Page 73 of My Dark Prince
“I’m not beautiful anymore,” Seb said after a while.
I closed my eyes. A lone tear fell from one of them. “I figured as much.”
“I make babies cry.”
“Babies are crybabies. Don’t pay attention to them. They’re little drama queens.”
He didn’t laugh. “My own parents struggle to look at my face.”
I rested a tentative hand on his shoulder. His entire body clayed into stone. He shuddered, and I could feel his goosebumps through his shirt. He was shaking, quaking, melting under a simple touch. I had to swallow down a scream that threatened to rip from my mouth.
“Briar …”
“Look at me, Sebastian.”
“I can’t.”
“Youcan.”
I wanted to hug him from behind, to mold my body into his, to shield him like a coat, but I knew he wasn’t ready for it yet. Sebastian would have to rediscover life from scratch, just like me. Breath by breath. Touch by touch. One smile at a time. But it would be at his own pace and his own volition. Healing comes when you’re ready – and not a moment sooner.
The sunlight licked at his skin, exposing a gnarled long scar that ran from his shoulder down to the tip of his finger. It looked like somebody had tried to rip his skin apart.
“No one has ever seen me like this. Not even my best friends. No one other than Ollie, my parents, and a handful of carers.” He swallowed hard. “Eventheyhad to sign an iron-clad NDA.”
“I’m family,” I reminded him. “We grew up together, Seb. You can trust me.”
He grabbed the windowsill and clenched it until his knuckles turned raw. I stepped away to give him space. He shook so badly, I almost told him not to do it.
And then he turned around, and the entire universe came crashing down on me.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Briar
Sebastian.
Beautiful, golden Sebastian.
He didn’t look like himself anymore.
His body remained seemingly unscathed – strong, broad, lean, and muscular. Bronzed like a god.
It was his face. It looked like a vicious animal had tried to tear it to shreds and almost succeeded. The jagged wounds had healed thick and lifted. Angry, red streaks clawed from his right jaw up to his cheekbone.
A crater blinked back at me from where a chunk of his left cheek used to sit. He’d busted part of his upper lip, too, and what was once an elegant nose now dipped with his missing cheek.
And on top of all this, Sebastian was frowning, too.
My kneejerk reaction was to keel over and vomit. Not because of his appearance. Well,yes. Because of his appearance. But not because it disgusted me. But because it disgustedhim. He couldn’t live with himself, and the thought saddened me.
I forced my shaky hand to reach up and trace the deep frown furrowing his brows. He hissed at the touch, drawing away instinctively, obviously shocked by the touch. I didn’t relent. A beat passed before he leaned back in, closing his eyes to savor the human touch.
A lone tear tumbled from his right eye down his cheek. I choked back on a cry.
His mouth tugged sideways in a grimace. “Not so handsome anymore, am I?”
Oh, no. I wondered if he’d heard me at dinner last night, raving to the girls about his beauty. I’d compared him to a deity.
