Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Thirty-Four: Midnight Rain

His hands were on either side of me, helping to prop himself up in the grass. He ducked his head down, tucking it in to my neck, his lips delicate as they hovered a millimeter away from my skin.

"Have you been hiding out in here all day?"

I gulped, hoping he wouldn't have asked that.

"Not exactly," I whispered, hoping I could play it off like I'd just been between here and the library or the owlry. His body froze above me, and he pulled back a little. Suspicion clouded his beautiful features.

"Do I even have to ask," he groaned, brows already stitching together.

"It was nothing," I said, trying to bring him closer to me again. His body was lifting off of me and I was already craving the warmth of him again, wishing desperately for the smells of cinnamon, parchment and mint to envelope me as they had been.

He was starting to stand now, looking irate. "Where?"

"It doesn't matter," I groan, trying to pull him back down by his tie. He didn't move towards me even a little.

"Where?"

"Hogsmead," I mumbled, diverting my gaze from his intense stare. "With Poppy. We were getting our dresses for the ball."

The thought of my deep velvet green dress that Augustus had just fit perfectly to me and how much I knew Sebastian would love it burned through my mind. Excited, and yet consumed by annoyance with his tone.

"Abbi, we've been over this," he groaned, his voice a mixture of anger and exasperation.

"We were just dress shopping," I snipped at him, anger rising in my tone.

"And how many poachers did you see in town?"

"There were maybe two, and they didn't do anything!"

Lie.

"Abbi, I mean it, I don't think you should be going with Poppy next week. I'll go," he said, his dark eyes holding mine.

"It's got to be me, we've been over this. We aren't sure what they want aside from Aurora!"

"Aside from you?" He demanded, his voice sharp and I flinched a little.

"Seb-"

"You do realize you are part of what they want, right? It's not just that damned Phoenix anymore. Or did you and Sweeting forget that?"

"No, I didn't but-"

"You're infuriating! I'm going to deal with this. Sweeting is going to have to do it on her own from now on."

"Sebastian!" I scrambled up from the grass, launching myself after his retreating form, the warmth of the vivarium lost as we crossed the threshold back into the Room of Requirement. My potions stations were whirring away in the next room, clanging pots of bubbling potions echoing loudly up to us.

He was moving swiftly, walking more briskly than I'd expected. No doubt he was going to find Poppy to tell her I wouldn't be joining her anymore, and find out why I'd gone with her in the first place without telling him. I couldn't stomach that.

"Sebastian, please, just wait!"

"No, Abbi, why on earth would I do that?"

"You can't expect me to just sit by and wait," I call to his still walking away frame. His shoulders shook as he faced away from me, making my heart ache. I wanted to reverse the clock, go back ten minutes before I'd told him where Poppy and I had been today. I wanted him to be on the grass of my Vivarium with me again, his face tucked into my neck, breathing each other in.