The Accident

Lilith

Sebastian has been off since he received that note from Troy. When he undid my dress, I could feel the shift in his mood. He sent shivers down my spine as he dragged the zipper down. I so badly wanted to be underneath him again, but I didn't want to push it. The fact he wasn't trying to initiate anything either was starting to scare me.

I slowly turned to him as he pushed off the bed, heading to his closet and grabbing me some clothing. He handed the articles to me, and his stare towards me was full of thought. I kept my dress pulled up with my hand, taking the clothing and setting it beside me. I stood up and placed my hand on his cheek.

"Whatever is bothering you... you can tell me, Sebastian." I said gently as I rubbed my thumb up his cheekbone. He nuzzled into me.

"Let me figure this out first little lamb, then I'll tell you." He turned, kissing my palm. "Promise." He flashed a toothy grin in my direction. A slight wave of relief washed over me as a small bit of the old Sebastian came through. I dropped my dress in front of him, causing lust to flash across his face. Satisfied, I smiled slyly, turning and pulling the clothing on.

He quickly changed and then took a seat at his desk. He pulled out paper and ink and started scratching down on it.

"Go on, climb into bed. You can rest, but I have a lot of... work to do." He mumbled as he brought his face closer to the paper, writing furiously. I tilted my head as I climbed into the bed, pulling the covers over myself as I watched him. My lids slowly felt heavy as I fell asleep to his scribbling.

I woke up slightly when I felt that familiar warmth engulf me. I pushed into it, not paying attention due to being half asleep. I realized it was Sebastian when he wrapped his arm around my chest. I held onto his forearm as I nuzzled into him, falling back to sleep. I awoke again; this time, sunlight was streaming into the room. I realized I was hanging off the edge of the bed, upside-down.

Gasping, I flung myself up. Sebastian was gone, which made my heart slightly sink. Guess he was right; I do move around a lot in my sleep. I shrugged, adjusted myself, and got off the bed. I made my way to the door, opening it to roam around and see if I could find him and offer my services.

"Ha! Services. You mean humping him?" Lilly chuckled. Oh, my God! Lilly! I blushed, covering my face as I turned down the hall.

"Hey, you're the one who said we mirror your desires." She hummed as I made my way down the stairs. I halted in the foyer as I saw him standing there, ordering people around. He pointed to Troy to go somewhere while a weird old man stood there. Annalise was running around helping the maids with laundry while Victor was running around chasing the Griffin out of the house. Sebastian gripped the bridge of his nose as he cussed out Victor.

I couldn't help but laugh at the commotion. Sebastian heard me and turned his attention to me. Troy ended up colliding with Annalise, causing her to drop the sheets. She turned bright red as she tried to gather the items. Troy returned the gesture, by fumbling around like a child.

"Oh, I'm sorry… miss…" Troy fumbled out as he tried to help her out. She let out a small giggle as she assured him it was ok. She swiftly picked up the laundry, nodded at him, and headed off.

I saw Troy stand up, flabbergasted, rubbing the back of his head as Sebastian snapped his fingers.

"Hey, flirt on your own time. Go do that perimeter check. Cranston, go do that research I asked you to do." Sebastian ordered. Troy bowed and hurriedly left, while the old man who I was assuming Cranston called him "my lord", bowed and turned to face me.

I gasped as I saw the inverted pentagram on his forehead. He walked past me, tilting his head in a nod as he exited the palace.

"Oh, my goodness! What happened to him?!" I questioned as I approached Sebastian. He raised a brow at me as he flipped through some papers.

"Same thing that happened to the duke … he knew where you were." He flatly said. I furrowed my brow as I looked up at him. He put the papers down at his side as he turned towards me.

"He's lucky he's not dead." He shrugged, glancing over my shoulder.

"Hey, Victor, come here." He waved the guard over, who trotted up, huffing.

"Yes, sir!?" He saluted, sweaty and out of breath from chasing the baby Griffin out of the house. Sebastian reached into his pocket, pulling out a rolled-up piece of paper with his family seal on it.

"Please send this to Estra as soon as possible." He handed it to Victor, who bowed, replying, "Yes sir!".

"Is there anything I can help with?" I turned to face him with a smile. He grunted, pointing to the kitchen.

"Eat." He roughly said as he brought back the papers up to his face. I frowned, nodded, and turned to the kitchen. He grabbed my arm, halting me.

