running on fumes at that time, too overwhelmed with Ranrok, the Keepers, and Sebsatian’s antics to state your case and dissuade Ominis from making a decision that he would grow to regret. Your cowardice had resulted in Sebastian’s expulsion and inevitable incarceration within Azkaban, and the guilt you felt had inevitably transformed into a deep resentment towards Ominis that you were never able to shake in the years that followed. Guilt could never unmake those choices, however, and you had been prepared to live with that lingering feeling for the rest of your life.  

But despite all of those things, the man before you was being gracious towards you. Alarmingly so. 

Sebastian stood at the edge of the pond, gazing down into the murky water and looking like he was wound tighter than a spring. You shifted uncomfortably in place, torn between moving closer to him or staying where you were. The latter choice ultimately won out, and you called to him from where you stood mere feet beyond the door. “Why are you doing all of this?” 

Thankfully, you didn’t have to elaborate. Sebastian turned slightly to glance at you through the corner of his eye, his expression blank and unreadable. Then he looked away to direct his reply to his boots, “I told you already, you’re no good to me dead.”

You couldn’t have held back your outburst if you tried, “Then force feed me! Throw a blanket at me, shove my feet in a pair of ratty slippers or something instead of offering me a whole new wardrobe and being so patient all the time. Why be so hospitable?” 

“Would you rather I be cruel?” Sebastian turned to face you this time, his arms crossing over his broad chest as he stared you down. “Do you want me to treat you like crap– to be the villain you think I am? The one you thought I was five years ago? Would it make it easier for you to cope with your decision to condemn me to a lifetime in Azkaban? Is that honestly what would make you feel better?” 

“I–” you stammered, at a loss for words as you averted your eyes to spare yourself from his critical stare. Instinctively, you pulled his coat tighter around you as you attempted to shrink in on yourself. It was the first time he had openly acknowledged what you’d done. You wanted nothing more than for the ground to open up and swallow you whole rather than be faced with the painstaking remorse that came with his declaration. He waited for you, though. He waited for you to say something to counter the accusation he’d hurled at you, and in the end you settled with, “You should hate me.” 

“Should I?” 

“I let Ominis turn you in,” you practically whispered, squeezing your eyes shut to hold back the biting sting of tears forming. 

Sebastian paused, then said, “You did.” 

“I don’t know how you can stand to look at me. I don’t know why you’re able to crack jokes and pretend like everything is fine, or act like nothing happened. I don’t understand, Sebastian.” 

“…I don’t know either,” he reluctantly divulged. Your eyes snapped open to meet his dark gaze, a new kind of mask settling over his face. One that was cold, unyielding, and distant. “But know this; I did hate you. For what time I did spend in Azkaban, I felt nothing but hatred. For you, for Ominis, even for myself. It was the only thing that kept me going.” 

Your next breath caught in your throat as your grip on his coat turned white knuckled. “And now? After you use me to get your relic, what then? Will you kill me?” 

A crack formed in his mask then, barely noticeable beyond the slight softening of his eyes, but you saw it all the same. “I don’t think I could kill you if I tried, princess.”

“That’s not exactly reassuring,” you countered, ignoring the tender way he said the nickname. “There are worse things than death.” 

“There are. But none that I’m intent on submitting you to. As for what comes after you help me get the relic, well… I suppose that remains to be seen.”

Before you had the chance to press him further, you were yelping in alarm as a figure dashed outside from within the dining room, their arms pinwheeling as they dug their heels in the grass to avoid colliding into you. Bowler hat was already staring at you incredulously when you turned to face him, and you were surprised to find that he was without his face mask this time around. His jaw was lined with salt and pepper stubble, the same color as his hair, and the weathered look to his face confirmed your previous assumptions that he was well into his fifties. If he hadn’t been sneering at you with his icy blue eyes narrowed in distaste, you would have almost said he was relatively attractive. 

He jabbed a finger at you as he addressed Sebastian, the former Slytherin lazily making his way towards the two of you. “I thought she wasn’t allowed outside.” 

“Relax Devlin,” Sebastian waved off the older man, planting himself protectively beside you, and you immediately realized that he was at least six inches taller than his associate. “I brought her out here. She needed some fresh air.” 

“Careful being alone with this one for too long,” Devlin side-eyed you attentively, presumably thinking back to the last time he had been in a room with you. “She’s a hellcat straight out of the fiery pits of the Underworld if I’ve ever seen one.”

“If you don’t know how to talk to women, just say that,” Sebastian said antagonistically. 

Devlin swore softly under his breath and rolled his eyes, then tapped the empty space on his wrist where a watch was meant to go. “We need to get going,” he said, his gaze momentarily returning to you as he contemplated how much of the discussion you were privy to hearing. “You’re needed in London.”

Whatever was waiting for Sebastian in London must not have been anything good, because the mere mention of the city made him go rigid. His demeanor changed completely, and when he glanced down to meet your shrewd gaze, you could have sworn he looked worried. You wanted nothing more than to ask him what was in the city– to get a sliver of information out of him to shed some light on what he was up to– but you already knew he wouldn’t tell you. 

He sucked in a slow, steadying breath before exhaling roughly. “I know it’s wishful thinking to hope you’ll listen to me, but go back to your room and stay there.” 

So much for being allowed to walk freely through the house. “When will you be back?” 

Sebastian grinned smugly, cocking his head to the side and causing his grown out bangs to brush across his forehead playfully. “Going to miss me already, princess?” 

Devlin groaned, mockingly gagging at the unabashed flirting the brunet displayed, and you frowned at the thought of locking yourself back up in that cold, empty room. You still needed to escape, but that plan would remain a working progress without your belongings on hand– and if you had to choose, you would much rather linger in the garden and enjoy the outdoors. 

Sebastian must have somehow read your dour thoughts plainly on your face, because his tone softened as he insisted, “Just go inside, I’ll be back later tonight to chaperone your explorations. Don’t wander far,” he added jokingly. 

Prick. 

With a hefty sigh, you turned to make your way to the door, shooting Devlin a dangerous look as you passed him. His blue eyes made a full trip around their sockets, but he otherwise said nothing. The grass disappeared from under your feet, replaced by the cool, hardwood floors of the house that sent a chill up your spine, and as you turned around to watch the two men depart, the double doors were already sliding shut with a soft click. A resounding crack came from the garden– a telltale sign that they had apparated– and you were left standing alone in the dining room with Sebastian’s jacket still draped over your shoulders. 

You don’t know why you did it. You would deny it until the day you died, but as you ascended the wide staircase leading to the second floor, you shamelessly brought the collar of the woolen coat to your nose. You were met with the familiar scent of cedar wood and worn parchment that was so uniquely Sebastian, it made your heart flutter.