Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter EIGHTY SEVEN - Deals and Plans

Ominis grinned happily to the stars, palms pressed upwards as the tiny flakes melted over his skin.

I sat up from Sebastian's lap with wide eyes and a deep smile, turning around to find Sebastian grinning back at me. His eyes locked to mine, ignoring the scene around us.

"Hello sweetheart." The snowflakes mirrored in his deep brown eyes, only disrupted by his signature wink. "Nice of you to join us."

My cheeks heated as he held his arms out, expectant eyebrow quirked as he waited for me to return to his arms.

Feeling the chill of the snow against the back of my neck, I quickly dipped my side into his, facing the lake with him and feeling a quick press of his lips against my temple. He then ducked back to the shell of my ear. 

"I'm sorry." A whisper. 

Chills disolved into snowflakes.

"I never, ever want you to feel like I'm just using you." His voice shook a bit.

Ominis, though pretending not to hear a thing, stood from his spot next to us and let the glow of his wand guide him down to the water's edge. A slight sway in his step, he left the two of us the privacy of his absence.

"I am going to find a cure for for Anne, but I will not drag you to places you do not want to go. I will not cause you pain." 

I could feel the slight hiccup of his breath.

"I know Sebastian. I-"

"You were awake this whole time weren't you?"

I craned my neck back to see the edge of his small smirk, and the tear at the corner of his eye.

"How did you know?"

"You normally get this bemused, rumpled look when you first wake up - like you aren't sure where you are." His lips quirked. "Tonight was different."

"Your observation skills are impeccable. Ominis would be proud."

He laughed slowly to the ground but his brows creased and his nostrils flared in thought. "Ominis is right you know. You deserve more than to be simply a 'possibility'. You've always been more than that. I can do this myself and- and I am a fool for..." He swallowed deeply as he choked on his words.

I turned around onto my knees and knelt before him, holding his face in my hands. "You are not a fool for your devotion and commitment to your sister Sebastian. Merlin, she is lucky to have a brother like you..." 

His eyes tired, the broken boy from across the Great Hall all those days before withering before me.

"...you are a fool for believing again and again that you are in this alone." I pulled my right hand from his cheek and held my pinky up between our noses. "I've made you a lot of promises Sebastian- but this one is important. I pinky promise you- I will never leave you alone. Never."

That seemed to crush something inside him. Air dashing from his nose and his face contorting, hand clutching his chest as he held my gaze. His bottom lip trembled as he forced it open and a tear at the corner of his eye slipped down to my left hand, melting along with the cold of the falling snow.

"I don't deserve you."

"I don't deserve you."

A small Sallow smile.

"I suppose we could be undeserving together then couldn't we?"

I shrugged, a bit of my vision glazing with my own watery eyes. "I suppose so."