The Lady of Phantomhive; Ciel's Sister {Sebastian x Reader}

[18] A Father's Legacy

An excitable set of chirps flitter into your chambers, carried by a gentle gust of wind that brushes by the sheer fabric of your curtains. You're met with the familiar scent of lavender and honey before your eyes flutter open, revealing the lavishly painted walls that surround you. Your hand meets with the soft fabric that covers you, providing a tender warmth that you've missed for weeks now. Your fingertips move along the silky material that drapes over your figure, the expensive texture and familiarity of the fabric bringing back the sweet comforts of home as each thread runs under your fingertips.

'Home...'

A silent sigh passes through your lips before a practiced series of knocks sounds from behind one of the walls.

Perhaps it was the vague familiarity of the pattern in which the knocks occurred that allowed you to subconsciously bid them entrance, but your body moved on its own as your voice called out, granting the knocking phantom permission to join you.

The door swings open and Sebastian enters with a silver tea cart, his pitch black tail coat swinging in the subtle wake of his stride.

"Good morning, my lady," he greets you, a small smile playing at his lips as the cart slows to a stop by your bedside. He bows his head before turning to pull back the curtains that hang in front of your window, permitting brilliant rays of morning sun to filter through the spotless glass. Behind the glass sat a choir of European robins and goldfinches, each singing their own morning greeting before flittering away from tree top to tree top.

"Sebastian..." you groan softly, your voice still filled with the essence of sleep as you contemplated if you were dreaming or truly awake. "Are we...?" you begin, lifting your arms to rub the sleep from your eyes. Your arms fall to your sides and for the first time in weeks, your back doesn't ache after only a few hours of sleep. It feels if you had more than a few hours of sleep this time too. "Are we back at the manor?" you ask, your face now void of any expression.

Sebastian lets out a deep chuckle before turning to pour you a cup of morning tea. He remains silent, not answering your question until he hands you the cup and saucer. "Brilliant observation, my lady," he jests, the corner of his lips tugging into a playful smirk.

You only sigh in response.

"It's too early for your sarcasm," you respond cooly, taking a sip from the cup in your hand. Your eyes close in bliss as the warm bitterness of the tea, spiked with the perfect interlude of sweetness, falls over your tongue.

"My dear," Sebastian begins, placing a hand over his heart as he bows before you, "It's never too early for that."

"I thought you said we weren't returning to the manor just yet." Your eyes wander about the room as if scanning for any sort of imperfection that would prove to you that this wasn't truly your bed chamber. They, however, found no such thing.

"We haven't," Sebastian begins. "This is the house within the city, my lady." Sebastian's eyes wash over you with some sort of unreadable expression before he continues, "Both you and the young lord were in quite pitiful condition last night," your eyes flicker to meet his at the sound of the word 'pitiful' as if to see if he truly took pleasure in seeing you both so... human. "So he figured it would be best for all of us to return home," he pauses to allow a chuckle to pass through his lips, "Well, to one of them at least. You remained asleep the entire time," Sebastian kneels beside you and you feel the silk knuckles of his glove brush against the back of your neck,"

You did all that you could to refrain from reacting to the sudden, somewhat soothing sensation against your already warm skin despite the shiver that ran down your spine. He smirked in amusement, a glorious sight that you were blessed enough to miss as he brushed a stray strand of hair behind your ear.