Page 27 of The Cursed Sebastian Storm

James started to look worried. “What did you find?”

Sebastian couldn’t maintain eye contact. He looked at the mug on the counter. “It was an article about your parents’ accident. I had no idea until I picked up that old newspaper, but the accident happened the same night my mom and uncle transferred the curse to me.”

Even though Sebastian wasn’t looking, he could tell James had gone unnaturally still.

“I think we caused the accident. The blast. I swear we had no idea. But there was a sound during all the confusion, and when I found the instructions next to the article and realized it all happened the same night, I put it together. It was our fault, James, and I’m so, so sorry.” He looked up and took in the shock on James’s face.

“My parents’ car crashed because of the transfer spell?” he asked like he didn’t believe it.

Sebastian nodded. He wanted to hug James, comfort him, but he wasn’t sure it would be welcome.

James rubbed his eyes for a long time before saying, surprisingly calm, “This is why you keep saying messing with the veins is dangerous?”

“Yes.” Sebastian hunched forward, his arms tight around himself. “The magic the transfer released from the veins must have thrown the car off the road. We have to be really careful and can’t risk anything like that happening again.”

James mouthed the words thrown the car. He frowned like none of this made sense. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

Sebastian didn’t have an answer. All his reasons felt too insecure and self-centered.

James crossed his arms. “Sebastian, did you think I’d blame you? You never had to feel like this was your fault.”

Sebastian bit his lip. “I knew you wouldn’t blame me. You’re too good for that, but?—”

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing.” Sebastian ran his hand through his hair. “I knew you wouldn’t blame me for something I didn’t mean to do?—”

“Something you didn’t do,” James interrupted again, harsher this time. “This was something your family did to you.”

Sebastian waved that unimportant distinction away. “Okay, but they also did this to you, James. We’re the reason you lost your parents. What we did in the clearing that night killed them. It’s okay for you to be mad about that. Mad at them, mad at the veins. You can be upset.”

“Upset with you, you mean?” James asked, sounding hurt now. “I said I’m not.”

“But are you not upset at all?” Sebastian’s thoughts swirled unhelpfully. He wasn’t sure why he was pushing.

“It was still an accident,” James said quietly. “I’ve always been upset that an accident could take so much away from me, but I’ve tried to move past that anger. Knowing the accident was unintentionally caused by your family—I don’t know what that changes. Being mad at them doesn’t help. My parents are still gone.”

“I’m sorry.”

James rubbed his temple. “You don’t have to be sorry. Not for what happened fourteen years ago. But, Sebastian, you’ve known about this for weeks and didn’t tell me. If you didn’t think I’d blame you, why hide it?”

“I don’t know,” Sebastian whispered. He couldn’t admit any of the reasons he’d held back, that he was scared of it changing things between them, of James waking up to the fact that Sebastian wasn’t who he wanted.

Sebastian had told himself over and over that James wouldn’t blame him, but he’d never truly believed it. He hadn’t been able to. He’d braced for James’s anger, ready for the worst because the worst always happened. Sebastian already blamed himself, and that spoke louder than anything he thought he knew about James.

Nothing lasted. Everyone left him. This would be no different.

James gave Sebastian an unreadable look. “Have you been worrying about telling me this the whole time? Since you found the paper?”

“There’s been a lot to worry about,” he replied, purposefully vague.

“I thought we had more trust in each other than this.” James turned abruptly toward the coffee maker as if he needed to watch it percolate. “I thought we were done with secrets after I broke the spell on you in the ballroom. I assumed. But it’s okay. I’m sure it was a hard thing to learn, and I can imagine why you didn’t tell me. We were trapped, and nothing about the situation was easy. I can’t expect you to share everything with me immediately. We’ve only just started dating. Really, it’s only been a day.”

“It’s been longer than that.” To Sebastian, it felt like they’d been together since he’d first gotten on his knees for James. When they’d been at Storm House, separate from the world, intimacy had seemed to count more than labels. They’d been together in all the most important ways.

James adjusted the coffee mug. “In a way, it’s been longer, but maybe it’s best if we don’t count what happened at Storm House. Or we do, but it’s still only been a few weeks. There’s a lot we don’t know about each other, and I shouldn’t expect you to automatically be comfortable confiding something this big. Even if I had a right to know since it was about my family.”

James was disappointed in him. It seemed like Sebastian had proven James wrong about their relationship, as if James had already trusted him with everything and was learning Sebastian hadn’t done the same.

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