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

Chapter Twenty Three: Heart Shaped Box (Glass Animals Cover)

It was sometime later that I found myself standing in front of the Undercroft, accompanied by a roaring earful of my racing heart and very sweaty palms.

Itchy, damp palms that struggled to steady themselves, held the dark wood of my wand in the air. I could barely see the tip of it, which I knew was wobbling clumsily in front of the clock-like entrance.

The entrance that seemed to be asking me the same question that had been rattling around in my brain since Ominis had visited me earlier this evening. It wanted to know if it was worth it, and my answer would be the key to passing through.

I frowned at the cabinet, wondering why it was such a dreadful busy body.

It wasn't its fault though, I sighed as I lowered my wand back to my side.

I was projecting every ounce of my own perturbation on that enchanted door, rather than facing the burden of it myself.

The weight in question was the heaviness of whether or not Sebastian was aware of my encounter with Ominis in the Room earlier.

It was like watching a pendulum swing, the point of it never quite hitting a designated mark as I chewed on my lip.

On one hand, history had shown me that Sebastian wouldn't hesitate in making a point where his little rules and I were involved.

On the other, an unnerving motion that I had broken one of those mandates and hadn't been met with any sort of wrath that involved both degrading me and bringing me to orgasm.

My pride was still very much intact, and there hadn't been a single cry of pleasure involved.

So as I watched the little hands on the entrance of the Undercroft tick by, there was a little voice that wept in the pit of my stomach, that wanted to rig the hands.

It was grieved by the lack of Sebastian's wrath.

The wretch knew what kind of price there was to pay for our insolence, and it was all too eager to be swiftly dealt with.

That intact pride that kept its pace only swung close enough to its counterpart to tell it to shut its idolatrous mouth before they tasted a little more than sweet carnal repentance.

With each tick, it suggested that there was some caution to be had here in the seconds that passed by.

Sebastian's retribution would be by fire, and thus, us burnt to cinders within the roaring infernos of it.

I brushed my hand against the jewel at my throat, idly feeling that whisper of magic crackling beneath the stone. It wasn't a powerful feeling, not the same kind of intense sizzling that I'd felt when Sebastian had wielded me with it.

It almost seemed like it was sleeping.

So as I played with time, I wondered if perhaps the collar didn't hold enough power to keep track of my every movement; given how weak its magic felt on its own.

No, without its master, it was just a pretty trinket that sat on my throat under the blanket of a concealment charm.

The pendulum of those clocks swung, not the least bit bothered with my tentative mental ramblings. They all simply swung back and forth, unbiased.

The sound alone was beginning to give me a headache, as I once again raised my wand up to the Undercroft's entrance.

It would be a midnight's gamble.

What Sebastian doesn't know, can't hurt me right?

I took a deep breath as I tapped my wand against the wood.