Page 34 of Reflections of Silence

“Gisella. Gella, stop.”

The hand squeezed my chin gently, forcing my head back in a slow movement. I shook my head, but the hand kept me still until I was looking up into a pair of dark eyes I’d last seen above me the night before.

“Don’t fight me, hellion,” he murmured, reducing my fear with a single phrase.

Sebastian held my gaze a moment longer, then nodded, lowering his hand. Turning me in his arms, he tightened his grasp, pulling me against him.

I closed my eyes tight, certain I was safe with him.

That’s not something I ever expected to hear from you again.

“Then you should keep out of other people’s heads,” I muttered tartly into the folds of his shirt.

Sebastian laughed deeply, slipping his fingers beneath my bonnet into my hair, holding me tight.Safe. “Dolion. About time you got up. But truly, man, did you need to scare her? She’d been lost for hours by the time I woke.” He spoke over my head.

A deep voice answered him, and I stiffened, pressing deeper into Sebastian’s chest. He squeezed my back with one hand—his almost fit almost all the way across my slight frame.

“I did see her go into the maze, earlier. If I’d known she was lost, I would have brought her out myself.”

I peeked over my shoulder, my body pressed thigh to thigh with Sebastian’s. A man’s silhouette graced the moonlight behind me. Sebastian’s arms flexed again, releasing me when I gave a gentle nudge to the confines of his embrace. I turned to face the man who had been a monster.

Everything about him was the same—the carved muscle, the shape of his body, his bulk—but absent was the twisted, grotesque facial expression. Instead, his was one of kindness, with a mischievous light in his yellow eyes. The stone of his body reflected golden skin, gleaming as though oiled beneath the moon.

I swallowed, attempting a watery smile.

You promised me no more monsters.

I sent the reminder to the alabaster statue of a man of my own at my back, receiving a soft huff of breath I was convinced he didn’t need against my nape. Shivers broke out across my arms. I folded my hands in front of me, trying to suppress the cold that seeped into my body. A broad arm wrapped tight around my chest, pulling me back into him, his coat offering warmth when his body couldn’t.

“I am sorry.” The gargoyle’s—Dolion—voice rumbled deep and smooth, as though dipped in honey. “I get bored there, alone while you have your fun. It’s not like I can jump down and join in, yes?” He smiled as he straightened, heavy, bunched muscles turning lean. Standing tall, his height was intimidating, even against Sebastian.

“No, I suppose not,” I murmured, reaching for my husband’s hand, tangling my fingers tight in his when I located it.

He squeezed back, his other arm returning to my waist.

“Out for the night, then?” Above me, Sebastian’s voice held a hint of meaning, though he covered it well with a casual tone.

“All night, brother. Playing with the old woman’s wolves.” The stone turned man flashed a smile my way before he leapedthrough the garden with impossible speed, fading into the shadows and out of my sight.

Sebastian’s palm pressed against my stomach, his fingers caressing the gentle swell there. With Dolion gone, we were left alone in the garden, well sheltered from the view of the house. Slowly, he turned me in his arms to face him. My mouth dry, I swallowed back a different sort of fear that trembled through me at the change in his touch.

His gaze darkened as his fingers caught my chin, tipping my head up. With deft fingers, he removed my bonnet, tossing the confection of lace and straw aside. His hand returned to my hair, tangling in the loosened strands.

I pressed my fingers to his cool chest, straying over the curves and valleys there. “Sebastian?—”

He pulled me closer, his breath almost kissing my lips. If I leaned up on my tiptoes, my mouth would meet his, and I knew what would happen the moment he kissed me. The passion between us became a tangible thing that wound us ever tighter in its embrace.

I closed my eyes as my heart raced.

Please, kiss me.

Don’t kiss me and take me inside.

But as frightening as the garden had become, swathed in shadows and dark corners when I had traversed it on my own, it was a place of peace with Sebastian before me, because I knew that above everything else, he would protect me.

I’d been wrong to fight with him, to run from him. There were all sorts of monsters in this world, and not all of them drank blood or died at first light. My hands curled into fists on his shirt, tugging him closer and pushing away at the same time.

“I will never tell you to leave me, Gella,” he growled against my lips before his mouth came crashing down on mine.

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