Page 129 of The Gods Forbid

Chapter 29

Persy

Unfortunately, Sebastian had not only made me care for him, he’d made me like him.

Enough that after over an hour of seeing just the top of his head from across the room and engaging in conversations with good friends and passing acquaintances, I’d faltered on my decision to stay away from him and went in search of him.

Lia Vulcan had told me something about her girlfriend, and he simply had to know.

I was weaving through the crowd when I finally spotted the distinct slope of Sebastian’s shoulders, but when I realized who he was speaking to, I froze.

Sebastian was hunched over, jaw hard as he listened to his aunt spew something that was surely no better than disgusting hate in his ear.

For anyone staring at his back, they might assume he was simply focused in on what he was hearing.

But I could see him. I always saw him.

I could see the way his hands were clasped together, the whites of his knuckles showing as he gripped them together. I could see the hang of his head, his eyes on the floor in defeat. I could see the set of his shoulders, tense and drawn up towards his ears.

That was enough.

I didn’t even care if this revealed too much, my heart already felt flayed open tonight.

Before I could even consciously decide to do it, my feet were moving towards them.

When I was several feet away, Sebastian’s head snapped up like he could sense me coming. His eyes immediately went panicked, his eyebrows drawing together.

Without caring whether his aunt was in the way, he took a long stride towards me. I held my hand up, silently telling him not to get in the way.

After a moment of confusion, her eyes blinking when she realized Sebastian wasn’t in front of her, his aunt looked at me. Her eyes widened in recognition.

Before either her or Sebastian could stop me, I got in between them. “What did you just say to him?” I snapped, my voice tense around the words.

“Persy,” Sebastian said at my back, but I ignored him.

“What did you say?” I asked again, when his aunt simply looked at me like she couldn’t recall her own name. It was Ariana, in case she needed the reminder.

She sputtered over a few words before wisely respecting the fury surely burning in my eyes and standing straighter. She looked over my shoulder at Sebastian for a moment, then back to me. “I simply reminded him of some family values.”

Either she thought me uninformed about those very values or she was bold. Too bold. I took a slow step towards her. “I’m well aware what your family values. And none of it belongs anywhere near Sebastian.” My words were a touch too possessive, but I was too angry to care.

His aunt’s eyes narrowed, raking over my form slowly in a move clearly meant to make me uncomfortable. It did no such thing. “You must not know my nephew very well, then.”

She was crafty, I’d give her that. She’d implied that Sebastian was lying to me and baiting me to refute her claim about our closeness in one fell swoop.

“I know him perfectly well,” I snapped back, not caring whether or not she found that suggestive of a deeper relationship or not. “But that doesn’t matter. You have no right to talk to him. Not after what you—”

She stepped toward me, a smiling blooming on her face. “After I what? Helped his parents? Facilitated his rise to power?” I stood my ground, even though I knew I’d spoken too much. “All things that are quite natural for us to talk about.”

Before I could say anything more, Sebastian’s hands came down on my shoulders, spinning me around so that he stood in between me and his aunt.

He bent down, forcing my chin up with his hand. Even though it wasn’t the first time he’d touched me there, it felt like it was. Goodness, it burned. I wanted that sensation everywhere.

“I let you go on long enough. Regardless of how,” Sebastian swallowed thickly, losing whatever he was going to say in his throat. “How much I enjoyed that,” he settled on. “You need to stay behind me.”

I was seconds away from jumping over his shoulder, but there was no breaking away from the way his hands were cemented on my body. It was the exact same way he’d protected me from his parents when I’d invaded his dream.

“Ariana,” Sebastian said, his voice thick with rage. “You are nothing without my help. I have zero intention of ever restarting that horrid plan, and you will get nothing from me for as long as I live. You’d do well to listen before I tell someone else, Persy’s brother perhaps, to watch every move you make.”