Sebastian groaned aloud. Closing his eyes and tightening his body as he kept them in. Using his will to tamp them down. Elsabet stood back from him. Watching in surprise. “Are you going to tell me what that was about.” “I have more beasts than you think, just waiting under my skin.” He explained. “You haven’t touched me in a while.” “And?” “You excited all of us.” Her brows shot up. “Sebastian.” Rhyers’s voice drew their attention to just inside the doorway. Rhyers’s usual immaculate hair was looking a bit tousled, and he had an urge look in his eyes. “Alpha needs you.” “No.” Elsabet shook her head. “He’s still injured.” “It’s to help with the Fallen.” Rhyers explained as he grimaced. “I’m sorry Elsabet, he has to go.” “When the alpha calls,” Sebastian weakly climbed from the bed. Grateful to be out of it, truly. But he swayed slightly as he got to his feet. “We must go.” The blanket fell away, a

Though Nora Bishop had already gone into the tutelage, Deragan had restrained Bast and Acharius from leaving. “I sense something. We’re waiting. I had a feeling this would be the case.” “What?” Acharius asked. “They’ve been waiting for her.” Deragan blanched. They all knew he was talking about a demonic presence. Though none could sense it as keenly as Deragan. Just then there was a crash from inside the tutelage. Even the horses attached to her carriage were beginning to tug their reins, pulling against the handle of the carriage, in their efforts to escape this place. A bad sign. Black shadows crossed over the windows spurring Deragan into action. He lurched into a blurring black mass as he crossed the abandoned drive. His body switching forms as it looked for the right one. Bast and Acharius were on his heels. “Keep a run to her carriage clear. I’m going in.” Deragan’s voice emerged from the shadow h

Radix murdering the child of the Fallen and their alpha, had been something the knights had blissfully refused to consider up to that point. Sebastian had offered to protect the child, to keep it at WaterRose and safely from Radix. But Deragan’s response had dashed that meager idea. “And have me explain to him how I could not protect his mother, and now he must go on without one? As I go on without her?” He’d shaken his head. “No, my brothers, I cannot.” They’d all looked at him sorrowfully. “And what if said child, were not born immortal as we are, but doomed to die as my Fallen always does? It would be my worst fear, even worse than losing my mate, to outlive my child and then wonder if they might return, and as whom? As whose child, that I would not get to raise?” A dreadful thought. “You see, I can barely survive the loss of her… How could I do that?” It was easy to see Deragan’s point. They’d all acknowled

RHYERS Rhyers was in WaterRose’s library, patiently waiting for Sebastian to come down. As he often did. He sat quietly in the blue chair awaiting Sebastian, knowing he always wandered down when he was good and healed. Rhyers had leisurely picked up the book Elsabet had left set open on the counter. He’d picked up reading where she had left off. He was surprised to find it was plump with old-world tales. Some of the characters were very similar to the Forever Knights. Which he found intriguing. It was obvious she was trying to learn more about them. And the books stacked next to that one reflected a deep interest in history, and philosophy. Books that no average individual would’ve picked up. These books indicated she was a woman of deep intelligence. Something Rhyers had suspected it, but found it hard to discern, behind the layers of her rage. He nearly tossed the book when he saw her stalking through the doorway. He

It was a fine art, drawing with a quill. But after so many centuries, Sebastian had mastered it. Eventually, he tilted his head to inspect his finished work. Only when he was satisfied that it was a true depiction, did he turn to the next page. And then the words flowed. Dipping the quill over and over. He scribbled tormented thoughts in the light of a tiny candle. Though he didn’t truly need it, it offered some comfort in the darkness. His guilt eased in increments with each confessing page. He purged pain and longing, as best as he could. Filling the pages with his need for closeness with Elsabet. And his desire to hold her. He articulated his dream of a day when he could reach for her and know she’d turn into his touch, rather than him risking the likelihood of rejection if he reached for her. All the complexities of this life with her was, ironically, wearing him down. Whereas she still stood fast. Like a boulder in the tides