Ch 61:
Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, But Words...
CW:
Dub Con Elements, Narcissism, Gas-lighting/ Manipulation. This writer also recognizes that the limits and definitions of dub con and non con vary from person to person. In this writer's views, specific scenes in this chapter are to be taken as dub con.
Notes:
I... enjoyed and also procrastinated writing this chapter. There are a lot of heavy topics with it. And I had to remind myself that this was a necessary progression. Apologies if Sebastian is a little OOC— he's uh... experiencing different life milestones.
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Sebastian
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Sebastian Sallow could admit that despite being capable of being humbled and stilled into silence time and again, he could never be motionless for very long. He supposed that in all his years since his parents' death, he had never fully learned to enjoy the absolute sense of ease, calmness, or satisfaction.
It was greedy of him, he knew. But it was a folly he had come to accept— because to be human meant to be in want and search for more.
Because more had become something that was never enough.
He was reminded of exactly how little his efforts were when he returned to Rookwood Castle in the dead of night, so certain that Caroline had already fallen asleep when he found himself stunned instead by her single question.
"Who hurt you?"
He stared, dumbfounded, his eyes tracing around the frown on her lips, the dusty pink of her cheeks, and the soft curve of her nose. But he didn't meet her gaze. He couldn't.
If eyes were the windows to another's soul, he couldn't bear what he might see reflected back at him.
Because underneath the desperation and longing of Merope's gaze, Sebastian had seen exactly what he was.
Unforgivable.
Just like the curses he had learned and used.
And just as Uncle Solomon's cold, dead eyes had stared back at him.
He reached too far and hoped too much in the last few months.
"You're going to ruin her..."
I already have— he thought, smiling sadly before her. He knew this moment was inevitable, but he hoped for more time to hold her. Sighing, he turned his face away with a rake of his hair.
"A unicorn," he said.
"A unicorn?" She asked incredulously, "Sebastian, I'm not—"
"I don't want to talk about it, Caroline."
He begged silently. Just one more minute, an hour, or another day. And he clenched his hands and prayed until he could feel his nails dig into his skin.
"Then, when?"
"When?" he croaked, brows furrowing, throat tightening, and hand clamming at her question. It was unreasonable of him to feel the rush of annoyance at her words, and his mouth struggled to reign in the incredulous laugh and bitterness that came when he was angry with himself. "When? When should have been two years ago."
Biting his tongue, he closed his eyes and groaned, opening them briefly to peer at her amid his disgruntlement.
"Caroline— I'm... I'm sorry," he said quickly.
YOU ARE READING
Sins of the Father | Sebastian x OFC (Caroline Rookwood) | Ominis x Garreth
RomanceOnly fools would ever deign to consider that one could outrun the cost of a bargain. For Victor Rookwood, his deeds and dealings have become his daughter, Caroline's, to bear. For Ominis Gaunt? A centuries-old myth and whispers of a curse among the...
