Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter SEVENTY ONE - Water and Bites

The three of us walked back to the castle only an hour or so later and Ominis bid us farewell just outside the door. He paused for a moment as he stepped over the threshold only to turn around and pull me into a quick hug.

Sebastian smiled and raised a brow.

Ominis disappeared quickly into the dark.

"What did you two talk about?"

"None of your business Sallow." I smiled and he ducked his head with a smirk, grabbing my hands and pushing me gently back into the cover of a shadowy corner.

His eyelashes brushed my cheek as he pressed a kiss to the spot just in front of my ear. "Thank you for coming with me tonight." He pulled slowly back and played with a loose strand of my braid. His eyes caught mine through the dark. "You look beautiful tonight Atley... Well I- I uh- I mean you look beautiful always of course. More than beautiful really."

I kissed his words, pressing them between our lips.

His shoulders melted against mine and I breathed him in.

How this boy could go from confidence teetering on cockiness to blushing and tripping over his words in a fraction of a moment I didn't know. 

But I loved it.

He kissed me breathless and when he finally took a step back, he grinned lazily at his handiwork.

"I do so love taking your breath away."

The flirt of a boy was right back on his feet.

He stepped back and squeezed my hands in his, running his thumbs across the tops and looking me over once more.

"Now its my turn to wish I had a camera to capture the moment."

I laughed quietly but couldn't pull my eyes away from his. I didn't want to admit it but as the haze of the alcohol lifted, the pain of a broken sole was taking its place. My mind flashed back to Solomon's letter.

"Feldcroft tomorrow night. Just as we planned?"

His smile dipped and his mask fell for a second before he righted it.

"With you by my side."

"Always."

A flit of something warm across his eyes and then he was placing one last kiss to my forehead. 

"Goodnight Sebastian."

"Goodnight my Atley."

----

Sebastian had groaned on and on the next morning about his pounding head, constant dizziness and our breathing being too loud next to his ear.

Ominis had tucked a few extra glass bottles of water into his book bag and passed them out to Sebastian like candy following each complaint.

After the third bottle of the day, Sebastian whined into his hands, tipping the edge of his chair back and forth.

"I don't understand how I can feel like absolute dragon dung. I didn't even have that much to drink last night!" He ducked his head down below his hands and began gently hitting his head against the edge of the desk.

"Oh I know. You were the picture of sobriety last night." Ominis tapped his shoulder reassuringly. "Mind that chair though, it might bite your ankles."

Ominis smirked.

I giggled.

Sebastian groaned.

It took three classes and four more bottles of water before Sebastian's complaints simmered down to a manageable level and after dinner, Ominis was all too happy to be rid of him. He shuffled quickly back to dungeons and left Sebastian and I to kill time before the flight to Feldcroft.

We spent a majority of it in the owlery, Sebastian sketching while I watched with a smile, pretending to read. A couple of times he would catch my flitting eyes and would tease me with peppered kisses.

A large white owl eyed us curiously and swept in to land on the ledge nearest our feet.

"Good evening John." Sebastian raised his hands up to my ears, an attempt to block my hearing. "A bit of privacy if you don't mind? I'm trying to swoon the prettiest girl and you're sort of interrupting a beautiful moment."

The owl stayed glued to its spot, not so much as a feather moved but its eyes flicked to me as I struggled beneath Sebastian's arms. 

Judging me.

"Why is it looking at me like that? Stop it you crazy bird!" I giggled as Sebastian pushed a hand over my mouth and shoved my back to the floor.

"My apologies John, I'm still working on her manners."

John flew over to my side and pecked at my forehead once before taking back off into flight out into the sky with a string of hoots.

Sebastian snorted. "Boy, owls really don't take to you much do they?"

"Ouch! It bit me!"

Sebastian rubbed his thumb over the assaulted area.

"He didn't bite you Barlowe. Here, let me kiss it better."

And he did.

Pinning me down a planting sloppy kisses over the side of my face until I managed to capture his lips with mine and he sunk in against me.

My energy level seemed to skyrocket as the sun dipped below the mountains and Sebastian's excitement peaked alongside it. We were truly becoming more nocturnal creatures than mooncalfs.

When the coast was clear, we climbed cautiously down and Sebastian nabbed another broom. He hummed as I wound my arms around his waist and shivered as I pressed a small kiss to his neck.

"None of that while we are flying sweetheart. Not unless you want to plummet to our deaths."

My stomach flipped and the remnants of dinner tousled inside.

Sebastian laughed at my discomfort but rubbed a reassuring hand over my arm.

"Don't you go forgetting my pinky promise now. I'm not going to let you fall. I'd sooner die." He laughed.

The bite of the air was far chillier than the first time and I could feel the wind beneath my boots as we flew.

Stars dipping against the blues and blacks of the sky like the freckles on Sebastian's nose.

Perhaps that's why I like them so much.

We landed on the outskirts of the hamlet and hid the broom next to one of the sparse trees.

Creeping around the houses and little shop stands, we wound across the pathways until we reached the back of his house. We had agreed earlier that we would check in on Anne first before exploring what we needed to.

"Anne normally sleeps next to this window." 

He whispered as we approached the vine covered arched glass. A few stacked pots tipped every which way to the left. Sebastian's fingers wrapped around a few smooth pebbles, eyeing the window as he jostled them in his palm. I caught his arm, heartbeat pulsing beneath my fingertips.

"Wait! What if Solomon hears?"

"Then we run like mad and try again in a few minutes."

I shook my head in exasperation. 

What a terrible plan.

He flashed a toothy grin. "Trust me Barlowe."

He pulled his arm back and just as he was about to let the pebble fly, the air shifted and a voice tickled the silence.

"It's about time you showed up."