Page 20 of Blood and Thorns
His attention burned, the silence stretching until I couldn’t take it any longer.Closing my eyes, I begged for my own breathing to settle down, to not give away my apprehension. Everything about him was intimidating.From his presence, his sheer size, to the way he watched me with such focus it was unnerving.
“Ten seconds in, and you’re already disobeying me.”
Shit.I literally had one job, and I’d already screwed it up.
Opening my eyes, I found Sebastian standing directly in front of me. He was so tall I had to tip my head back to study the beautiful design of his mask.
It was a matte black skull, the jaw and hollow of the nose intricate in its detail. It curved up the side of his face and across the bridge of his nose, leaving only his eyes on full display. A thick scar marked down his right eye, like some great creature had tried to blind him but failed. It curled up through his brow, disappearing into his hairline.
You’d think it would make him seem barbaric, but the scar only drew attention to the stunning midnight shade of his iris, and the sadism that glistened in its dark depths.
“Are you always going to hide behind that mask? Be weird if we’re going to spend a lot of time together.”Oh my God.What am I saying?“Strange kink to have.”Fuck. Me. Sideways. Stop!
I think I was having an episode. Or a stroke. Or something equally as nefarious.
Sebastian cocked his head, his eyes narrowing on me for a moment before he slowly reached up to the straps behind his ears. I held my breath as he revealed his face, memorising the sharp contours of his cheekbones and the sheer angle of his jaw.
He had a beard, too long to be stubble, but too short to do anything but keep it trimmed in the same dark shade as his long, shaggy hair. He revealed more scars, the skin rougher compared to his natural golden tan. One sliced through his upper lip, and a few fainter marks slashed across his forehead and cheeks.
It was the first time I was able to really study him, and for some reason he was letting me with a patience I didn’t expect. He stood with the self-assurance of a king, his intensity almost a physical vibration between us. His suit was crisp, with thecollar open to reveal tattooed black and grey thorns wrapping around his throat. A few rings adorned his large hands, the metal dark and chunky. The sophisticated image didn’t match the feral glint in his eyes, like a wolf pretending to be a sheep.
“You finished?” he asked, his voice a deep gruff that sounded more like a growl than not. “It’s too late to back out now. Once you’re mine, you’re mine,belle.” The last part was whispered against my skin, his breath intimate as he dipped his head towards mine.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “It’s Ara.”
He wasn’t even using Bella, which was a nickname I despised and refused to acknowledge. Belle was arguably worse, becausehe’dcome up with it.
His upper lip quirked up in a smirk, as if reading my thoughts.
Get on your knees.
His velvet command echoed in my mind. I knew what I’d agreed, my life for my father’s. I was waiting for Sebastian to demand it again, my legs locked to keep me from shaking. Getting on my knees was probably the least of my worries, and yet I stood as still as a statue. My pulse was erratic, and if I didn’t calm down soon, I may end up passing out or something else equally dramatic.
“Are you going to kill me?” I finally asked, proud that my voice sounded strong and not at all scared shitless.
I watched as Sebastian reattached his mask, making him seem even more vicious.
“Is that what you want?”
“Of course not,” I said without hesitation, but there wasn’t much conviction behind the words. Wait, I didn’t want him to kill me. Did I? No, I was definitely having an out-of-body experience right now. I’ll blame the highly stressful situation.
Sebastian didn’t seem convinced. Which wasn’t great a start, and oh God, I think I might cry.
“Let me take you to your room.” His arm brushed mine as he headed towards the door, leaving me to look after him.
“Room? But I thought…”
“You want to stay in the dungeon?” he asked over his shoulder. “I like to keep some of my spiders there.”
“No.” Wiping the traitorous tear from my cheek, I followed, the corridor a labyrinth before we came to the golden lift as before. At least, I think it was the same lift.
The doors opened at his approach, his shoulders eating up the space before he turned and waited. Steeling my spine, I joined him, ignoring the way he seemed to steal all the surrounding oxygen. He didn’t look at me as he pressed his palm to one of the panels, and the lift began to descend.
It wasn’t lost on me that he never actually answered my question. Which meant there was a very good chance that he may just kill me.
Sebastian
I fisted my hands at my sides, refraining from touching her. What I really wanted was to hit something, to expel the charge building in my body that I had no hope of concealing, but I’d restrict myself until I could get into the ring.
