I didn’t ask the question out loud, because I already knew the answer.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
We allowed ourselves a few days ofnormalcywhile Sebastian healed and the rest of us tried to come to terms with everything that had happened since we arrived in Lumosia. For me, that meant finally allowing myself to grieve my mother, my relationship, and the woman I used to be.
I had gone to see Sebastian every day he had been in the infirmary. And visiting him with the new title offriendfelt downright weird. But for the time being, it had to be this way, even though it killed me inside.
The icing on the damn carrot cake—I fuckinghatedcarrot cake, especially with nuts—was that tonight was my belated birthday celebration thrown by Pia and Delani. I didn’t want to celebrate, but now that Sebastian was back to full health—physically at least—they demanded that we partied.
There were much more pressing matters to attend to aside from getting drunk. For instance, we needed to tell Sebastian that we found his mother’s journal. We all agreed to wait untilhe’d fully recovered to tell him, but we still weren’t sure if he was mentally fit to process it.
We also still had a king to kill and a new species to uncover, but Pia assured me that all of that could wait until tomorrow. Or the next day, rather. Tomorrow we would probably all be hungover.
When the sun had fallen behind the mountains and the stars rolled in to replace its glow, we gathered in the courtyard where we would ignite a small fire and have afewdrinks.
“I know it’s not even my actual birthday, but I have anxiety just thinking about it,” I said into my glass.
“Then don’t think about it.” Sawyer tipped the cup back when I went to take a sip, making me swallow more than I’d planned.
“Dick,” I coughed, gagging at the burn in my throat.
“In all seriousness, though, I get that. I mean, for you, your birthday is just a reminder that you never wanted a life like this. So yeah, I can imagine that kinda sucks.”
My nose scrunched. “Have you always been this brutally blunt?”
“I’m pretty sure my first sentence was something along the lines of how my mother’s cooking was subpar.”
Wiping my mouth, I laughed in sync with him, though the smile left my lips when he left to tend to the fire and his presence was replaced by Sebastian.
“Happy belated birthday,” he said flatly, his hands tucked into the pockets of his thigh-hugging black slacks.
“Thanks. But you know how I feel about this day. Well, the actual day.”
“Yeah, I know. But still.” His gaze roamed from the drink in my hand, to my lips, unashamedly staring at them before meeting my eyes. “I would have gotten you a gift, but shopping is pretty difficult when you're chained to a chair.”
My brows sunk into my eyelashes. “Not funny.”
He shrugged. “If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry.”
I fisted my glass tighter, knowing that although he said the words playfully, he meant them.
“And you already got me a gift.” I patted my thigh where the custom dagger he gave me laid flat against the muscle.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
After sucking down another sip of my drink, my eyes drifted to his ankle, still wrapped with a beige bandage. “How’s your ankle?”
“Better. Pia is a good healer, but Venay is incredible. If only we had her after your run in with Lucan,” he answered, rolling the foot a few times for example.
My attention dipped back to my cup while I winced at the reminder of my face being dragged across rough cement. If that memory still cursed my brain every time I thought about it, then what Sebastian went through in Draemor surely kept him up at night.
When I didn’t respond, he took the glass from my hand so that I’d look at him. His fingers grazed my skin, and instant electricity sparked with his touch.
The spark sizzled away. I had to force it to, but I managed to extinguish it all the same.
He exhaled sharply, taking a sip from the whiskey in my cup. His favorite. I never liked it until him.
