Passion | | Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Fourteen

Astoria did not sleep well that night at all. When it was around six AM she finally decided to just get up, there was no use in staying in bed constantly tossing and turning to no avail. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and got off of the bed, sleepily walking over to the mirror to see her less-than-desirable appearance. Her hair was a mess and she had dark circles under her eyes– not just from that night, but she hadn't been getting good enough sleep as it was.

She sighed and grabbed her brush, trying to manage the absolute mess of her hair. Sometimes she wondered why she let it grow out so long but she had no desire to cut it, it looked good when it wasn't being annoying.

When she fixed her hair up, she put it in two braids, a hairstyle that she didn't usually wear. If she ever had her hair down, it was for an event or for a half-up half-down look. If not, she always had her hair up, it was too much of a distraction if not put up. She tried her best to make the dark circles under her eyes not look as noticeable, and it somewhat worked.

Astoria made a mental note to go to bed earlier that night. Both because she needed the sleep and because she didn't want to give Sebastian the satisfaction of making her restless again. The memory of last night was still fresh in her mind, but at least she wasn't trying to sleep this time.

She walked out of the room and down the hall to the kitchen to make some coffee– Merlin knew she needed it. But as she was walking to the kitchen, she saw that Sebastian was already awake. The moment they made eye contact, a smirk appeared on his lips.

"Oh no." Astoria thought. She just kept walking to the kitchen, acting as if she hadn't seen him at all. He quietly followed her in, leaning against the doorway as he watched her make some coffee.

"Sleep well?" He asked, a knowing grin on his face as he did so.

"I can't believe I want to kiss this guy's stupid face, ugh." She thought to herself. Annoyed by how smug he was, how he just knew that she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. She hated how much he knew he had a form of power over her.

"No, not at all, thanks to you." She muttered, not even trying to hide her annoyance as she turned on the stove. "Thanks to your little "trick" last night, I was awake all night and couldn't sleep." She didn't even turn to face him at all, but she could feel him smirking behind her.

Sebastian gave a small shrug. "Well, I wasn't planning on keeping you up all night just by the thought of me." He smiled. "But I'll gladly take that as a good thing. Not that you not sleeping is a good thing– by the way. I do feel somewhat guilty about that."

Astoria furrowed her brows, finally turning around to face him. "You feel guilty about that? Hah, that's the first." She said with a small scoff. "Why did you do it then? It was so sudden, one moment you were all normal, saying that you read my books then the next thing I know you're backing me up to the desk and then leaving without so much as an explanation!"

Sebastian thought it over for a moment, but he decided to be honest with her. "I was jealous." He stated plainly. "Ever since we got here, Leander has been all over you. Whether you noticed that or not, he has been and it's been pissing me off. Although I've stayed quiet just like you asked me to, last night I just thought I may remind you that he's not all that worth it."

Astoria would be lying if she said her jaw didn't drop at that moment. She assumed he'd get jealous long before they ever showed up to Leander's study. But the way he worded things just shocked her. This man was acting as if they didn't break up six years ago but for some reason, Astoria could never bring herself to use the "You're my ex-boyfriend" card.

He stood up, walking closer to her. His eyes flickered to her neck, where the silver necklace he had given her on her eighteenth birthday was hanging around her neck. "I assume he hasn't caught onto the gist of who gave you this." He chuckled, his fingers coming up to play with the eagle hanging from the chain. Before she could say anything, his fingers pulled back from the chain and he continued to stand in front of her, speaking;