Page 50 of Blood and Thorns (Twisted Ever After #1)

Arabella

The doctor helped me sit up against the pillows, my back stinging slightly from the coolness of the silk.

“Luckily the cuts are superficial, and won’t need any stitches,” the doctor said, her voice gentle as she double checked my forehead. “You’re going to bruise, so I’ll advise Mr Devereaux on an ointment that’ll help.”

“What about whatever I ingested?” I asked, tugging the sheets higher.

Sebastian had carried me to his room, ignoring my protests. He’d only left my side when the doctor asked him for privacy, and honestly, I thought he was going to bite her head off. But he’d gritted his teeth and nodded. Only after threatening her, of course.

“Luckily it wasn’t in your system long, and I’ve taken your blood to be tested just to make sure. If it’s my guess, it seems to be a generic date rape drug, and shouldn’t have any lasting effects.”

I swallowed, the relief so swift it took me a moment to reply, and even then my voice shook. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.” The doctor’s smile was gentle, but her eyes darkened with concern. “Are you sure you want to refuse? I highly suggest I assess if there’s any bruising–”

“I don’t need it,” I repeated for the third time. “I’m fine.”

“Miss Grey…”

“Thank you, but no.” I made sure my tone was stern, ignoring how my head pounded.

Her smile tightened, but she simply nodded. “The painkillers I’ve given you should kick in soon, but I suggest some rest. I’ll update Mr Devereaux.”

Collecting her things, she finally left to give me some privacy. I knew I wouldn’t have long, so I immediately swung my legs off the side of the bed, ignoring the twinge from the fresh bruises on my hips.

My muscles felt tired, but at least I could feel them. Pulling the sheets I wrapped them around my body, only to look up and notice the painting on the wall.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Sebastian asked, and I turned to find him closing the bedroom door behind him.

“Returning to my own room.” I looked back over at the painting, frowning until I recognised the shadow of my own naked body amongst the smears of colour. Sebastian had hung the canvas he’d first fucked me on opposite his bed.

“You’re not leaving.” Sebastian came to my side, glancing up at the painting. He’d removed his black jacket and had pulled up his sleeves to reveal his arms. Blood splattered across his skin from where he’d held me.

I was too tired to argue, and those painkillers had yet to kill the dancer currently tapping away across my brain. “Sebastian–”

“The doctor said you refused an internal exam,” he commented, his voice far gentler than I expected. I finally looked at him, holding the sheets tighter to my breasts. “Arabella, you need–”

“My body, my rules,” I interrupted. “I don’t need the exam.”

Sebastian cocked his head, reaching down to cup my jaw. “How far did he get?”

“Why? Because you don’t play with broken toys?”

His eyes narrowed a fraction. “Answer the question, Arabella.”

“He didn’t.” I swallowed, frustrated with the way my eyes burned. “Caden interrupted just before he…” I couldn’t finish the sentence, the words getting stuck.

His thumb brushed along my cheek in a gentle caress. “Come with me.”

I went to protest, but he didn’t give me a choice before he picked me up and carried me into his bathroom. He sat me at the edge of the tub, reaching over to turn on the taps. The heat was instant, the steam comforting as he added a sweet-smelling liquid to the quickly rising water.

I stared at the bubbles forming, my hand clutching the sheet until my knuckles had whitened. I didn’t notice Sebastian leaving, the light above me dimming, or the candles that had suddenly appeared. Only reacting once he gently tugged the sheet from me.

“?a va aller, belle,” he whispered when I flinched. “Je ne laisserai rien te blesser.”

“It’s Ara,” I muttered.

“Hmm.” Sebastian’s upper lip curved. “I’ve never called you belle because of your name.”

“No?” I frowned, hooking my arm over the back of his neck when he lifted me once more, only to gently lay me down into the water.

“ Belle means beautiful.”

Oh .

“You’re going to get wet,” I whispered, unsure what to say.

Sebastian smirked, pulling out his arms to find he was indeed soaked. Tucking my knees to my chest, I watched as he unbuttoned his shirt before removing it entirely.

He stood with his chest bare, the flames from the candles creating harsher lines across his skin. Reaching for a cloth, he wet it in the water before gently washing it along my arm.

“Is my dad okay?” I asked, the words so quiet I didn’t think he’d heard them.

His movements paused for a beat, and after the moment he continued to gently wash me. “He’s alive, if that’s what you’re asking.”

I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth. “I didn’t know he would be there. I wasn’t running. I didn’t–”

“I know.”

