Page 72 of My Dark Prince
He waltzed toward a window and jerked open the curtains. Bright sunrays flooded the room all at once. I winced, shielding my eyes. By the time I lowered my hand, he still had his back to me.
“Are you the queen now, Briar Rose?”
“It’s just Briar,” I pointed out, wondering how he didn’t know that already. “And I have Geezer and Trio here with me.”
That made him freeze for a moment. I knew he wanted to turn around and look at them, but he didn’t. Instead, he clasped his hands behind his back, staring out a window overlooking the grand field outside.
No one could see him from this angle. Too many columns, roof angles, and spires covering these windows. Somehow, I knew he’d chosen this room as his own for that specific reason.
“Did you get your memory back yet?” He didn’t sound like he cared.
“No.” I buried the hurt, clearing my throat. “Well, not yet. I’m remembering new things all the time.”
He didn’t reply, but he didn’t stop me either. I took it as a win, stepping deeper inside the room. It smelled stuffy. Like dust, and sour male sweat, and agony.
“I do remember all of our summers together,” I pointed out.
“The days before.” His cryptic words ended with a slight flinch as he heard me advancing toward him. “I have no use of those memories. It wasn’t the real me inside them.”
I inched closer.
“Donottake another step, Briar. I will not be held responsible for what happens next.”
He wanted to scare me. To threaten me so I would back down.
“What happened?” I paused, softening my voice. “Why are you so mad?”
“Why are you so nosy?”
“Natural curiosity paired with the need for validation,” I answered truthfully. “I can’t imagine you so angry.”
Ignoring his warning, I treaded closer. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do, not giving him the space he needed. But something told me he’d been alone for a very long time. Longer than weeks and months.Years. That he craved a human touch more than he did his next breath. They say loneliness isn’t being alone. It’s feeling unseen. Well, Sebastian endured both, and it had reduced him to a shadow of his old self.
“You were always so joyful.” I blinked away salty liquid, wondering when I’d started to tear up. “So vibrant. So beautiful …”
A dark chuckle escaped him. His entire back rumbled with it. I’d made it just a few feet shy of him. His labored breaths bounced between us. Tiny beads of sweat glistened on the back of his neck. My proximity made him nervous.
That makes both of us.
“Suffice to say I am no longer either of those things.” He ran his finger over the windowsill, collecting a mountain of dust. The housekeepers never came in here and cleaned, I gathered. “I’m not the kid you remember, Briar. I am a monster. A pariah. Oliver did the right thing, telling you not to come here. Iwillhurt you.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Why?” he asked. In wonder, almost.
Were people scared of him now? Didhedo something awful?
“Because I might not know what happened in the last fifteen years, but I do know your heart, and it is good.”
More silence.
He hadn’t turned around to face me.
I put two and two together.
Trio and Geezer rounded him from each side. Geezer pushed his head against his foot, and Trio jumped with his two front legs on the windowsill, tracking whatever Seb stared at.
Sebastian peered down, running his knuckles over Trio’s head. The goofy pup licked the tips of his fingers and stared up at him with open adoration.
