“Believe us now?” Sawyer leaned back in his seat, kicking his feet up on the mahogany table as he addressed Franlow, who granted him a seething glare.
Franlow’s eyes met Azain’s fear stricken ones. “May I remind you that you are under oath, and the penalty for breaking that oath is death? Is this really true?” he questioned his soldier.
Azain’s head bounced in confirmation, and a low groan tumbled out of King Franlow. His eyes shut tightly, and his silence granted me confirmation that he was rethinking our conversation from earlier. He would help us. He had no choice.
“How close to our borders?” Franlow pinched the bridge of his nose.
Sebastian adjusted his posture. “I would say ten miles north of here.”
A set of curse words spluttered out of Franlow’s lips. “I need to discuss this with my wife, but it seems that you all may be getting your wish. Give me a moment, and I will return withan answer for you.” His navy robe swept across the floor as he pushed out of his chair, leaving us still surrounding the table.
Samara smacked her cherry-red lips, the sound forcing everyone's attention towards her. “You all have nothing to worry about. He’s going to help you. Which means we’ll all be spending a lot more time together,” she chimed, her lashes flicking at me briefly.
“Great,” Sebastian, Sawyer, and Kade quipped in unison.
Azain piped in, his words directed at Sebastian. “Do you think it would be best to bring your troops here, or for us to go wherever you all have been holding up? And were you serious when you said all you had for troops was the few of you?” His skepticism could not have been mistaken.
“We don’t have many troops. Fifty, at best. We were planning to go searching for any Caelestian survivors, but things changed,” Sebastian responded, avoiding the first part of Azain’s question.
“Fifty?” Samara scoffed, holding a flawlessly manicured hand over her lips. “Wow. You reallydoneed us.”
“Do you think I’d be here, willingly making conversation with you, if we didn’t?” Sebastian shot back, and I had to bite my tongue to muffle my laugh.
She shrugged, much too confidently for my liking, however.
“For all I know, you could have been missing me,” Samara taunted, side-eying me briefly.
Sebastian spit out the sip of water he had just taken. “Still as self-absorbed as I remember.”
Azain ducked his chin, hiding his laugh.
His sister shot him a deathly glare.
Samara was nothing if she wasn't persistent. “Well, there's a lot to miss. Remember that night we spent together after my uncle's gala? You know, the one where we?—”
“Samara,” Sebastian growled, his fists white knuckled upon the table. “Shut the hell up.”
My stomach churned with a mix of disgust and anger. If I could lunge across this table and strangle her with no consequences, I would.
Samara glanced around innocently. “What? They all know we were together. And we're all adults, there's nothing wrong with a little reminiscing. Taking a little trip down memory lane. Right, Sawyer?”
She didnotjust say that.
Sebastian flaunted me a brief look of confusion, to which I responded with my own signal that I would fill him in later.
“You’re right, Samara. I was just thinking about a funny story involving you, a bottle of wine, and a pair of ripped leathers,” Sawyer spat out.
Her eyes creased into narrow slants.
“Remember the time you claimed you weresooooin love with Seb, but he found you with your hands undoing the belt of one of our dungeon guards like, a few days after he rejected you. Oh, and how about the time you body shamed my best friend over breakfast?” Sawyer continued with a sharp hiss.
That shut her right up.
“Youwhat?” Sebastian roared through a clenched jaw. His fingers gripped the edge of the table as he fought his body from rising.
“It’s fine.” I elbowed him gently.
Sucking in his teeth, Sebastian’s head shook twice, so incredibly slowly that I worried he was about to lose his shit.
