Page 116 of Arianna

“I can celebrate you both.” Sebastian opens the gate to the stall for me.

Stepping inside, I look back at him. “Why are you doing all of this for me?”

He shrugs as if it is not a big deal. It is. It is everything. “Because I can.” An angry, intense look flashes before he schools his expression. “Because someone should have done it. You should have never had to go through what you did. Your cunt of a father and your useless mother should have never made you feel like you did not matter. You do.”

Don’t cry.

Hold it.

Don't you dare cry.

His rough fingers touch my cheek lightly before whispering. I want to say so many things and ask more, but I am held back by this overwhelming feeling that he invokes in me with every word, touch, and selfless gesture.

Lost in his eyes, I know I am fucked because it is no secret to me that I am losing myself in him.

“Is she mine? This is too much.”

Sebastian steps back, removing his hand from my skin. “Nothing is too much. I have told you this already.” I watch as he expertly guides Bliss out of the stable. “She’s yours.”

“How?” I look at the beautiful creature, with my heart in my throat, then I look up at the man who seems too good to be true. “How did you know?”

“Know what, darling?” He asks, still guiding Bliss out of the small building.

It is impossible for him to know. I know this, yet it feels as if he has made every single wish I’ve made with my heart come true.

“I asked for a white horse once. The only thing I ever asked my parents for Christmas. Not a real-life one, of course I knew that my parents would never agree or even care enough to grant me that wish, but I settled for a toy horse I saw on TV that Christmas. I knew Santa was not real. Magic didn’t live inside that home, yet I still hoped that Christmas would be different.” I laugh without humor and watch as Sebastian’s face contours in anger. “Morning came, and there was nothing under our tree. That day I learned an important and harsh lesson. If I wanted something, I’d have to make it happen myself. Dreaming, wishing, and hoping only left me disappointed and so angry.” I breathe out, terrified that I just gave this man, a man that poses the biggest threat to my heart, a piece of it, willingly.

“I wish I could kill him, and if he weren't half dead already, I would. I would bring him to you, rip his heart out of his chest, and drop it at your feet.” With one hand holding Bliss’s leash, he tucks a hair behind my ear, so tenderly, so damn…sweet. Nothing like the terrible promises of murder that have slipped from his lips. “I swear I would, if only to wipe the sadness in your eyes whenever you think of your past.”

“He will die eventually, but you can’t kill a ghost.”

“You can, darling.” He says it so confidently. If I knew better, I would believe him. “Ghosts can only be if you let them rule you.”

But how? All I've ever known is heartbreak, war, and ghosts. “How is that possible?”

“By showing that bastard that he did not break you,” Sebastian whispers.

But he did. He broke my heart.

But… as broken as it is, it still beats.

It beats wildly when Ellaiza hugs me.

It beats strong when Sebastian looks at me like he is doing right now, as if I am the only one.

It rages in moments like this one where life is good.

It beats when Benjamin cooks for me or does little things to put a smile on my face.

My father might have broken my heart, the first man to ever do it, but slowly, these people, my people, have healed it.

Made it stronger and better.

Kinder.

I watch the man that has taken over my life, sanity, and now my heart standing confidently and looking back at me as if he wants to breathe me in and keep me inside him forever.

As weird as it sounds, I wish I could do the same. Keep him with me forever, his daughter and Benjamin, as well.

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