Page 16 of Love Me Forever

Sébastien took a drag from the cig and tapped it over the ashtray he’d set on the bed. “It was a fun way to start my day.”

“Maybe your ass is also toughening up a bit.”

Remus loved the real smile Sébastien gave him. “Does that mean you’ll give me the belt again?”

“If you want.”

“I mean, not right this second.”

Remus chuckled. “I don’t think you’d be able to sit at all after a second spanking.”

“Do you want a cig?”

“Nah. I’m surprised you’re smoking so early.”

“I read in a book that a cig tastes better after sex, so I figured I’d test it.” Sébastien took a drag and blew away the smoke with a thoughtful expression. “They weren’t wrong.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

Sébastien finished his cig and finally headed into the privy room. Remus watched his perfect little ass disappear. Sébastien had nearly finished bathing by the time he dragged himself out of bed. The day had to start for real at some point.

When Remus finished his morning tasks and finally went downstairs, Sébastien had already gone down.

“Your Majesty.” Milly appeared in the dining room doorway with a frown. “Someone dropped off a crate, and I told them to set it out back by the door. I know you have petitioners coming soon, and I wasn’t sure if Sébastien wanted it left in the sitting room. It’s a bit big. Er, he’s quite furious now…not at me.”

She let him pass into the dining room. “Why? What’s in the crate?”

“I’m not sure. The cart driver said it was mementos, and he’d been told to take it here. He wasn’t sure what everything was. I’m guessing there might be old portraits from Arquous.”

“Fuck.”

Sébastien must have opened it and received a shock. Remus could imagine what mementos were inside. When he hurried into the kitchen, he heard a snap from outside. Through the open back door, he caught sight of Sébastie on a patch of dirt by the fence. Fire flickered around his right hand as he threw moreon the already burning item he’d tossed down. Whisper watched from a safe distance with a befuddled expression.

The large crate had leather straps on the side to make it easier for someone to lift, and the lid was open. A dust cloth lay abandoned on the ground.

“Uh, Sébastien?”

He turned and clenched his fists as the fire in his hand went out, and the mangled portrait burned in the dirt. Sébastien must have stomped on the frame to break it. “It’s from Arquous.”

“Was that a portrait of Corentin?” Remus noticed a folded piece sticking out from between two wrapped items, and he plucked it out.

“It was the first thing I saw when I opened the crate. His fucking face smiling like he’d never had a single wrong thought in his mind.”

The cloth to cover it must have shifted during the trip or while being unloaded. Remus’s gut clenched as he scanned the note. Seeing Corentin’s face first thing in the morning would be beyond unsettling. When he approached Sébastien, the canvas of the painting was twisted and burning, but a bit of Sébastien’s white, silver-tinted hair was noticeable along with just enough of a face to be recognizable. It had been a portrait of Sébastien and Uncle.

“Like I’d want anything with his fucking face on it,” snarled Sébastien. “I was twelve in that one, and he had to keep his arm around me. Now I can guess what he was thinking about me the whole time. The servants at Arquous are fucking sick-” He kicked at a piece of the frame, and sparks skittered across the dirt.

The Regent had already been touching his nephew at that age in a way that wouldn’t seem sexual or harmful in a twelve-year-old’s innocent mind.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think they meant it like that-”

“I’m burning every single portrait with him in it-”

“Wait.” Remus gently pinched his coat sleeve and held up the letter. “It says they packed up what few things were left in the attic and sent it over because they figured you’d have nothing. All of the paintings in the Palace are gone now-”

“The last thing I want to do is wake up every morning and see his face. He’s dead, and even though I have nothing from the Palace, at least I don’t have to look at him. The whole damn Kingdom knows what he did, so those servants can't play dumb.”

“There are family portraits in there.”

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