Aftermath | Sebastian Sallow

2: Chapter 17

"Sebastian, the Room of Requirement?" I ask him, anxious to see what this surprise of his entails.

Sebastian smiles at me. "Shh, be patient." He says, leading through the enchanted passageway.

We cross through the dimly lit, main room towards the left stairs of one of the Vivariums. "The Vivarium?" I ask him, confused. Sebastian doesn't respond to my impatient question, instead he smiles and continues walking us through to the other side of the portal.

Upon stepping through, the perfectly warm air hugs my body tight. Underneath the moonlight I can see that the once field of grass and puddles has been changed to a meadow, absolutely full to the brim with flowers. My mouth drops open. "Sebastian.."

"Well? What are you waiting for?" He asks me. I look at him, bewildered. I grab his hand to steady myself, reaching down underneath the bottom of my dress to take off my shoe. I continue holding his hand while I take off the other. Standing up straight, I have one last look at his perfectly freckled skin underneath the moonlight and smile widely at him.

I take off into a run through the meadow. I feel the cool moss and grass underneath my bare feet. I raise my hands to my sides to touch the soft petals as I run through the meadow. I begin to laugh as I feel silly, like a little girl in a princess dream.

I slow my pace, stopping and turning around to look at Sebastian. He's grinning at me with both arms crossed over his chest. "Come here, you fool!" I yell at him from across the way. Sebastian starts walking towards me, painfully slow, through the flowers.

Before he can reach me, he pulls out his wand. He conjures an enchanted violin that begins playing by itself, a soft and sweet tune. I hear a popping noise to my left and look down to see Deek before me, jars in hand. The jars are glowing bright yellow-green.

"Deek..?" I'm interrupted as Sebastian pulls me in close to him by my waist. He grabs my right hand in his own, and starts swaying me to the music the violin plays.

"Let me have the last dance of the evening." Sebastian says in a low voice, next to my ear. I sway with him, it's nice to be able to dance this closely to him now that we're not around prying eyes.

"You did all of this for me?" I ask, resting my head against his chest.

I feel his lips against my hair as he responds. "Mmm, I had help of course."

Just then I notice small yellow-green lights floating up into the air around us. I lift my head from Sebastian's chest and step a bit away from him to look around me.

Deek had place the jars around us in a circle, and opened them to release hordes of lacewing flies. They dance all around us like twinkling stars.

"Deek hopes you are pleased." He says, bowing slowly with a smile.

"Thank you, Deek. For everything. You're free to leave." Sebastian says for me.

I walk towards one of the swarms of lacewing flies and stick my hand out. They dance all around it, which makes me laugh at the tickling sensation. I turn my head to see Sebastian staring at me in awe. I lower my hand to my side. "Why did you do all of this.. for me?"

He cocks his head to the side and starts walking over to me. "Why wouldn't I?" He reaches me and lifts his hand to my chin, tilting it upward. "You deserve all the good things this world could ever offer. All of those people earlier, that looked at you. It was either by intimidation or awe. They wonder how such a beautiful, strong, powerful woman like you can exist. I'd like to remind you of that, every day. Especially in times when you need it the most."