Her and Delani joined us at the table, followed by Sawyer, Kade, and Jensen. Lastly, Sebastian stomped into the room, his eyes darkening at the sight of me.
“What happened?” His brows furrowed as he approached.
“Don’t worry about it.” I pointed my attention towards my father as he settled in his seat at the head of the table.
Sebastian grabbed the arms of my chair, yanking it out from under the table and angling me so that I had no choice but to look at him. “What happened?” he repeated, demanding an explanation.
With a sharp shake of my skull, I rolled my eyes towards the veil. “I broke it last night. It’s not a big deal. Venay will heal it when she gets back.”
“How did you break it?” He took the bandaged limb in his hands, the touch gentler than he usually was with my body when we?—
Fuck.
“I lost an arm wrestling match to Kohen,” I interrupted my own thoughts.
“I would hardly call it amatch,” Kohen snorted. “She grabbed my hand and did some sort of flip onto the floor then,snap.”
“It probably wasn’t fully healed from when you were crushed,” Sebastian practically growled, giving Kohen a deathly glare. “How bad of a break does it have to be for Pia to not be able to heal it?”
“It’s fine.”It wasn’t. Good thing I had a few drinks in me last evening, because the way my arm was bent would have made sober me pass out.
Carefully, I pulled my arm from him. “Can you stop being such an overprotective ass?”
“No. I won’t stop being anoverprotectiveass.” Sebastian leaned into my ear, his teeth skimming the lower lobe. “Because you are still mine. And what we have between us—it isn’t over.”
My pulse skyrocketed, and he instantly pulled away to take his seat. I hated that my body still reacted this way to him, but I had to squeeze my legs together to calm the lustful ache his words created.
“Let’s begin.” Archer cleared his throat and addressed the room. “We are all aware of what was overheard in Draemor. And I assume we are all on the same page that we need to take action sooner rather than later?”
I scooted my chair back into its correct position and nodded in sync with the others.
“I’m open to hear your ideas. Does anyone have something they’d like to share?” my father finished.
Pia spoke up. “Well, first and foremost, protecting Maeve and keeping this land hidden should be the priority. I’m sure we're all in agreement when it comes to that. We’ve all seen what Beaumont is capable of and?—”
“I disagree,” I pitched, not letting her finish. “Keepingyou allsafe should be the priority. I’m the reason for this and for what happened to our home. I care way more about keeping all of you safe and alive than I do myself. Therefore, I have an idea. I’ll go back to Draemoralone?—”
“Vetoed.” Sebastian pushed up from his seat, his knuckles turning white from how tightly he gripped the table's edge. “You aren’t going back there.Ever.”
“Sit down and shut up,” I demanded, and to my surprise, he actually listened—though not before I caught a glimpse of thirst in his eyes. “As I was saying, I can go back to Draemor with my markings hidden and compel some of the townspeople to help me find my way into the castle. Then I can take care of Beaumont.”
“And how do you plan to do that? With the power of the cosmos that you can’t control?” Kade sneered, a smug look across his face.
“I can learn to control them,” I replied.
“Overnight?”
I gave him a sideways glance and crossed my arms. “Well, no. I would need a little time.”
Kade pointed to his cheek. “How would you hide your jewels?”
I stuttered, and one side of his mouth curved in satisfaction.
“Using Maeve’s mind control would be beneficial,” Kohen stated. “But I also feel like it's too risky to bring her back there. Especially knowing what we do now. And with what happened in the woods on your way there and what the Draemornians said about her markings,” he shook his head and looked at me directly, “it just doesn't seem like a good idea. He wants to kill you…remember?”
“Killing me seemed like his backup plan. And besides, he didn't explicitly say that, he said he wouldhandle me,” I corrected.
“That sounds like a fancy way of saying that he would kill you,” Kade retorted dully, picking at a fingernail.
