Passion | | Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Thirty-Two

It was a little bit after dawn when the curtain to Astoria's room was pushed open by Sebastian. With a sigh, he stepped out and turned to the kitchen where Ominis was sitting at the table, waiting for him to come out. Sebastian walked over, pulled out a chair and sat on it a moment later. By his heavy sigh, Ominis could tell the conversation with Astoria had probably gone less than what they had hoped for.

"How is she?" He asked Sebastian, hoping to hear at least a little bit of good news.

Sebastian sighed again and shook his head. "Not well at all." He answered, muttering a little bit. "She still blames herself for what happened, no matter how many times I try to assure her she didn't know who it really was. I was able to get what I assume is the full story– or at least most of it from her. I made her promise she'd at least tell me enough for it to make sense."

Although he was hoping for Astoria to not blame herself for what happened, Ominis was very eager to hear the full story. "Well go on then, tell me. I don't like being left in the dark about things, Sebastian." He said, insisting that Sebastian tell him now and not a moment later.

Sebastian took a deep breath before speaking. "Well according to her, the man who was killed that night was a man named Michael. She met him a few months after starting her career as an explorer and apparently, they were really good friends. And what's even more surprising was the night I found Astoria in Hamilton was the day Michael left for Norway to study runes that had been found up there. She was even staying at his study." He explained. "Astoria was planning on leaving anyway but I got to her first and then the poachers came."

This just made the situation more heartbreaking. Astoria had killed her best friend without even knowing it and because of the potion, she had done it mercilessly.

"Somehow Rookwood found out and kidnapped Michael from Norway, bringing him to the main camp. Then Rookwood set it up so that Michael would die instead of him. He just knew Astoria would take the chance to kill him," Sebastian let out a heavy sigh and leaned back in his chair, running his hands through his hair. "She won't forgive herself and I don't think she ever will. No matter how many times I try to reassure her that it wasn't her fault."

Ominis stayed silent through Sebastian explaining the situation to him but then he spoke up. "Well... I understand why she would feel like that." He said. "If I ever killed you without knowing it was you, I'd feel horrible, like I could never forgive myself. Astoria feels very deeply for the people she cares about and well... this isn't the best situation to be in when you have emotional connections like that."

Sebastian understood what Ominis was saying. Anyone would feel horrible if they killed someone they cared about but he just didn't want Astoria to blame herself. "I just don't know what to do. Obviously, I have to let her mourn, it's essential, but we have so many more problems right now and most importantly I don't want her to do anything irrational while she's in this state."

For a moment, Ominis looked shocked. "Y-You don't think she'd do anything like... that, do you?" He asked, his face showing shock.

"Well I'm not sure but I hope that's not the case. She's really distressed right now Ominis and I mean really distressed. Even more so than when Professor Fig died." Sebastian sighed. He groaned and ran his hands over his face, trying to think of some way to console Astoria. If anything happened to her, he'd never forgive himself. He did feel a bit hypocritical about that but in all fairness, Sebastian loved Astoria and at one point she was his lover.

"Perhaps we should both try to talk to her, help comfort her a little bit. I know we've tried but we can always try again." Ominis suggested. In all truthfulness, all three of them could use some comfort after how horribly the night prior went. It was all just a huge mess.