Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 116759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
“Hi.”
“Sorry about earlier. I didn’t know he was taken.”
Knowing it would be dishonest to pretend he was, I shook my head. “We’re just friends.”
Her pretty eyes lit up. “Really?” She stuffed her hand into her bag and pulled out a pen and paper. Tearing a corner of a sheet of A4, she leaned on the table and scribbled on the piece. “Will you give him this? I tried reaching out on socials, but he apparently doesn’t answer his messages.”
I looked down to see her name and number on the paper. Feeling like I’d swallowed a brick, I nodded and took it. “Of course.”
“Thanks. You’re a sweetheart.” She grinned at me and sauntered off with her companion.
Less than a minute later, Sebastian returned. “What did Hogwarts want?”
Laughing, I held out the paper to him. “She gave me her number to give to you.”
He frowned and took it. Then he crumpled it up.
At my shocked look, he huffed. “I do have some standards. She was ugly to you.”
“She was nicer when she found out we’re not dating.”
“Oh, well then, that makes all the difference,” he replied dryly.
Warmth filled my chest.
Sebastian did that intense staring thing again.
“What?”
He shrugged. “I like looking at you.”
Confusion replaced the warmth until I reminded myself that Sebastian was a self-confessed flirt. He flirted with everyone. Wanting to find some even footing again, I asked tentatively, “What did you mean earlier?”
“Earlier when?”
“You were talking about your family not being involved in the institution.” I referred to the royal family. “You said ‘But that might change.’ What did you mean?”
Sebastian ran a hand through his hair, disheveling it and making me think naughty thoughts I immediately threw out of my head when he leaned across the table and confessed, “My parents separated over the summer.”
The crushed look on his face made my chest ache. “I’m so sorry.”
“They haven’t gone public with it. And I … I haven’t told anyone. Not even Harry. Juno and I talk about it, but … anyway, it was a big shock.”
“You can talk to me about it.”
Frustration hardened his features. “It came out of nowhere, Lily. I mean, my parents used to joke that Juno and I had to be adopted because neither of us are interested in monogamy while our parents were attached at the hip. Our childhood was idyllic. We had parents who adored each other. Yes, I went to boarding school, and it wasn’t always fun, but going home was magical. I had two parents who loved us and loved each other. There were no clues, no disagreements or strangeness between them. There was no buildup to this separation. Of course, Juno and I are out of the house now, so if there was anything going on, it happened quickly. Sometime between last Christmas and this summer. It shocked the hell out of us.”
“Did they give you a reason?”
“They won’t talk about it.”
Sympathy had me reaching over to squeeze his hand. “I’m sorry.”
He patted the top of my hand with his other. “Thanks. It’s … I’m a grown man and it shouldn’t bother me this much, but it is messing with my head a little.”
“Of course it is. If I was forty years old and my parents turned around and told me they were divorcing, it would mess with my head. Never mind not explaining why.”
It was an interesting case. There had to be a reason, of course, and one Sebastian and his sister had to let their parents work through before they were ready to explain. It was also interesting that Sebastian was a commitment-phobe considering his description of his parents as such a loving couple. Usually, people were less likely to want serious connections with people if there was some kind of trauma, either parental divorce or familial loss.
At Sebastian’s grim expression, I switched off my analytical wannabe-therapist thoughts and pulled back my hand. “Why does that mean things will change with the royal family?”
Before he could respond, our food arrived.
He’d ordered a cheeseburger and fries, and honestly, I did have food regrets as soon as I saw it.
Sebastian seemed to read me. “You are very welcome to my fries.”
Grinning, I reached over and took one. “Don’t mind if I do.”
After a bite, he swallowed and answered my last question. “My mum made herself a little bit of a black sheep by marrying my father, a commoner. We weren’t ousted or anything, but my parents didn’t partake in a lot of the royal events because of it. We saw our family at private affairs all the time, though. However, Mum decided she wants back in. Apparently, that means trying to set Juno and me up with ‘suitable’ partners.”
“What does suitable entail?”
“So far, the last remnants of the aristocracy. She tried to set me up with Lady Amelia Shrewsbury who is only eighteen years old and in her first year here.”