Virtue & Vanity (46 page)

“I didn’t know you were so familiar with fairytales.” I cooperated, ignoring the troubling thoughts that he tried to chase away from my mind.

He smirked. “Another thing you can blame on Anne. Years of listening to the bedtime stories she had told my sisters seemed to have taken its toll, I guess.”

I laughed, imagining fairytale sessions with little Sebastian from the videotape. It made me think of my own childhood and the fact that nobody took the time to read to me before I went to sleep.

“I wouldn’t complain if I were you,” I said with a pinch of sadness. “At least you had Anne. Nobody ever told me bedtime stories when I was little.”

For a while he gazed at me with a distant look and then he smiled. “Well, I think it’s outrageous that nobody told stories to my princess.” His voice was light, soft, alluring.

I chuckled. “It been quite damaging, but I think I’ll live.”

“Absolutely not,” he counteracted in teasing voice. “The damage will have to be fixed right now.” He pulled my head back on his chest and lowered us on the bed.

“Sebastian, what on earth...”

“Shh, no words. Close your eyes,” he instructed and I gave up, deciding to listen to him. After a short break of silence, he began speaking in a soft voice. “Once upon a time...”

My eyes snapped open in shock. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing, sweet?” He smiled when I didn’t reply. “I’m about to have the honor of telling you your very first bedtime story...”

Defying his request, I suddenly opened my eyes and gave him a quizzical look because I thought he had taken his joke one step too far, but after a moment I realized he was dead serious about this. I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head in disbelief.
My husband was losing his mind.

Chapter Forty-Six

Still looking at him in disbelief, I ignored his teasing expression and decided to confront him with his childish behavior. “You cannot be serious.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Do I look like I’m joking?”

“A little bit.” I giggled and he joined me in laughter.

“Then I suggest you close your eyes before I put on my serious storytelling face,” he threatened in a mild voice.

I smiled, defying him with wide open eyes, but when he arched his eyebrows again, I closed them tightly, placing my head back on his chest and focusing on the soothing rhythm of his breathing. There was something magical about the fact that a man like Sebastian would actually go to such lengths just to give me another beautiful memory.

Taking a deep breath, he said the sentence that took me back in time and made me feel like I was a little girl all over again. “Once upon a time...”

As I felt the alluring vibrations of his deep voice streaming down his chest, I ignored the rest of my surroundings, or better said, reality altogether. In that moment, I tried to focus on nothing else but his words and imagine the fantasy world he was introducing me with.

“Once upon a time there was...” He paused, needing time to think of something and I waited patiently, not making a single sound. After a few moments, he seemed to have come up with a concept in his head and began retelling it in a self-assured voice. “There was a sweet girl with the most beautiful long, golden hair in the entire world. She lived in a small house with her mother in a far-away kingdom ruled by a young and cruel king who thought that—”

“Sebastian,” I interrupted him.

“What?” he asked sweetly.

I hesitated for a short while before finally addressing the problem. “You forgot their names.”

“Do they really matter?” He sounded slightly confused.

“Of course. I cannot imagine their faces unless I know their names.” I opened my eyes again and gave him a pleading look.

His lips twisted in a charming smile, letting me know that once again, he was powerless in making a decision to deny my request.

“Okay, I can do that,” he said calmly and then spent a few moments thinking about it. “King Peter and...Kate.”

I burst into mild laughter. “King Peter and Kate?”

“Yes,” he said with playful defensiveness. “What’s wrong with that?”

“It’s just...too plain for a story. You should give them names that scream beauty and power. Peter and Kate are just...” I stopped when I noticed his expression was turning serious.

Sometimes I would forget that he was a perfectionist with an admirably-sized ego that was not to be undermined at any circumstances, no matter how foolish they appeared to be.

“Watch it, sweetness.” Contrary to my expectations, his voice came out in a light, charming tone and he managed to draw another smile to my face by joking about his characters. “Right now, Peter and Kate are starting to get upset because you’re sabotaging their story. We don’t want to cause a riot here. I think you should just let me continue.”

With that smile still present on my features, I shook my head and stared at him bewildered, completely captivated with his light.

“You’re being so silly. I’m just saying that I cannot imagine a king named Peter.”

