Passionate Professors || Sebastian Sallow

Part 1 | Ch. 41 - Interrogation

I heaved my face from the basin of the pensive, my hands gripping the marble so tightly it could crack.

Sebastian wasn't in the spot he stood prior to my submersion into the memory. My frantic eyes searched for him in the Undercroft, afraid of what he could've done to himself in the moments I beheld his tragic past. I wondered if my body had shown signs of the fear and sorrow I'd just witnessed while my mind was busy under the surface of the swirling water.

Sebastian was leaning on the side of a large barrel in the corner of the room, his eyes more swollen and red than before. Even though he didn't watch his memory unfold alongside me just now, he knew exactly what I had seen. He likely relived those final moments with his twin multiple times a day.

"No one has ever seen that memory. No one knows what I did to Anne." He murmured, staring down at the dusty floor, unable to meet my gaze. "I told Ominis that she died in her sleep after I buried her body in a field of wildflowers."

I slowly padded across the stone as if I was afraid to startle him, gently approaching the broken man before me.

"I killed her." He whispered between sobs, his shoulders shuddering with sadness.

The unpredictable personalities of Sebastian now made much more sense. It was no wonder he had such a difficult time regulating his emotions, he hadn't been able to forgive himself yet.

I cupped his streaked cheeks with my hands, palms brushing against the stubble on his chin. Gazing into his milk chocolate eyes I breathed, "No, Sebastian. You saved her."

If he was expecting me to hate him as much as he hated himself for what he had done to his suffering twin, he couldn't have been more wrong. His mouth opened and closed, unable to form the words.

"I would do the same thing." I admitted softly, "if my father was in as much pain as she was, I would end it for him too. If that's what he wanted."

Sebastian pulled me in close, wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his head into my neck. The tip of his nose was ice cold as it grazed the skin underneath my ear. He didn't need to speak at all for me to know just how much he appreciated what I just said.

"Let's get to bed, this day has been long enough." I took his hands and guided us towards the metal gate.

We both slept soundly that night, our realities much more cruel than what our dreams could conjure up.

——

The next day, Garreth announced that classes would be cancelled by sending urgent notices to all the students and professors. Headmasters don't just cancel an entire day of learning but he must have deemed it necessary amidst all the chaos from the previous evening.

The whole school was gossiping about how Issac Reyes had been poisoned and how he collapsed at Duels and Decoctions last night over breakfast. Students stared blatantly at Sebastian and I, afraid that we either might try to poison them too or were thankful that it wasn't them. One of our many keen onlookers was Octavia Gaunt. She looked more relaxed than normal, her arms folded neatly in her lap as a classmate spoke animatedly to her. I wondered if Isaac had treated her inappropriately too, maybe she believed he got what he deserved.

Sebastian and I sat huddled in the corner of the staff table, picking at uneaten food with our forks. Garreth strolled over casually and stood across the table from us.

"I'd like to see you two in my office in twenty minutes." He said curtly, not the faintest glimmer of kindness between his words.

I swallowed hard and we both nodded before he sauntered off.