Part 16 (2/2)

Sebastian was an herbalist, but he had a small vegetable garden, as well. We made salsa, tomato sauce, pickles, and anything else we could think of every fall.

”You can? How marvelous!” My mother was thrilled. I could understand her enthusiasm in a way. Canning was a dying art. It was becoming harder and harder for Sebastian and me to find our supplies at the grocery store.

When they set Tereza down on the floor, she stirred. Her foot twitched. I gripped my shovel. My father stumbled back, nearly tripping over a rusty washtub. ”Uh,” he said trying to gain his composure a little, ”we should get out of here before she wakes up.”

I had to agree with Dad, but, ”What are we going to tell Matyas? He's just going to let her out, and then she's really going to be p.i.s.sed with all of us.” I gave Sebastian a meaningful look as he came up the dusty staircase. After all, he'd kissed her only last night, and now he was helping toss her into a storm cellar.

Mom shone her light on Tereza's pale face. ”She looks like a child.”

”She was twenty-three when she died,” Sebastian said. Even though I couldn't see his face clearly in the dark, I could hear the pain in his voice. He gave a little sad laugh. ”In those days, she was considered an old maid.”

Sebastian lifted the storm door. He paused with it halfway open.

Maybe I'm insensitive, or perhaps I was still a little hurt about the whole kiss in the woods, so I said, ”Yet you let her get pregnant with your baby, and you never married her?” ”Garnet!” my mother hissed.

Sebastian let the door drop with a bang. ”We should find a crowbar or something to lock the door.”

”Are you really that cold, or are you just trying to put me off the scent?” I asked.

He grabbed the shovel from my hands, wrenching it from my grasp. ”This will work,” he snarled.

I gasped. I was surprised by his violence.

”Don't you treat my daughter like that, you bully,” my mom said.

Sebastian kneeled down. He jammed the wooden handle of the shovel through the latch on the cellar door. It wasn't a perfect fit, but he pulled at the door, and it only opened an inch or so.

I stared at him. My hands stung a bit from the force he had used to pull the shovel from me. I wiped them on my jeans.

When Sebastian stood up, Mom got in his face. ”Did you hear me? You owe Garnet an apology, young man.”

I smelled cinnamon toast and b.u.t.ter. ”Ma'am,” Sebastian said. ”You need to back off.”

”You need to answer her questions,” my dad said. He stepped in, even as my mother moved back a pace from Sebastian's fierce look. ”Are you even planning to marry our daughter? Or are you going to run out on her like you did the last one?”

Sebastian glared at me. His glamour smelled very alluring, like fresh bread on a lazy Sunday morning. Part of me was ready to just drop the whole thing and grab a midnight snack. But the magic couldn't quite overpower the way my heart pounded in my chest, waiting to see what Sebastian would do. Also, I was fairly awestruck at the way my parents rushed to my defense. I would have thought my mother would have admonished me about my manners a long time ago.

”Garnet and I need to discuss our wedding plans, sir, ” Sebastian said to my dad. ”There have been a number of complications.”

”Are you talking about the dress?” My mother asked, ”Because Garnet will wear her grandmother's.”

”Or is there something else?” Dad pressed.

Sebastian's lips were tight. I'm sure he was expecting me to blurt out the fact that I'd caught him and Tereza in the woods.

”Uh, Mom, Dad,” I said. ”Can you guys let us talk about this?” When my dad continued to stare up into Sebastian's hard face, I cleared my throat. ”Alone?”

My mom got the hint. ”Sure, honey. Come on, Glen.”

I could tell my dad didn't want to back down, but my mother had invoked the Christian name. In our family, you knew how deep in trouble you were by how much of your name got used. G.o.d help you if you got called by first, middle, and last.

Even so, my dad let me call the situation. ”Are you sure, Garnet?”

”Yeah, Dad, please. Sebastian and I need to work this out privately.”

”All right,” he agreed grudgingly. ”Come on, Estelle.”

My dad protectively glared at Sebastian the entire time he headed out the door, so much so he nearly tripped over one of the fallen rakes. My mother grabbed his elbow and then tucked her arm into his.

”Are you feeling sorry for Tereza now?” Sebastian asked as soon as my folks were out of earshot. ”When exactly did this compa.s.sion develop? I thought you figured her for a crazy Gypsy zombie.”

”Vampire,” I added. When Sebastian c.o.c.ked his head to the side curiously, I repeated the litany, ”Crazy zombie vampire. Oh, and witch.”

He chuckled a little at that, but the tension hadn't entirely broken.

”Look,” I said. ”I'm cold, and it stinks like a dead skunk in here. Can we go inside and talk in front of the fire? Besides, all that glamour you sprayed around made me hungry.”

”No,” he said. ”I'm not ready to go inside yet. We need to talk about Tereza. I need to explain.”

I glanced over at the cellar door. My eyes had adjusted somewhat, but I couldn't quite make out the details. For all I could tell, she might be peeping out at us right now. ”She might hear us,” I said.

”That would be fine with me. I never got a chance to explain myself to her, either.” I rubbed my hands against my arms, bringing down a shower of feathers from the slash in my coat. Now that the excitement had died down, I could feel the chill on my ears. I'd really rather be inside for this. ”So,” I said with a sigh. ”Why didn't you marry her?”

”I was selfish.”

That derailed me. I wasn't expecting that answer. ”What do you mean?”

”How does the saying go these days? I just wasn't that into her. Besides,” he said, and the hardness in his voice since I first brought this subject up shattered a little, ”I had other children before. None of them lived past infancy. I thought it was part of my curse.”

Poor Sebastian. I reached a hand out to comfort him, but he turned away before I could touch him. I wished more than ever that I could see his face. ”I'm sorry,” I said.

”I held off the marriage because I didn't want to be saddled with a woman I didn't really love for a child that wouldn't live.

Then she got sick. Out of a misplaced sense of duty, I had to act.”

”Wait, so you're saying that you turned Tereza when she was pregnant?”

”I didn't know what else to do, Garnet.” Sebastian said, with a glance over his shoulder. Turning away again, he added, ”I thought at least I could save her. In my mind, the baby was doomed from the start. But this way, her family wouldn 't have to mourn two deaths.”

”But . . .” My head was really spinning now. ”She did die.”

”Yes,” Sebastian said. ”And, the baby grew inside her. When he was born, I took Matyas back to his people. I-” I could hear the tears now. ”I wasn't able to take care of him. That whole experience-watching, waiting-it was horrible. It broke me.

And Matyas needed a wet nurse. He needed someone who could love him properly. The whole thing was such a disaster.”

”Oh, Sebastian,” I said, because I didn't know what else to say. I went over to him and grabbed him into a hug, even though his back was still to me. I could feel him go stiff and rigid at first. I squeezed tighter. Finally, he turned around and let me give him a real hug. ”I'm sorry,” I said. ”I had no idea.”

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