Hiraeth | Sebastian Sallow Love Story

Chapter Thirty Two: Welcome to Africa

"Just going off recent data." Sebastian quipped innocently, "My parents were scholars. I've never believed in making baseless claims."

"Neither do I. Which is why I can say without any reservations that you're a-"

"Brilliant? Ruggedly handso-"

"A boorish, arrogant, pragmatic,-"

"Irresistibl-"

"Stupid."

Gracie felt him still behind her. "I'm a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them."

She knew that too. Sebastian did stupid things, but he wasn't inherently stupid. Quite the opposite. Beneath his temper and sarcasm, he was calculating. The thought cooed at her almost mockingly now.

Why did she feel that she was going to regret this? "Whatever you say, Sallow."

A dark, unhinged laugh escaped Sebastian. It was like the lovechild between a laugh that wanted her to take her trousers off and a cackle that wanted to send her running for the hills. That is, if she wasn't thousands of meters above a landless terrain.

The glittering waves winked back at her as Sebastian spoke lowly. "Hold on to the broomstick firmly, Shortcake."

She did as he said, confused. "Why...?"

"Because I'm about to do something very stupid."

Gracie's breath hitched, feeling him lean forward. His jaw brushed her temple and she could feel a bit of scruff from the past 24 hours, "And what would that be?"

"We're about to go very... very fast." And he pushed the handle of the broomstick down, diving towards the ocean. Straight for the water.

Chapter Thirty Two: Welcome to Africa

His words echoed in her mind. You're being dramatic. It wasn't that bad. Have you always been one for the theatrics? The moon overhead was so bright tonight, she could see the permanent shit-eating grin on his face in perfect detail.

"You're dead to me." She said deadpanned, holding her stomach as the nausea died down.

Sebastian sat on the sandy shoreline, throwing rocks as they spent the last ten minutes waiting to see if she was going to throw up. "I'm very much alive and so are you. We just went... A little fast."

"A little?!" She pointed to the broom that was currently in half. The bristles at the end of the broom were mostly gone somewhere above the Indian Ocean. "Fast is not the word I would use to describe what we did."

An awry grin flashed across his face as he looked up at her, "We're in one piece, aren't we?"

"Thanks to the cushioning charm I casted." The nausea subsided and Gracie was thankful she wouldn't be seeing any fruit again, "Get away from the shoreline before I let one of the crocodiles eat you."

He snickered, standing back up, and dusting the back of his trousers. Sebastian had flown them to the East Africa Protectorate that was also known as British East Africa. The area was largely of interest to the Muggles as a commercial trade place and the freshwater from the lake was invaluable.

With that said, the Port city they were at was largely British. There were a few stalls set up from the Belgian Congo and from the South, German East Africa. Gracie rolled her eyes, internally. It was disgusting that a group of people could sail into a land, settle into it, and then claim political control over it despite there being people have lived there for thousands of years.