Page 29 of War of Her Heart

“You knew something that no one should know about me.” There was a bite to those words that had me turning around, trying to make my escape again.

But to no avail, he was in front of me again.

“Bronwen told you she told me,” I said as I focused on a small crack in the stone floor beneath my feet, which proved to be no use as the shadows crept into sight.

“Look me in my eyes and tell me that,love.”

A mix of butterflies from the choice of his words and the urge to vomit from the fact that he knew I was lying formed in my stomach. I couldn’t avoid him. I was trapped. In his library. In his castle. In his realm.

I looked up, meeting his enchanting gaze as I said, “I don’t know who or what is doing this to you. Is that enough?”

He studied me for a moment, but I never broke my stare. I wanted to make sure he knew I was telling the truth, but I also didn’t want to look away. His eyes were the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen.

“I wasn’t going to hurt you,” Sebastian said, breaking the daze I was in. His eyebrows had furrowed, and his eyes pleaded as if he was trying hard to make me believe him.

“Really? I’m pretty sure your shadows were waiting for your command to consume me,” I said.

“Consume you?” Sebastian looked at me, confused by my choice of word, before a smirk formed on his lips. “My shadows don’teatpeople. You read too manyMountain Realm history books.”

I disregarded the “Mountain Realm history books” part of his response. I was too concerned with knowing. Knowing what the shadow king was. “Then what do they do?” I asked.

“They’re an extension of me. My sight. My ears.My touch.”As he said those last two words, I felt something rub from my shoulder to my neck. But Sebastian’s hands were in his pockets.

Dear gods. This is why I didn’t want to be around him again. This feeling. This bad-but-feels-so-good feeling.

“I-I need to go back to my room now,” I said as I pushed past him.

No matter the feeling Sebastian was giving me, my mind told me to stop talking to him. I couldn’t let it go any further.

I quickly made my way back to my room. I knew I shouldn’t have left my room in the first place but the thought of what I would find in the library was too intriguing. And what I ended up finding had made me feel a way a book never had.

I took a few turns down some halls before I realized I had no idea where I was again. I needed to pay more attention to where I was going.

“Fuck,” I mumbled quietly. I feared that if I stayed still too long that Sebastian would be back in front of me to play his little game again. That must be a part of his evilness: saying things to make others uncomfortable. Saying inappropriate things to me to watch me squirm.

An idea popped into my head. It probably wouldn’t work and would leave me feeling stupid, but I had no other choice than to try it.

“Yara?” I called.

A cool breeze rustled my hair, and I turned around to see the ghostly faerie standing behind me.

I couldn’t believe that worked.

“Can you take me back to my room?” I asked.

She nodded and started walking the opposite way I had been heading. I blindly followed her, not paying attention to the specific turns and steps she was taking because my mind was still in the library. Still imagining Sebastian and his shadows touching me.

I thanked her once we reached the familiar hall, and she disappeared before my eyes.

As I closed the door to my room and turned around to rest my back on the door, Calum was suddenly standing in front of me. I’m not sure why he was here in the middle of the day, but I didn’t care.

“Where—” Calum began to speak but stopped when I immediately pushed him on the bed.

I needed him. I needed a release of everything I was feeling.

“Violet, what—” He stopped mid-sentence when he saw my dress fall to the floor. I climbed on top of him and pulled his shirt off.

“Violet, I can’t stay long. I just needed to tell you something,” he said as his eyes looked down at my naked body.

---