𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 ✔

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I could feel Sebastian's glairing eyes as they burned holes into my back while the three of us made our way to the ballroom. He was jealous of mine and Adam's closeness; he was upset that no matter what he did he would never have that with me.

I glanced down at Adam's hand, that was intertwined with mine, as he gently pulled me along after him and I selfishly smiled to myself. I felt guilty for having such thoughts when, in a matter of minutes, the two of them were going to be locked in a fight to the death. A fight over me.

The tension in the air was suffocating, and the walk from the library to the ballroom felt like an eternity. I hated thought of Adam somehow losing and I ending up as Sebastian's property for the rest of eternity, but it sat in the back of my mind, nonetheless.

Once we reached the large wooden doors that stood between us and the inevitable, my stomach dropped. Never did I wish for such things to have happened, nor did I want any of it to ended up like it somehow had. Regret had washed over me in the final moments, everything hat I could have done to prevent it from going as far as it did plagued my mind. Yet it was too late to stop what had already been set in stone. Yes, I hated Sebastian and at some point, wanted him dead, but I did not want to watch Adam kill someone who he had once considered a brother.

It must have been hard for him. He must have questioned every single moment that he had ever spent with Sebastian, and I wondered just how he felt watching every good memory that he thought he had with him disintegrate and morph into something vile. I wondered if he had felt like I did once I realized that everything that I had known about Sebastian was a lie.

Adam pushed open one of the doors and it let out a long deep moan as if it had not been opened in ages. I had not previously had the chance to see it, but the ballroom was much larger than the one at the Merlae Estate.

The room ran the entire main front section of the west wing and was, combined, both the main and first floor in height. There were balconies that looked down from the first floor and double tier windows on the longer outer wall that overlooked the front entrance and gardens. The walls were white with red rectangle shaped sections embellished with golden ornaments, and the occasional marble statue of a bare-chested woman, or a lion whose mane was painted gold.

There were two large oval mirrors on the ceiling, and four large chandeliers hung around them. The wooden floors were covered in thick dust as if not a single person had stepped foot on them before us. At the sides of the room, a great deal of furniture was pushed, covered with sheets to help preserve them and ward off any dust.

I wondered what the place would have looked like if it were in use with the candles lit, music playing, and people scattered all around dancing. It must have been a spectacular sight. The castle on its own was quite beautiful, but the ballroom had to have been my favorite place next to the library.

I watched as Sebastian took off his coat, which revealed a black and red vest that sat atop a cream-colored undershirt. His sleeves were tucked into a pair of black gloves and his hair was loose. "I am ready when you are."

Adam stood there in his white undershirt, that was untied at the top, as he neatly tucked into his pants. The more I looked at him the more exhausted he appeared, and it was quite apparent that he had been starving himself. It was not only his face that had been afflicted, like I had previously noticed in the library, but his body too was much thinner than it was before I had left. "Are you sure you want to do this. It is, by far, an uneven match and there won't be much sport in it if we continue. You can back out now if you wish, I will not hold it against you."

"You think me a coward? I care not about the odds, just go on and take your place." Sebastian snapped.

I uncovered one of the pieces of furniture on the left, which was a red and gold tufted velvet couch, and sat down as I waited nervously for them to begin.