I observed as he sighed and tilted up my chin, making me look right into his glowing emerald eyes. “Fine, I give up, Mrs. Author. You choose the names.”

Maybe his ego wasn’t as untouchable as I thought
.

“How about...” His expectant gaze made me feel foolishly pressured to come up with a stunning fairytale couple, but despite that it took me only a moment to blurt out the names which were more appropriate for the characters. “King Alexander and Princess Leila.”

“I didn’t say anything about her being a princess.” I sighed, rolling my eyes at him and he pretended like he didn’t like it one little bit. “It’s my story, sweet. Don’t mess with my copyright or you will deal with my team of lawyers. Trust me, they’re badass and you wouldn’t like to fight them.”

We both laughed. “Alright. Tell me about this King and the girl who is not a princess.”

“Well, as I was saying before I got interrupted. Kate—”

I cleared my throat as a warning that he used the wrong name and he shook his head at me before continuing. “Leila lived with her mother—” I parted my lips and he cut me off before I got a chance to say anything, “whose name will remain undisclosed for safety reasons.”

“Safety reasons?” I gave him a baffled look.

“Witness protection system. Long story, sweet.” He said in a content voice, probably feeling proud of himself for getting off the hook. “Anyway, since they had to give all of their money to the mean King Alexander, they had no food, so one day Leila’s mother asked her to go to the forest to get some wood for the fire and try to find something to eat. Both of them knew it was risky because it was forbidden to walk through the King’s forest, but Leila took the risk all the same.”

“You know, I wonder why the daughter always needs to be the one who gets into trouble in these stories. Can’t a mother take the risk for once and leave the daughter at home?” I said with a pinch of bitterness and Sebastian laughed.

“Angel, you’re way too serious about this.”

“No, but really when you think about it… What kind of a mother sends her daughter alone into a forest knowing she could be in great danger?”
Your mother!
The voice in my head screamed and I frowned, thinking that my mother would make a perfect fairytale villain.

Sebastian seemed to be a little caught up. “You didn’t give me a chance to explain. Leila’s mother would have loved to go instead of her daughter, but she was too weak to walk due to malnourishment.”

He looked at me expectantly and I chuckled. “It does make sense,” I said in a quiet voice and nodded. “I guess I can work with that. So, what happened when Leila went into the forest?”

“I thought you’d never ask. At first she was really afraid, but after a while when she realized she was completely alone, she relaxed and collected branches for the fire. But just when she was about to leave, she heard scary growling behind her. She turned around and her knees went weak when she saw—”

“The king!” I drew in a sharp breath, realizing I had actually said it aloud.

“No, not the king!” Sebastian chuckled and finally revealed the mystery figure in front of Leila. “It was a huge dog that seemed like he might attack her any second, and it scared her senseless. She tried to defend herself by swinging with a branch, but it didn’t really help her. While she was busy trying to get the dog to go away, somebody approached her from behind and lay a sword on her shoulder.”

“Who was it?” I asked curiously, still trying to connect to the story.

“Well, that’s exactly what she was wondering, and even though she was scared more than ever in her life, she turned around and saw one of the king’s knights staring at her with an evil grin as if he was about to cut her with that sword. Just like that she forgot all about the raging dog behind her and passed out.”

He took a short break to prolong the suspense and I stared at him in anticipation, thinking that so far, I really liked his story.

“What happened when she woke up?” I asked when I couldn’t handle the waiting anymore, proving that I was way more childish than him.

“She recognized the approaching sound of horses and when she regained consciousness, she looked up halfway and realized that the man who stared down at her from his horse was none other than the notorious King Alexander.”

“Was he beautiful?” I didn’t know why I asked that. I guess the fairytale girl inside me wanted all the juicy details.

Sebastian seemed to be amused by my question and I was surprised by his answer. “Actually, he was pretty much pissed off when his soldiers told him she attacked his dog while stealing in his forest. Leila was that intimidated by him that she didn’t even dare to look up at his beautiful face because she knew he had no mercy.”

“He kind of sounds like a jerk,” I said and Sebastian smirked at my remark.

“Oh, sweetness, this is only the beginning.” His voice turned mysterious.

“What did he do to her?” I asked with fright. Suddenly, I didn’t like where this story was going.

