Chapter 7: Nicknames

“You look exhausted,” Sebastion says to me, his eyes straight forward as we walk through the park in the city.

Nickolai is flitting from vendor to vendor, looking back to check on me now and again as he suspiciously buys everything he can, including a few floral items. Maybe I am mistaken and maybe they are for his mother or perhaps he has a sister? Who am I to assume these gifts are for me? Yet the gleam in his eye and the smirk on his lips pull me back to that thought process.

I look over now at Sebastion, who is watching me curiously, and I realize he had spoken.

“Oh, uh. Thanks?” I say, not sure if he is being rude or observant.

He laughs and my heart flutters at the sound as I watch him, inspecting every part of his face. His dark eyes glimmer and shine, full of mirth. And the lines around his lips hint to me that maybe he does more smiling than he lets on. For the first time since meeting him, he seems relaxed, and it looks fucking glorious on him. He gives me a strange loo