Under Your Scars || Sebastian Sallow x MC

Chapter 56 - Double, Double Toil and Trouble

Juliette POV

With full bellies and warm hearts, another Fontaine Family Christmas came to a close, or rather- the Fontaine-Gaunt-Sallow-Corben Family Christmas. Calling it the Fontaine made matters simpler. The Fontaines did still outnumber everyone else.

For now, at least.

We bid my parents adieu, sending them off into the wintry night with arms full of baked sweets. Rosalie disappeared into the guest room shortly after dessert to write a letter to Carina. They had not been separated for even twelve hours but she was already itching to tell her all about her first Christmas with a true family.

I could not blame her. Sebastian and Ominis were in her place eight Christmases ago. I did not hear the end of how much it meant to them for at least a month afterwards.

I was overjoyed that we could provide them with the Christmases they deserved, the Christmases that their families had robbed from them.

We retired to the living room. Sebastian and I took up a sofa, my feet in his lap while Ominis and poppy sat on the other across the tea table. Ominis and I shared a bottle of wine while Sebastian and the very-pregnant Poppy indulged in hot chocolate.

Sebastian had ditched his jumper, citing the overwhelming warmth of my townhome. I had never been so elated that my home was unbearably hot. Sebastian's white button-down clung beautifully to his body, unbuttoned just enough to expose his collarbone. I wanted to jump him, send Poppy and Ominis home and put a silencing charm on my living room.

Or perhaps that was the wine talking, already.

I removed my scarf; thankful my parents had left and Rosalie was not around to see it. Sebastian's eyes widened and he looked pointedly at the Gaunts, as if to remind me of their presence.

Merde.

"They know," I whispered and winced, not ready for his reaction.

Sebastian looked like I had wounded him.

I could see how this looked. I had gone to such lengths to keep it hidden from him, yet his best friend and his wife knew the entire time. Ominis had always known. He was the first person I wrote to after it happened.

"They... know?" Sebastian asked.

Poppy pursed her lips and sunk into the sofa. By extension, she also knew. She and Ominis had both come straight away to help me move to safety after my visit from the Vipers last Christmas Eve.

"Who do you think helped her become such an accomplished Occlumens?" Ominis drawled, swirling his wine in his glass, completely unphased.

Yes, Ominis had also helped me learn to discipline my mind so that no man could ever use the Imperius Curse on me ever again.

"He was there, Sebastian," I placed a hand over his to calm him but it was no use. His eyes darted around, trying to place Ominis in the memory he had relived in my Pensieve.

"What do you mean he was there?"

"I had just left her home in London when it happened. If I had just stayed an extra ten minutes..." Ominis noted bitterly before taking a long sip of wine.

Poppy rested a hand on his shoulder, quelling the tension building in them immediately.

She always did have a way of taming beasts.

"We cannot think like that, Ominis," Poppy spoke softly. "Wasn't there something you wanted to discuss with Juliette, dearest?" she asked, tracing her hand on his upper back.