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I swallow. “I give Rune hell for thinking like that, too.”
Sebastian leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Rune’s right to recognize it. But in those first days, with the magic of the ritual taking hold and tempers hot, mistakes were made. Big ones.”
“But it was Egan who killed my parents and Adelaide who ordered it. Nothing you did could’ve been that bad.”
“That doesn’t bring Celine back.” A clouded expression passes over his features. “I’ve often wondered if I had approached her differently…if we could’ve been a team instead of me feeling like she was mine, could we have worked? Was it destined to end in tragedy, or was it my fault?”
The remorse in his dark gaze pierces me to the depths of my soul. He wasn’t the one who killed my mother, but he’s been paying for it both physically and mentally every night and day since.
“It’s time to get past it.” I hear the words come out of my mouth and I can’t believe I said them. But the longer I sit here with him, the surer I am. “Now that I know the truth and the four of us are bound, we can rewrite history. I’ll break whatever curse she placed on you, I swear. It’s not right. If I have to take the first step to fixing this, I will.”
He stares at me for a long moment, and we sit in silence. It’s the first time we’ve been at peace with one another, and it feels strangely surreal.
We might still be semi-stuck in a shared dream state, but something between us has shifted. Tomorrow he’ll likely be all asshole-ish again, but for this moment, we are of one mind.
He scrutinizes me for a long moment before he stands. “Wait here. I have something for you.”
He strides out of his bedroom and into his suite beyond. I’m pretty sure that no matter what he wants to give me, I won’t like it, but I don’t want to trash the truce just yet.
I stand and set my glass back onto the drink cart and when I turn to the door, he’s standing there, holding the Dumont grimoire.
“Are you serious? You’re giving my ancestral spellbook back?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the catch?”
“Your next witch trial is to create a unique and potent potion from scratch. I thought you could use some inspiration from the Dumont witches who came before.”
I move slowly so as not to spook the mercurial vampire and gently ease the book from his possession. Whoa, it’s heavy. The magnitude of his grand gesture sinks in as I brush my fingers over the leather cover.
He wants me to have an edge in the next trial.
“This is the part when you thank me.”
I snort, arching a brow at Sebastian. Yeah, there’s the King of the Quarter we all know and loathe. “Thank you, Sebastian. Although, you were the one who stole it from me in the first place.”
“Yes, and now I’m giving it back.”
I press my palm on the front cover and meet his gaze. “Thank you. I’ll figure out what my mother has done and I’ll make it right. I gave you my word and I won’t forget.”
He nods. “Any and all help on that front would be welcome…but may I make one request?”
I swallow. “You can ask, sure.”
He hears the qualification in my words and almost smiles. “Tell no one. Keep it between us. I would never have shared my suffering with you willingly and I don’t want others to look at me like I’m crazy.”
They already do, but I refrain from pointing that out. “Finn and Rune are worried. If they knew what you’ve been going through?—”
“No one, Josephine! I mean it. We have no trust between us and if you want to build it, you will keep this between us.”
I nod. “All right…but I think you’re wrong to keep them in the dark.”
“Your objection is noted.” Sebastian walks me to the door. “It’s your grimoire now, little witch. Take care of it, and don’t let men like me get their hands on it again.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
JOSIE
