A Ballad of Snakes and Shadows // A Dark Sebastian Sallow Romance

Chapter Nineteen: Under Your Skin

((CW: Heavy smut, black out choking, s&m, d/s)) 

I had been much too anxious to join Natty in the Great Hall after classes had ended for the day. A certain kind of jitteriness, something akin to excitement, had begun to boil in my stomach since I'd woken up this morning.

It would be my first outing since the whole masquerade fiasco, and perhaps the first time I was going to get a taste of having the upperhand over Sebastian. I suspected that he thought I'd been defeated after the night he left me on the chaise lounge, crying until sleep had taken me once more.

Certainly Sebastian must've believed that he'd been quite thorough in his sadism, given that he hadn't come back yet to torment me again. It wasn't that he'd been upset with me, that wasn't why he ignored all of my rambles in the diary over the days that had passed.

Sebastian had felt satisfied in the torment he had subjected to me in the course of some odd twelve hours. Seemed to believe that by smashing my relationship with Ominis to pieces, and defiling whatever self-control I'd had left, that he had broken me enough to keep me scared.

I'm sure he was cozying up in whatever hole he lived in, believing that he'd pressured me into staying deliciously compliant under the weight of his threats. I would stay tucked safely away in the castle, keeping my nose far out of the business of him and the Court he ran with.

Sebastian thought he could go back to running schemes in the shadows without a single ounce of trouble from me.

Fat chance, asshole.

Instead of eating, I'd decided to take a bath. It seemed a better place to calm my frayed nerves before Natty and I met up much later in the night.

Lazily, I lathered rosemary soap across my body, as I contemplated what we might run into tonight.

Once we left the castle that is.

Natty and I had agreed it would be best to wait until well after nightfall before we made any kind of move. The Headmaster had finally decided to implement a "curfew" for all students, which had started only a few days ago.

Coincidence or not, I hadn't been quite bothered with it.

I wasn't sure if I was going to leave the castle again for sometime, not that I had wanted to. All of my ghosts were on the prowl outside of the school grounds, and I'd not been in too much of a hurry to see them again.

One sentiment I could let Sebastian have was that it was indeed better in the castle.

The castle was indeed quiet, and quite fucking peaceful. Enjoyfuly so, given that there hadn't been any sign of that dark, seducing wizard who plagued my every thought.

This new curfew enactment however, did stir a little bit of uncertainty in the air. It caused me to wonder if the Headmaster's sudden interest in student safety was indeed genuine. Or if it was just to keep nosey students like myself from straying too far. I wasn't sure what Black's hand in this was, but he wasn't doing anything to make me believe he didn't have a solid involvement in the Court.

I sighed as I took to washing one of my thighs, noticing that the bruises from Sebastian's rugged touch were beginning to fade into a dull green. I traced my thumb over the sensitive flesh, shivering as I felt the memory of his teeth in my skin. The echo of that night didn't only live in my mind, but had been imprinted on my flesh. Though that discolored skin would eventually regain its natural color once it healed, I knew I never would.

Healing from Sebastian's monstrous touch was going to be a long road. I had only just restitched myself up from his very first blow those years ago. With that wound reopened, I was afraid I was going to bleed out before this was all over.