My Beautiful One

13. Be mine

Curiosity.

The one feeling that kept me from leaping onto the dining table, holding the Herondale dagger against Sebastian's throat, and threatening him into letting me out was curiosity.

Well, that and a little logical battle strategy, because my chances in a fight against someone I couldn't really kill were pretty low considering the fighting skills of my captor. If I could kill him, however, I was pretty sure I'd be a fair contender. I took on Jace and we seemed evenly matched, and he was considered to be the best Shadowhunter of his generation.

But the curiosity remained, and no matter how much I tried to ignore it, it still crouched in the corner of my mind like a parasite, feeding off my thoughts every time I was around Sebastian and exchanging battle strategies for questions about the peculiar Shadowhunter boy's opinion on questions that had always puzzled me.

And Sebastian always had an answer, which made me more curious still. No matter what question I threw at him (and the Angel knows there had been so many questions), he would barely pause before answering. It was like he'd gone right up to God on high, stolen the rule book from under his nose, and memorized every last line.

To be honest, from what I knew of him, I wouldn't put that past Sebastian.

I'd been in the apartment for two weeks, and the curiosity had been the main thing keeping me going. No matter how much I despised my captor, I felt like I'd talked to him more than I'd ever talked to anyone before. More so than any of the friends I'd made in the Institute, and by a long shot.

Maybe if it weren't for the fact you're holding me hostage, I'd actually like you. I thought bitterly as I picked at the salad in front of me, sneaking a glance at Sebastian. He didn't appear to be eating much either. In fact, I'd rarely actually seen him eat anything at all, like he lived off wine, blood, and brooding. I take after my ancestors in the way I prefer to eat faerie food, and since there was none of that in the apartment, between the two of us, the contents of the way-too-full fridge was going out of date unused.

The natural solution? Go grocery shopping.

I snorted, and Sebastian gave me an odd look, which I ignored. Imagining Sebastian grocery shopping was like imagining Raziel being allergic to nuts: uncharacteristic, useless, and kind of disappointing considering the immense amount of power at his disposal.

"You know, that fridge isn't going to re-stock itself." I pointed out to Sebastian, putting my fork down. He blinked at me, apparently surprised at what my ten minutes of brooding had brought forth as a conversational topic. But eventually he just shrugged.

"I'll go and get some stuff tomorrow, if you want. But I don't want to be hanging around mundanes for nothing: if it's already in the house, then I'm not going to bother."

"But you don't have to just be hanging around mundanes!" A brilliant little plan was beginning to form in my mind. "I can come with you."

"That's not happening. Is there anything particular you want?"

Yeah, my life back. I felt like telling him. But for some reason I didn't: I just looked away from him and took a deep breath. The blunt dismissal was like a punch in the gut, the pain almost real as the tiny plan I'd formed was obliterated.

Sebastian reached out to me, his long, nimble fingers almost brushing the back of my hand. "Amari?" He prompted, hinting at his earlier question of what I wanted.

"No." I said sharply, getting up out of my seat and moving away from my captor in one swift movement. "There's only one thing I want from you."

"And what is that?" His tone, though calm, was undoubtedly condescending, which made my anger finally surface.