In The Shadow Of His Love (Reader vs Sebastian Sallow)

Chapter 31 - I need you

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Riley asks Amit, as they are both making their way to the castle. Her plan of spending Sunday in the Room of Requirement was interrupted by a letter from Lodgok right after she very narrowly escaped detention for blowing up one of the bathrooms with Garreth's newest potion. 

"I am okay, but please, never ask me for anything ever again outside of the safety of the castle," Amit says, still breathing heavily. It must have been more than an adventure to him. But in Riley's defence, he agreed to it. Although he may have thought he was going with her to talk to a goblin and that's it. 

"No worries. And thank you, again, for keeping this between the two of us," Riley says gratefully and they part ways, with Amit sprinting towards the safety of the Common Room. When she is alone, Riley groans and grabs the wall to steady herself. She did her best not to show the injury, but one of the goblins managed to pierce through her cloak and she can feel the wound. When she looks at her hand, there is a bit of blood. But she cannot go to the Hospital Wing. There is no way she can explain this.

Not very far from the Room of Requirement, Riley starts to pant. They left almost straight away after talking to Lodgok, and Riley makes a mental note to thank Sirona for all the help every time she needs to sneak out and use the floo network. 

"Must have been a good day when you and Amit Thakkar just returned now," Riley can hear and closes her eyes. She knows the voice. There is a mixture of annoyance and excitement, as she can hear Sebastian walking towards her.

"Are you spying on me?" Riley asks, trying not to sound too accusing, but more friendly. Just like in the old time.

"No. Why would I do that?" Sebastian replies way too defensively, which makes Riley grin. Considering all her options, she is pretty much in trouble. She is starting to bleed, and the only place she can think of is the Room of Requirement, which should have everything she needs. And the wound cannot be that bad, otherwise, Riley would not last until now. 

It is not like she does not trust Sebastian when it comes to the Room, but Riley likes having a place that is hers and hers only, with the lovely occasional company of Deek. The last thing she needs is to argue in here as well. But it seems there is no other choice.

"Why are you here, Sebastian?" Riley asks and tries to avoid facing him, so he cannot see the state she is in. She's got a feeling it's getting worse and worse. 

"Saw you leaving Amit so I hoped we could talk," Sebastian says in a quiet voice and when he reaches her and turns her around to face him, Riley winces and almost loses her balance.

"So you were spying..." Riley starts to say but does not finish, as she winces again and can see Sebastian looking very alarmed. 

"Riley, what is wrong?" He asks, firmly, but Riley just shakes her head and motions him to follow her. Reaching the awful painting, Riley can see the confusion on Sebastian's face when the door appears opposite the painting. Dragging him inside, Riley collapses in the chair.

"It's nothing," She says and looks around, she cannot see Deek anywhere, but she can see a lot of books about healing, and also some herbal concoctions and potions on the shelf that was not there before.

"It clearly is not nothing, and what is this place?" Sebastian asks as he looks around, while Riley quickly removes her cloak and stares at her school robes with a blood patch on them, exactly where the goblin wounded her.

Completely ignoring Sebastian's gaze, she rips off the piece of clothing so she can see the damage on her arm and sighs. It does not look too bad, but there is a bit of black on otherwise dark-red blood. Is it poison?