Free Iridescent (Ember 2) by Carol Oates Page B

supposed to fight?”
    He remained silent, his eyes roaming over her face as if committing every tiny detail to memory, and finally, the awkwardness began to stretch on. Candra wanted to crawl back under the covers. However, it didn’t seem like a proactive thing to do when the situation between them still felt unresolved. There were still so many unanswered questions.
    He pulled in a deep, shuddering breath and shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. I swear I’ll kill her a million times over before I let her hurt you.”
    Candra noticed he looked tired. It was unusual since Sebastian rarely slept, and when he did, he seldom slept deeply. She could count on one hand the occasions she’d seen him at rest and still have fingers to spare.
    He had told her that every life he took fractured his heart a little more. He’d tried to convince her that he was the tempest, and as long as she was with him, she was merely sitting in the eye of the storm. He had warned her he couldn’t be her shelter or her protector, that eventually she would see him for what he was—a murderer. Another tiny piece of Sebastian chipped away right in front of Candra’s eyes as they both realized he intended to kill again.
    “We need to go.”
    “Go where?” Candra asked, scooting over to the side of the chair and placing her feet on the bare floor and standing.
    “Back to the townhouse.”
    Candra looked up at him, confused by him taking her back to the place Lilith had managed to slip by her guards. “What? Can’t I just stay here with you?”
    Sebastian smiled and scratched his temple with his index finger. His brow wrinkled when his eyebrows rose and disappeared behind his ruffled blond hair. “Okay, you and I know that isn’t going to happen.”
    “Brie,” they both said at the same time.
    Brie had firmly placed her foot down on sleeping arrangements. Sebastian and Candra hadn’t spent a night in the same bed since the ball. In fact, they hadn’t spent a night inside the same house. Brie had relegated him to guarding Candra from the rooftops surrounding the townhouse.
    Candra sighed and turned away from him, sitting on the end of the bed. “I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but I miss you, and I’m not sure I want to stay there after what happened.”
    She felt the bed shift, and Sebastian’s legs appeared either side of her. His strong arms circled her waist and pulled her toward his chest. She let her head loll back to his shoulder and closed her eyes, opening them again quickly when she saw green eyes peering at her from blackness.
    Sebastian’s lips pressed against her hair lightly as he spoke. “I’ll talk to Brie. This isn’t about you and me anymore. It’s about keeping you safe.”
    “Not as a Watcher, Sebastian,” Candra warned, stroking her fingers along his forearm and loving the way tiny goose bumps rose up under her touch. Sebastian’s role as leader of the Nuhra made him intimidating when he wanted to be. His return to Acheron had caused Brie to retreat into herself, convinced she had failed at protecting Candra. Brie had been unable to stand up to Sebastian after an eternity of following his lead. She still struggled but made a point about holding her ground over their relationship. She didn’t approve. “Talk to her as her brother.”
    Sebastian chuckled somberly. “I’m not so sure reminding Brie of the slight age difference between you and me is the way to lead into this conversation.”
    Candra lifted her hand over her shoulder and smoothed it around Sebastian’s neck. She turned her head a little to see his face. His warm breath touched her skin, mint and spice—pure Sebastian.
    “Maybe if you were a human boy, age would mean something, but you are not a human boy, and I’m not a human girl. Talk to her as her friend, then. She knows how I feel. You need to make her believe you mean it too. I’m over eighteen, and I want to be with you. I don’t want it to cost you a relationship