Page 65 of Emylia

Sebastian’s words brought me back to the argument at hand. “What makes you so sure he’s not going to rat you out?” I opened my mouth to answer but his look stopped me dead in my tracks. “If you dare try to tell me because he told you he wouldn’t, I’m done.”

Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest in a stubborn stance I’d seen from him many times in the past.

I mirrored him. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Just watch me.”

Half of me didn’t care if he was done with me. The other half hated how much I’d disappointed him. There was no way I was going to let him walk out of here with bad blood.

Taking a deep breath, I willed my heart to stop pounding. “Because I think he likes me.”

Crap.

Wrong move.

Unmistakable hurt shadowed his eyes. Scarlet bled into amber again, twisting his eyes into something predatory.

“So what?” His voice was a growl, feral and unforgiving.

As much as I knew my words would hurt him, he deserved the truth. And I knew he would want it.

“I think I like him too. And I trust he won’t betray me.” I had no idea why those words left my lips; it was something I hadn’t even dared to admit to myself.

Sebastian mustn’t have realized how vulnerable I was allowing myself to be because he rolled his eyes, his voice coming out as a bloodthirsty snarl, promising ruin, “I’m not sure who I’m going to kill: him or you.”

I jerked backward in surprise at his tone. “Why?”

“Because he has you acting like a crazy lunatic.”

Frustration gnawed at me.

I was so done with this conversation.

“Gods forbid I like someone who might like me back. I understand that you are a bit of a whore, Bastian, but this doesn’t happen to all of us on a daily basis. This whole conversation is bullshit, and you know it. Besides, you are the one that bet me to go out with him in the first place!”

Once again, my loose terminology for his sexual exploits made his eyes flash.

“It was never about the dare. I just wanted you toseeme. To realize that you’re in love withmejust like I’m in love with you. I wanted you tochoose me.”

The laughter around us was so at odds with our argument. It wasn’t like people around town hadn’t seen Sebastian and I argue. We had been best friends nearly our entire lives and had gotten into our fair share of fights, but this one felt different.

It felt heartbreakingly raw.

“You didn’tneedto prove anything to me. I’ve been in love with you for as long as I can remember—from the moment you kissed my scraped knee when I was five, to the first time you let me win in a sword fight.” I took a stuttered breath. “My love for you has brandished my soul, hidden just under the surface, quiet and waiting for you to claim it. But you never did. So I kept it buried.”

Silence descended between us with the weight of my words. But I needed this off my chest. I needed him to know that his inaction had consequences.

“Somewhere along the way, I realised you hadn’t taken action because I wasn’t good enough for you—that just loving you was already more thanIdeserved. I will never be worthy of you. And that was okay, because I knew you’d find someone who had more to give than anything I have to offer. Then Josephine swooped in and I knew I had no chance left, I’d lost you.”

My silence said it all.

For good measure, I lifted my chin in defiance, hoping my face didn’t betray how much this confession wounded me.

Sebastian’s body language instantly changed. His tone softened, fracturing my already broken heart. “Oh, Em.”

Taking a step forward, he pulled me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me. “I’ve never been with Josie, even remotely intimately. At first it was because of Evie, because they were best friends and followed me everywhere. But now, I hang out with her because I know I would never betray your trust by sleeping with her. She’s the one person I know I’m safe with, because I would never cross that line. Not when I know it would break you.”

Tears stung my eyes. “You haven’t?”

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