Page 77 of War of Her Heart

30

Chapter 30

Violet

After reliving everything that happened, I was back to reality, standing in front of Sebastian.

I fell to the ground and sobbed. Celine did all of that to me and then justtookthose memories from me to ensure that Calum never found out.

I had been living the last few months as the same, timid, obedient Violet that I’d always been.

But I wasn’t that Violet anymore. Celine broke me, and I’d never be the same.

I looked up at Sebastian who was still standing in front of me. His hands were balled up into fists and his shadows were circling around us. The wind started to pick up as if he was causing the weather to change.

The wind and shadows started to circle faster and faster around us as Sebastian looked ahead deep in thought, in anger. I noticed then that his eyes were completely black again and as I looked up higher, so was the sky. The once starry night was gone and replaced with total darkness. The only reason I could see was because of the glow of the pool.

He was in my head. He just lived through what happened to me. Felt every whip I endured and the pain I felt when Astrid died.

I started to hear several different screams and howls from the woods surrounding us. I heard a woman’s voice starting to whisper something in a language I had never heard before. But no one was there. This. This was the Night Realm I had read about.

“Sebastian.” I was scared. The Sebastian I had gotten to know the last few weeks was gone and replaced with someone completely different. The shadow king. The one that cornered me in the hall, threatening me on my third day here.

And then I remembered him telling me that he could control the Night Realm without lifting a finger. Because hisemotionscontrolled the realm. And right now, I was about to see every one of my nightmares come to life.

“I am going to kill that bitch. No—death would be too merciful. I am going to torture her worse than anything she could imagine and let her biggest fears consume her.Shewill be living in hell for eternity.”

The screams and howls seemed to be getting closer. I was terrified to see what creatures were making those dreadful noises.

“Sebastian, stop, please.” I reached up and grabbed his hand, and he immediately started to relax. The wind slowed but the shadows were still floating around us. The creatures seemed to disappear immediately, but the sky was still black. He kneltdown and cupped my cheek with his hand. Just like the sky, his eyes were still black. He wiped my tears and started taking deep breaths trying to calm himself because he could see the fear in my eyes.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said. His eyes started to lighten, and the blue slowly started to show again. So did the stars in the sky.

“I-I don’t want you to be afraid of me. I would never hurt you.” He looked so worried.

“I was afraid, but I’m not afraid of you hurting me. I know you won’t hurt me. I’m afraid of whatever creatures I just heard, and I’m afraid of what you might do to Celine. I don’t want you starting a war between the realms.”

He looked at me confused as he said, “But she deserves to be punished.”

“Yes. But Calum needs to handle this. It needs to be kept within the Mountain Realm.” As soon as I said Calum’s name, Sebastian’s demeanor changed. I hurt him. We had gotten so close and just went through so much together and no matter how right I was about handling this within the Mountain Realm, all he heard was me choosing Calum, again.

Sebastian looked away from me before standing up. “You need to get back to your room and get some sleep.”

“Sebastian.”

“What? Do you want me to summon Calum for you?” He looked angry again.

“No, I don’t want to see Calum,” I said as I stood up.

“Then what do you want, Violet?” He used my name. I couldn’t remember the last time he called me anything besides love. He looked into my eyes, waiting for my answer. I knew my answer was important to him, but I didn’t know what the right answer for me was. I only knew one thing in that moment.

“I-I don’t want you to leave me,” I whispered.

All of those memories hitting me at once was a lot to handle. I could feel the tears building back up. I was alone in a dark cell for fifty-two days other than the short visits with Astrid. I was afraid to be alone again, and I didn’t want Sebastian to leave me.

All of the anger left his face, and he wrapped his arms around me and transferred us to my room.

I stood there and looked around my room. I was so flustered by everything that happened that I wasn’t sure what to do.

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