The Whiskey Den

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1

The witch who sat with Sebastian in the lower levels of the Monastery, was the same one that had been told to escort him out of the building three days before. He seemed to have an innate ability to remain perfectly quiet, even in an awkward situation. In other circumstances, Sebastian might have found it an admirable trait. Now, he found the silence overwhelmingly stressful.

“They’re going to kill me, aren’t they?”

The guard shrugged. “Any crime against the Goddess is punishable by death.”

Sebastian knew that. And a crime against the king, the Goddess’s chosen one, was a crime against the Goddess.

“Hardly seems worth getting involved in a plot against the king then, does it?”

“No.” But his brother’s soul had been at stake. Sebastian could not have knowingly left Hugo to the void if there was any way to stop it. “I guess not.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I would have done the same thing in your shoes.”

Sebastian looked up from where he’d been studying the floor and, for the first time, found the guard looking directly at him.

“Thank you. Oddly, it does.”

“You never know, you might find you have friends in high places.”

Sebastian snorted. He had no such thing. His parents were gone, and Izzy had been booted from their coven when she’d bound herself to a vampire. And now Hugo was dead.

Of course, there was still Gideon. Thank the Goddess that Gideon hadn’t been there that last night. His brother’s best friend would have been sitting here with him now, waiting for the inevitable.

“You know?” Sebastian lay down on the bench he’d been sitting on and threw his arm over his eyes. “I was just trying to get laid.”

He’d already resigned himself to the fact that he’d failed his brother. The Lord Regent had said he wouldn’t release Hugo’s body to Sebastian for the coven’s seventh-day cleansing ritual unless he brought him who he wanted from the 669. Sebastian had failed.

“Yeah, that s**t always gets you in trouble.”

When the door banged open, Sebastian heard the guard stand, and he dropped his arm to look at the visitor. Even upside-down he recognized the new king, and he moved quickly to stand up.

“You can leave us.” The guard hesitated at the dismissal and the king gave him a look. “You really think I can’t handle this, Dax?”

“Yeah, sorry.” The guard left, shutting the door behind him, and Sebastian was sad to see him go. He would have preferred to not be left alone with the terrifying witch in front of him.

“You can sit.”

Sebastian didn’t move.

“Sit.” The word was a bark, and this time he did what he was told, dropping to the bench and pressing his back against the wall.

“You’ve been found guilty, of course.”

“Yeah.” Sebastian knew it was coming, but still, it was a blow, and he fought the desire to lie back down. “I figured. Well, I don’t have anyone to say goodbye to.”

There was Gideon, but Sebastian knew it would be better for them both if there weren’t a last goodbye. Goodbyes only ever made things worse. And Fotia? The rest of the coven didn’t want the reminder of the shadow his family had cast on their name. First his sister, and now him.

“But...” King Caspian sat down on the chair across from him that the guard had previously occupied. “I have a gift for you.”

“You? You have a gift for me?” Sebastian couldn’t imagine what.

“Technically, it’s a gift from Charlie.”

“Then Charlie’s okay?” The relief at that, the relief that a man Sebastian barely knew was safe, was surprising. “Thank fuck.”

“Yes.” The king’s smile was cold. “And he asked me to give this to you.”

He reached out and touched the fragile-looking chain that had tethered Sebastian to this room for the last twenty-four hours.

When it dropped from his wrist, the king grabbed it in the air and tucked it into his pocket. “You’ve been pardoned.”

Sebastian stared, too terrified to believe it. Afraid it was a trick.

“You’re free to leave.” The king stood again, walked to touch the far wall, and a portal opened to reveal his coven’s Shrine. He’d spent too much of his life within its walls not to recognize it.

“Thank you.” Sebastian couldn’t find any other words. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. You owe this all to Charlie.” King Caspian stepped back. “I would have let you burn for what you did. If Charlie had been killed? I would have lit the match myself.”

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