Hiraeth | Sebastian Sallow Love Story

Chapter Forty Two: Expendable

Gracie uncasted the charm, moving away from him and shifting her gaze to the brooding wizard. "You need to stop throwing people into the water. Unlike you, I don't like listening to the sound of people being eaten alive."

"Really? It's like music to my ears." Sebastian said with a feral look in his eyes, "It looks as if we're about to have company again."

Gracie's stomach turned as one of the men started screaming and thrashing about in the water whereas the other two Apparated back in the boat. It rocked, causing her to shift her legs to have a better stance in the boat.

"I don't really take kindly to you insulting my best friend." Sebastian noted casually, "Do I need to rip out your tongue?"

Harlow was soaked and spat out water before facing the both of them, "Why don't you kill me if you've got your wand in a knot about your friend?"

"That would be too easy." Sebastian drawled, sliding his leg back slightly as he kept his balance on the canoe, "Everyone knows it's harder to live than it is to die."

"Confringo!" The other wizard aimed his wand towards Sebastian who threw up a simple protective charm. Only, they both underestimated and miscalculated who the wizard was aiming for.

Gracie heard the water rushing past her ears as the lake swallowed her. Sebastian's image as he gazed down at her from the boat in horror was rippled, but the blasting spell hitting her straight on made her dizzy. It wasn't life threatening, but Merlin-that hurt.

She choked on the water, spluttering a mass of bubbles as her head broke the surface. She turned only for her eyes to connect with multiple pairs of yellow, slitted eyes. If that wasn't bad, her thrashing had excited them. Their jaws opened, revealing bloodstained teeth. Gracie froze as the crocodiles all lunged towards her face. As she faced death, Gracie was caught off guard by her last thought. The last thing she'd see before she died. It was a Scottish demon with a heart that belonged in Heaven and a smile that tempted her soul.

Chapter Forty Two: Expendable

Somewhere along the way, she'd read about Nile crocodiles. They ranged from 16ft to 20ft and could easily weigh over 225kg. The younger ones had dark olive to brown scaling whereas the adults were uniformly dark. In the wild, their lifespans could reach up to 45 years. An interesting fact was that up to 70% of an adult crocodile's diet was fish. 29% included zebras, hippos, wildebeest... The other 1% was Gracie as she closed her eyes and waited to meet the same fate as Charles had less than thirty minutes ago.

"Protego Diabolica!"

Gracie's eyes flew open as blue flames enveloped her vision. Rookwood's men didn't have time to scream as they were incinerated. The crocodiles couldn't escape the magical flames in the water and were consumed by the flames as well.

Sebastian stood at the edge of the boat, one boot on the upper edge of the canoe as he looked down at her both physically and figuratively. The flames raged around them, but both of them were completely unbothered about it. She was part of another 1% that didn't want to harm Sebastian. Though that honestly depended on the time of day, but saving her from crocodiles put him temporarily back in her good graces. "If you wanted to take a swim, there was a swimming pool back at the hotel."

Unsettled by near death experience, Gracie sent him a flat look before swimming to the side of the boat, and holding her hand out. "Will you just help me in?"