He stared through the openings even though she was no longer there. She had left only moments ago, so her perfumed scent was potent, and he breathed it in.
For a second, he pressed his forehead to the wall, imagining what she may have looked like.
But reality snapped him back to an upright position as he polished off his wine, licking the corners of his mouth to catch the stray droplets.
It was a rich flavor, fruity, with a heady depth beneath, and Sebastian determined after quaffing the entire cup that he was rather fond of it.
Another, he thought, and rose.
When he left the booth, he placed the book back on the shelf, pausing to give a huff of a laugh at how he had dared to read part of it aloud to a nervous stranger, a woman who he thought wished to unlock more than she had let herself.
A glimpse of a fox mask, the flash of a silver pendant he had seen the shape of her hand clutching…
That was all he had of her.
That, and a nickname that adjoined with his own.
Pyramus and Thisbe, forever divided by a wall.
He laughed to himself once more before he left the room and headed down the long passageway that would return him to the ballroom.
On his way through the hall, he nodded to ‘Lord Spencer. The man had been in Sebastian’s service for years. Since he had begun hosting these soirees, this gentleman had posed as the host of these parties in his stead. Sebastian paid his Lord Spencer handsomely to play the role of host.
There is a reason nobody knows Lord Spencer’s true identity.
Sliding his hands into his pockets, Sebastian strolled down the hallway to the ballroom, trying not to wonder if he would see his nervous Thisbe.
Yet right before he entered the ballroom, he stumbled and then frowned down at himself.
“What the…” he muttered under his breath.
I can always hold my wine better than this, he thought, but didn’t linger on the thought.
Perhaps he had just gone a little overboard as he read, idly sipping away without realizing how much he’d had. Still, he composed himself and slipped into the ballroom undetected.
It was a strange thing: to be so anonymous beneath a mask here, but so widely known when he stepped into a proper ball hosted by one of the illustrious ladies of theton.
He meandered through the throng, enjoying his relative anonymity, until he spied a pair of fellows who would never fail to pick him out in a crowd, no matter his disguise, for disguises were not unfamiliar to them.
One of those men was Vincent Byrd, the Duke of Ravenwood. He stalked through the crowd as soon as Sebastian appeared. Tonight, he wore a bespoke suit made of charcoal gray fabric. Draped over his shoulders, there was a fine, fur-lined cloak. Vincent revealed a small smile beneath his wolf mask.
Fitting, Sebastian thought.
His friend was vicious when he needed to be, more bite than bark, and was never one to hesitate when it came to slashing a blade or firing a pistol.
“And where might you have been all night?” Vincent asked, no sign of small talk, or asking how Sebastian was feeling about having all these merrymakers invading his property.
In truth, Sebastian was glad for it. He dabbled in small talk well enough, but it got exhausting. With his friend, Vincent, he could at least be authentic as much as he could be.
“Nice mask,” he added with a hint of a smirk.
“Thank you,” Sebastian chuckled, fiddling with the string of his snake disguise. “I thought it was rather apt, given our surroundings.” He gestured languidly to the nearest couple who were leaning much closer to one another than standard propriety would allow. “And, in answer to your question, I have been in another room, indulging myself.”
“With a woman?”
“With literature,” Sebastian corrected in a mocking tone.
But there was a woman…
