Page 49 of Reflections of Silence

She had taken salt from us.

“What does it mean?” I looked up at him, relying on him to give me the truth, though I knew he could withhold it if he chose.

I trust you.

The gentle brush of his consciousness against mine offered an additional layer of comfort as I burrowed deeper into the security of his broad arms.

“I don’t know.” He stared straight at the swamp witch, pressing me to him.

Between us, warmth began to grow.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

GISELLA

I clung to Sebastian’s chest, the sway of the ocean leaving me. Over my head, he fired questions at the swamp witch, barely letting her answer one before he threw the next her way. Glad to have his violent rage focused anywhere else than on me, I closed my eyes, letting him take over. Throughout my order and recovery, he crushed me tight to him, steadfast.

This is the man I can rely upon.

Whatever had frightened him before was gone, though I still didn’t know how, or why. My own mind had a blank space where my thoughts roamed free. I ignored that for the time being, too exhausted to fight for anything other than sleep.

Granny and Sebastian bickered over my head. I disregarded it all until he tensed around me, his volume rising to a roar that stilled everything in the vicinity.

“What did you take from her?” Sebastian shouted the words over my head. His frustration became evident as his voice cracked, a horrid sound that jarred me from my internal study.

“I took what your girlfriend put into her.”

“What?” Brain function returned enough for me to comprehend that single line. I twisted in the circle of Sebastian’s arms, looking over my shoulder at the ancient witch. “What do you mean?”

Granny Smythe smirked. “Didn’t you know your husband had a fling with thesorciere? That little tryst lasted a few hundred years at last count, didn’t it, dear?”

Sebastian nodded once, and that fast, my whole world crumbled.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I whispered, clutching his shirt. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cling to him or pummel him into oblivion. It didn’t matter because inside my head, somewhere, I hadknown. The way Amy stood behind him in those portraits, the intimate closeness they shared, even in his most tortured, darkest hours. She wastherewith him.

I looked up to read Sebastian’s face, but he didn’t look down but stared out, over me.

The warmth between us died, replaced with the void I knew too well.

Don’t close me off from you, please.

But he had no response to give me.

“What is the salt for?” he ground out, his hands painfully tight on my back.

“Oh, Sebastian. Isn’t it obvious, even to you?” She shook her head. I watched her reflection act out her part in the stained-glass circular window behind Dolion and Minette. Her face coated in blues and greens, she took on an ethereal figure. “Amy put a barrier between you. Salt can protect, or separate. For you, it was the latter. For Gisella, it was protection. From the moment she saw you, she was sheltered from your more…charming personality traits.”

“Unlike yours.” Frustration rumbled through him.

“Do you hear what she is saying to you, you great oaf!” Minette, who had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the entire exchange burst out. “Gisella’s love for you is real—not pretend, or fake, or created or whatever you thought! You’ve frightened her, bullied her, and all she has done is love you!”

The room fell silent again, the rare movement were the gazes that flicked between my husband and my maid. Minette’s eyes widened to their farthest extremes, whites lining her liquid brown gaze. She clapped both hands over her mouth, her cheeks stained red as she sank back against Dolion’s chest.

He wrapped thick arms about her, resting his chin on the top of her blonde curls. A wry grin crept across his face. “Well, brother. Couldn't have said it better myself.”

Dolion settled back, maintaining his smarmy grin, grabbing another drink from the tray and downing it in one.

I doubted it even touched the sides on its way down.

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