Out of the Shadows // Sebastian Sallow

Patience is a Virtue***

(During Chapter Eighty-Five)

***Warning: This chapter contains mature sexual content.***

Anne's Perspective

"I'll see you in bit. I just want to pop home and leave a note for Omi to meet us at The Three Broomsticks. He's due to return from France but I left word at his office to have him come here." I told Rachel as we parted ways in the street just outside my house.

"Ok. I know Sirona will want to see all of us together. See you soon, then." She smiled warmly at me. The color in her cheeks was lovely and it was so nice to see her and the twins get out and about for once.

I turned to enter my home. It was still. Quiet. I had spent truly little time here recently as I was almost living at Sebastian's helping with the twins. I had forgotten what a silent, empty home I had to myself.

Before the twins were born, Omi practically lived here with me too, but we hadn't spent a night here together since before the wedding and I hadn't spent a night here since that fateful one that Onyx flew in my window and bit me until I awakened and joined them at their cottage.

I missed him.

We had gone from spending nearly every spare second together to hardly spending an hour or two catching up on the weekends when both Sebastian and Rachel were available to watch the twins and I could scurry home quickly to check on my house and my business.

Not that I was resentful. I LOVED my brother. And Rachel too. And I was absolutely enthralled with my niece and nephew. They had me wrapped around their tiny little fingers. I knew I would give them the world if I could!

I had enjoyed being able to help out, feeling wanted... feeling needed. Our family was molding itself into a new shape with a new generation that needed raised and I was more than happy to oblige.

But...

I had my own life that was languishing on the vine. I had left my business mostly in the care of Sirona and even she struggled to keep up with its needs due to her own business requiring her attention. And I had Omi. At least, I thought I did. Our separation was filling me with anxiety. Especially since he had been so strange at the wedding. He hardly spoke and the tension in his arms when we danced was obvious. But I shrugged it off as he kissed me sweetly and we parted ways to our own homes after that night.

The small amount of time we spent together on the weekends enjoying tea or walking together through the streets was hardly enough to maintain a proper courtship. I worried so that he would tire of our current state. That he would find another more... available... companion to fulfill his needs. Or, most unlikely, but plagued me nonetheless, that he would succumb to his family's wishes and wed someone of their choosing so he could have his desires met in a quicker fashion.

I shook my head at that thought. Omi would never do that. He loved me. And I, him.

My home was a bit dusty. I would have to enlist Rachel's help this weekend-the errant thought crossed my mind as I walked over to the first kitchen drawer to pull out a spare parchment and quill. I quickly penned a note to Omi, asking him to please meet us at Three Broomsticks. Then I went upstairs for a quick change of clothes, taking the note with me to set it after I changed.

My room was dark, the curtains still pulled from the last time I slept in here. The light smell of a flowering forest still lingered in the air. Omi. Was he here recently?

I shrugged and reached over to my dresser for fresh clothing. I pulled out a fluffy light blue jumper, long tan trousers too and set them on the chair.

I pulled my clothes off and threw them in a pile by the closet door.