I have been wandering around trying to find Sebastian for about ten minutes now. This palace is enormous. I really hope he hasn’t gone back to the Light palace because I really don’t want to go that far away from Delinda. I stop by an alcove, which is situated near the Great Hall, and has filmy, black curtains draped around the granite columns. I sense Sebastian and step inside the dark recess.
“Seb?” I ask, stepping further into the gloom. “We need to talk about this.”
“I know,” he says eventually.
I turn towards his voice and see him sitting on his haunches in the corner. “Oh, Seb,” I say and step closer to him. He looks wretched.
“Don’t,” he says. “Just don’t.”
I pause and wait for him to talk.
“Are you okay?’ he croaks out.
“Not really,” I reply. “But I have to be. For her.”
“It makes me sick,” he spits out. “What he did to you. He violated you and now this! How are we ever supposed to forget? How are you ever supposed to forget?”
“I don’t know,” I say. I really have no idea.
“It was supposed to be me; he took that away from me. He took you away from me; he took everything away from me. I fucking hate him. He had better be glad that he is dead, because if he weren’t, I would tear him limb from limb for this!” he says heatedly.
“We’ll get through this,” I say quietly.
“How?” he asks, but I don’t have an answer for him. “We are done now, aren’t we?” he asks bitterly. “You and me, it’s over now.”
“I don’t know,” I wail, suddenly wishing I hadn’t come to find him. He is messing with my head. I don’t have any answers for him. I don’t even have any for myself. “I don’t know anything yet, Seb. I need time to process this and I need to get used to being a mother. Delinda is my priority now.”
“I have to go,” he says suddenly, getting up and disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Great.
That went worse than I had expected, and I had pretty low expectations to start with. In this moment of solitude, it all comes crashing down on me. I make it to the large pot plant just in time to retch into it. I sink to my knees and wipe my mouth. All that came up was bile. Once again, I seem to have forgotten to eat and now I am starving.
“Aeval,” Drake says as he finds me in a crumpled, crying mess a few minutes later, still clutching onto the pot.
“Oh, Daddy,” I cry. “How did this happen?”
“I wish I had answers for you,” he says as he gathers me into his arms.
“I hate it,” I whimper.
“I know,” he says. “But it is done now, Aeval.”
“I know,” I answer and pull away from him. Time to stop being a baby about this and pull my big girl panties on. What’s done is done. Now, I have to reassess everything that I thought I knew, and I must make a decision once and for all.
“I’m going to clean up,” I say. “I’ll sort that out in a minute.” I point to the pot plant.
“I’ll deal with it, go and have a rest,” Drake says kindly.
I nod and head off back to my bedroom. I just want to crawl under the covers and stay there for a century or two.
I push open the door and find Devon curled up on the bed, with CK sitting in an armchair glowering at him.
Oh, what now?
“Everything okay in here?” I ask warily.
“Yes,” CK says shortly. “But you and I have things to discuss.”