Sebastian looked away for a moment and then returned his gaze at me. “His knights started fighting about which one would kill her to show his allegiance to the king and at that moment she knew her destiny was sealed. Leila looked him right into the eyes and Alexander suddenly felt something he never felt before. He didn’t understand what it was but it left him unable to order his knights to hurt her,” he whispered, sinking deeper into his thoughts.

“He let her go, didn’t he?” I wondered.

“I’m afraid he didn’t,” Sebastian answered in a voice that sounded kind of sad. “The fact that she managed to get to him with his beauty and make him look weak in front of his men made him furious. In a fit of anger, he ordered one of his knights to cut off her beautiful, long hair and take her to the castle where she would be forced to work as a maid of the lowest rank.”

“That’s awful.” I exhaled in surprise. This is not how things in fairy tales usually went. This king sounded like a major villain rather than a hero. “Please, tell me she managed to escape.”

His lips curved into a light smile. “She tried to reason with him, but she was just a simple girl and he was the king.” Suddenly, his words rang with familiarity and I recognized the exact thought procedure this imaginary character was led by. “No matter how much she tried to convince him she had a sick mother at home and that she only wanted a few branches for the fire, she couldn’t get to Alexander. He called her a thief and signed for his men to go through with his orders. Before she managed to react she was tied up and he rode off. His men didn’t care about her pleas when they were cutting her hair and they even mocked her boyish look during the trip to the castle.”

“That’s it...I hate him! How could he do that to her?” I found myself upset with a person who didn’t even exist. Even though I was perfectly aware of that, I still couldn’t stop lashing out at him. “Who does he think he is? King or not, he has no right to treat her like that!”

Sebastian narrowed his eyes at me. “In his eyes she was a thief and that’s how he dealt with thieves. Most of the people around him were dishonest, so he had no reason to believe she was telling the truth.” He shrugged his shoulders and I realized I shouldn’t be surprised in the least that he would feel compassion for such a dark character.

“Well, I think he’s a pathetic excuse for a king. I hope he was ashamed of himself.” Even I was surprised by the harshness of my voice and Sebastian laughed at me.

“Maybe it’s enough storytelling for one evening, love. I don’t want you to kill me in my sleep. We’ll continue tomorrow.” His tender expression evoked me back into reality and just like that magically helped me to calm down.

“Absolutely not,” I whispered in a soft voice. “I want to know how the story ends. What did Alexander do once he had her in his palace?” I demanded, pleading with him to continue the story.

“He didn’t really do much.” He smirked. “For a first couple of days, she would enter his thoughts at times, but under the pressure of his obligations, the incident eventually slipped his mind.”

“It slipped his mind?” I asked in disbelief. “So he had absolutely no remorse?” I sighed, wondering if such character could ever redeem himself.

“He was the notorious and merciless king, remember? Dealing with traitors, cheats and thieves was his everyday routine. Besides, she was among the rare ones whose life had been spared. He thought he did her a huge favor,” Sebastian continued in a smooth voice.

“Of course he would think that.” I rolled my eyes and one glance into a baffled Sebastian made us both laugh. “It’s not funny. This guy is awful,” I urged him as well as myself to stop laughing. “What about Leila? Didn’t they ever meet? After all, they kind of lived in the same place,” I asked once we became somewhat serious.

“Leila spent her days working hard and worrying about her mother so much that she couldn’t even eat in the beginning. She was lucky enough to befriend the lady who was her superior and that lady promised to provide help for her sick mother in exchange for Leila’s promise to take care of herself.” Sebastian spoke in such great detail that I almost felt like I was right there reliving the whole thing with this poor female character. I admired his narration skills. “And she did everything she could to avoid another confrontation with Alexander,” he added after a short break of silence.

Something tore through my chest...For some reason, this story started sounding all too familiar.

“I hope that that lady managed to help her escape before she met Alexander bec—”

“No such luck, sweet,” he interrupted me and instantly gripped my attention. “One day, when she was scrubbing the hallway floors, the door in front of her suddenly swung open and the bucket of water and soap spilled all over the expensive shoes of a person who was on his way out. To her complete shock, that person was the man she feared the most—King Alexander.”

For a moment, I lost my breath because I could have truly put myself in that girl’s shoes.