"One more thing." He stated as he bent down, kissing me. I absorbed his touch, not wanting to leave. He released me as he looked into my eyes, searching mine like he was etching every detail of mine into his brain. He smiled as he smacked my butt.

"SEBASTIAN!?" I hollered out in surprise. He chuckled as he walked off to another room. I folded my arms, flustered, as I headed to the kitchen. I saw George, who seemed quite flustered.

"Hey, good morning!" I chipperly said to him. He scratched his head as he turned to me.

"Hello miss! Good morning?! Heh! Not really." He turned back to the counter.

"Oh? What's going on?" I questioned as I walked up next to him. "Anything I can do?"

"Unless you can reverse the order from the dukes to deny the city of Astion supplies, then, no, unfortunately, young ma'am, there's nothing to be done."

"Can't Sebastian refuse it?" I asked as I started cleaning the dishes in the sink.

"He needs his father's approval to do that. The dukes whipped up some paperwork stating he was not fit to run in his father's place. That he's mentally unstable and his imprisoning Duke Spry is their proof. All the dukes signed it which over throws Sebastian's vote." He took the clean dishes from me, sending me a nod as a thank-you. I stood there letting the water run over my hands as I soaked up what he just said. Politics is messy. I never quite understood it. I felt bad for Sebastian.

"Well, what do you need?" I turned to George. He looked at me curiously.

"We're good on veggies, but we need protein. The guards can't function on just fiber!" He chuckled.

I nudged him. "Leave that to me, there's no hunting laws here, correct?" I raised a brow at him. Lilly protested, stating we needed to rest to regain more magic before we overexert ourselves. I shushed her. He gawked at me.

"A lady, hunting? And no, there are no laws." He grinned at me, turning and grabbing a plate of pasties. He handed them to me. I took one, bit it, and thanked him.

"I'll pack you some rations. Oooh, I'm excited. The king hasn't been hunting since Sebastian's accident. And the Prince would go occasionally but never bring anything back. He'd get too carried away and destroy the meat." George pouted. "It's a shame that creature ran out in front of him, knocking him off his horse." He continued saying as he rummaged through the cabinets.

"Creature?" I questioned as I raised a brow at him.

"Oh yeah. They thought it would be fun to hunt at night on a full moon over in the forest of Astoria, you know the forest between Astria and Lahnust. They heard there was some special boar that only comes out at that time."

I froze. Lilly went silent.

"Does… Sebastian know what this creature looks like?" I asked, my voice wavered slightly as George packed a bag for me.

"Oh, no. He just thinks his horse was spooked. His father saw the whole thing. Something was draped in gold; it looked stunning according to him. If he wasn't careful, he would have been knocked as well. He did say it had bright red hair like fire." He chuckled. "Like yours!" he grinned as he shoved the package into my arms.

"He couldn't see its face; it was covered in blood. He had to drag Sebastian back to camp. He had a fever from an infection before he managed to get back here. I have no clue how the lad survived. He's one lucky bastard." He patted my shoulder. "Take care out there, I don't need the one good thing that's been keeping him in a good mood not to come back." He turned back to what he was doing.

I choked in a breath as I turned to exit, clutching the rations close to my chest.

"Lilly... I... was .... that us?" I shakily asked her. She whimpered slightly.

"Remember that full moon night you don't recall..." She barely said in my head. I stopped in my tracks. My eyes widened. No. NO!

"Lilith... it's not your fault. I took over because the horde we were fighting was becoming empowered by the moonlight and our heat was on the verge of happening. So, I sealed you, using the spell. It had to be done, I didn't know anyone was in the forest that night." Lilly whispered, her voice full of guilt. "I saw what happened, but I didn't know it was Sebastian and I didn't want you to blame yourself so... I... made you forget."

My hands shook as my lips quivered. Do I tell him? Does this ruin what we have? I felt a panic attack slowly engulf me. Lilly kept telling me to calm down, everything would work out. Calm down? CALM DOWN!? Tears started to stream down my face.

"Lilith?" Annalise's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I sniffed, wiping my face as I smiled at her. Troy was with her.

"Hello! Sorry, just nervous, I offered to go hunt for George." I forced a laugh. She beamed at me.

"Can I join? I used to be a tracker at my old village." Troy shot a look at her and then chimed in.

"Yeah, I can come along as well! I already did what Sir Sebastian asked, and I know how to skin quite well." His energy reminded me of a dog, ready and willing to do anything it was asked. I stifled a giggle as I nodded.

"I just need a bow; I'm a good shot," I replied. Troy nodded and headed to gather what we needed.