Page 14 of The Gods Forbid

His eyes had lost all their bright color, breaking down to only the dark blues and greens. His chest was heaving and his jaw hard, and his hands had descended onto the bars on either side of my head, gripping with such force I heard the iron squeal under his palms.

“Did you not hear what I said or did you just choose to ignore me?” Sebastian snapped, his head bending down so that the words were thrown right into my face. He was clearly trying to intimidate me.

There was just one problem. I tended to have very bad judgment when it came to things that were supposed to scare me. I was able to recognize threats just fine, but I always forgot to shrink away from them.

“I didn’t really register what you said. I was more focused on finishing what I was saying.” It was the truth, but also had the interesting side effect of breaking through Sebastian’s anger, like the sun cracking through storm clouds.

Although, it also gave him the space to take the route of sarcasm and charm. Maybe I was actually scared of him, because when he grinned it made my heart drop.

“Is this how you’ve survived this hell all these years?” he asked, his voice wickedly smooth.

“I don’t understand the question.” I couldn’t think straight. I had no idea how people still functioned under the oppressive weight of fear, because I certainly couldn’t form a coherent thought.

Sebastian grinned, pressing me harder into the gate. Hard enough that the rough iron was cutting into the backs of my arms, but I barely registered the pain. “You don’t seem to understand a threat, even when it’s staring you in the face.”

I frowned, my mind snagging on one part of his question. “I understand threats perfectly fine,” I snapped, defensiveness strong in my tone. A quick flash of shame followed.

Sebastian’s eyes narrowed, then started darting all over my face like he was cataloging every inch before attempting to replicate it on page. “Then you’ll understand me when I say if you ever bring her up again, I will burn this place down with both of us inside it.”

I’d never been a reckless person, but I still asked, “You mean Penelope?”

Sebastian’s hand flew to my chin, the touch so hot and branding it sent a violent shiver through me that made me jerk away from his touch. I had nowhere to go but closer to the bars, and I’d moved so harshly that I scraped my bare arms over the iron.

I whimpered in pain, then made another broken sound when I felt blood warming my skin.

Then a few things happened all at once. Sebastian’s hand wound around the back of my neck, pulling me away from the bars and into his hard chest. I distantly registered his other hand moving down one of my arms, then flipping me so that my back was pressed to his chest and doing the same to the other, because someone’s voice bellowed into the silence.

“Let her go, right now,” Nikolas yelled, running around the corner. Sebastian didn’t listen, only held me more firmly to him, his forearm banding around my waist.

I opened my mouth to tell Nikolas I’m okay, but nothing came out.

“I don’t answer to you,” Sebastian snapped, and his hand pulsed once in its bruising grip on my hip.

My head was spinning, my heart about to beat out of my chest, but I was able to manage a few hoarse words. “Let me go.”

Sebastian listened, releasing me. He didn’t move, though. He was still firmly pressed to my back. I was sure he was trying to make a statement about something, but I was too dazed to remember what.

This was a very new sensation for me. Nothing knocked me out of focus.

Nikolas ran up and started pulling on the bars of the cage. “Persy, open this and get out of there.”

“I’m okay, Niky,” I said, my voice calm to reassure him. One thing I’d learned about him very quickly into his stay at Prometheus was that he still held onto a lot of fear that his loved ones would be hurt, his grief over his father’s early death still fresh.

“Get away from him,” he said, eyes still wide in panic.

“Go,” Sebastian said, his voice low and rough next to my ear. He wasn’t making any move to step away from me. “Before your boyfriend hurts himself trying to break in here.”

It took a second for my body to comply, but I took a small step forward. My back erupted in goosebumps, feeling cold as ice all of the sudden. I calmly headed for the lock, moving quickly through the prick of pain, until the door was opened and I was on the other side of it.

“Are you okay?” Nikolas asked, looking over my skin to make sure I was unharmed.

I nodded, turning back to Sebastian. My mind finally felt like it was working again.

“Sebastian,” I called, beckoning him towards me with my hand. He didn’t listen, just kept glaring at Nikolas. “Sebastian.”

This time he looked at me, a slow slide of his eyes over to my form, then up and down quickly. “I understand that she is a difficult subject for you. But your anger and grief does not give you an excuse to treat others with disrespect. That includes trying to scare me away from you.” Scare me away from helping him would have been a more appropriate thing to say, but it was too late to correct myself.

Sebastian did nothing but heave in a breath and hold heavy eye contact with me.