A lump formed in my throat, as if I’d swallowed frost, and I shivered despite the heat from the water. “Please don’t hurt him,” I whispered.

Sebastian washed across my shoulders. “Did he give you the drink?”

That frost shattered into a million icicles, cramping my stomach and turning my blood to ice. “Sebas–”

“Did he give you the drink?” he repeated, his voice stern yet somehow still gentle.

I couldn’t look at him, simply hugging my legs tighter to my chest. “Yes.”

“Do you think he knew what waited for you in that bathroom?”

Now, all you have to do is gain his trust before you can strike. I’ve set up…

“He wouldn’t…” My voice cracked, unable to understand that the man who’d fathered me could do such a th ing. That he thought so little of his only daughter that he could hurt her in such a way. Yes, he’d pushed me to take his place, to carry his debt.

But this was different. This was calculated. Deliberate.

The sobs finally broke free, tearing through my ribs as if each one came directly from my heart. It didn’t matter that I tried to calm myself; I couldn’t seem to stop them.

“Arabella…”

Pain tore through me, my head pounding and my heart breaking. “Why… why would he do that?”

A muttered curse, followed by a splash. Sebastian had stepped into the bath, trousers and all. Slipping his much larger body behind mine, he pulled me against him.

“Tout va bien se passer,” he whispered against the top of my head. “Cela ne se reproduira plus, je le promets.”

I closed my eyes, calming myself with his heat at my back. I don’t know how much time passed with him simply holding me, long enough for the water to cool and the bubbles to pretty much disappear.

“I grew up in Paris,” Sebastian said after a while, his voice deep, and yet soft as it brushed over me. “With two brothers.”

Laying my head against his shoulder, I looked up at him. “There were two more of you?”

“Hmm.” He brushed his fingers down my arms, his chest vibrating against my back. “Noah and Beau.”

I could hear the sorrow in his words. “What happened to them?”

There was silence, stretching for so long I didn’t expect him to answer.

“Tip your head back,” he said quietly, the tension there beneath the huskiness of his tone. I hesitantly followed the command, and water poured carefully over my hair. “They were killed. Murdered when I was fourteen. ”

My heart ached for him. “Sebastian…”

“They were just six and nine.”

I swallowed, my tears renewing, but this time they were for him. “Just babies.”

“Hmm.” He took his time with the shampoo and then the conditioner despite the angle being awkward. He didn’t ask me to move forward to make this easier, seemingly content to hold me against him. “I couldn’t save them.”

“Is that how you were hurt?”

He didn’t answer, instead gently washing my hair. I wanted to push, to understand one of the most dangerous men I hadn’t even known existed. He rarely offered anything personal, but when he did, I longed to know more.

“What about your parents?” I asked softly, his fingers weaving slowly through my damp hair.

I couldn’t see him, but I felt Sebastian smile. “My mother was like sunshine,” he said. “Petite and delicate. She left everything for him, giving up her inheritance and family to move to Paris when she fell pregnant with me.”

“And your father?”

He exhaled, a breath laced with old weight.

“It was a whirlwind romance. He promised her the world, and for a while, I think he meant it.” A pause.

“But he was already tangled in the Le Milieu, quickly rising in ranks until he held a prominent position within the heroin trade over on the continent. With that came money, status, and power.”

I listened, Sebastian’s voice hollow, as if recalling everything without emotion.

“He trusted the wrong people, invited a viper into our home, and because of him I lost everything.” Sebastian’s fingers brushed through my hair, cautious of the cut on my forehead. “I despise him for it.”

“Would he have invited her if he’d have known?” I asked .

“Does it matter?”

I didn’t respond, just leaned into the quiet, Sebastian’s heartbeat a steady rhythm against my back as he finished washing my hair.

“Why did you leave the arena?” he asked after a moment, his voice softer than before.

My cheeks burned from where my tears had dried, my eyes heavy with exhaustion. “I didn’t like seeing Langdon fight, so I was going to wait in the bathroom until you came back.”

“So why didn’t you use the bathroom in the arena?”

“Because Miles said it was out of order.”

Sebastian stiffened, his body rigid beneath me. I could almost feel the anger spiking from him in waves, and I waited for him to explode. To jump from the bath so he could break something and release this violent energy he always seemed to harbour, but never quite expel.

“What’s going to happen to that man?” I asked, stroking down his arms to help calm his storm. I expected him to push me away, but he didn’t.

“I’m going to kill him for daring to touch what’s mine.”