The Devil Doesn't Bargain (MatD part 2)

Chapter FORTY THREE - Hearts Rotting

"Sebastian." Anne grit her teeth, warning pressed between them. Intent captured in the tip of her wand and rivaled the rigidity of her shoulders.

Wavering none, Sebastian shook the crumpled paper next to Ominis' face who had managed to funnel his pain into a tightly clenched jaw.

Anne spat, pulling her wand back and letting the final few droplets fall to the dirt. "You cannot be fucking serious Sebastian?" Her eyes snapped up to his.

He snorted. "Can't I? He lied to us!"

"Look at Ominis right now. For Merlin's sake, look around us! Do we not have enough on our hands? Are we not doing enough right now, already?" 

Her attention swung to me, her brows tipped together and up in the center.

"I presume you have read the full letter have you not Sebastian?" Ominis pulled his hand from Anne's and cradled it near his chest.

I felt as if I might be sick.

Anne stood and crossed her arms.

Sebastian held still. "Obviously."

"Then you ought to know exactly why I had not spoken of it."

Sebastian's mouth twitched. "Can't say I do."

Ominis tilted his chin up, the movement no doubt meant to give him confidence or an air of strength but instead only made him appear small and angular. His nose titled to me, his lips curled, a small tremor in the bottom one. "Atley dear, I do apologize for withholding their response, but what they demanded... I refuse to put your safety at risk..."

"At risk? What-"

Sebastian scoffed loudly. "Her safety, is al-"

"If you do not let her speak Sebastian-"

"You'll what? Fight me? We both know how that would end."

Anne reappeared from my peripherals and slammed her hands into her brother's shoulders. He stumbled back a step, the tension between his brows faltering a moment before snapping back into place.

"Who are you?" Another shove. "Who are you to berate your best friend when he is so clearly writhing in pain! Who are you not to let your own girlfriend speak? Surely not my brother?"

Sebastian regained his footing and waved the parchment in her face, separating each word. "He. Lied."

"And you've never been guilty of such?"

"I've never sentenced someone I love to die because of it!"

Anne shook her head and dropped her hands, eyes flicking between each of his. When she finally spoke, only a gentle ferocity lingered.

"You truly believe that don't you? Ominis has done nothing but try to protect us."

Sebastian groaned and ran a hand through his hair, tilting his head back. "Anne. Don't be so ignorant. Just because you shag him every night does not make him infallible."

I felt as if my heart had stopped or my ears had faltered or perhaps time itself had ceased ticking.

Ominis' jaw tightened.

Anne held her brother's gaze a moment longer before she shook her head. "Uncle Solomon was right about you... You don't know when to stop." The dirt below her feet groaned and crunched as she turned. "I'll be outside."

The pain in which the silence bloomed pulled comfort from our blood and fermented in its place. Hearts steadily rotting with a day gone sour.

Sebastian's head whirled to me, his eyes searching for something I couldn't ascertain. When he found nothing, his face fell, his fingers flexed on the parchment and the flicker of something familiar flashed beneath his lashes before they dipped to the dirt.