Chapter 10: A Way Out?

The fitful night's sleep that Shelby had made it easy for her to hear when Sebastian got up. However, she kept her eyes closed and pretended to be asleep until she heard him leave. Even after he had gone, she continued to lie in bed with her eyes closed, hoping that she would be able to get back to sleep. She didn't end up being lucky enough to fall asleep and got up after about a half hour. She put her nightgown back on since she wouldn't be able to get her normal clothes for the day on by herself.

The book she was reading still lay abandoned on the floor from the night before, so after getting up and finding it there, she set it on the bedside table before getting her nightgown put back on. Once dressed, Shelby put in the time to try and figure out where she had been the night before prior to Sebastian forcing her to stop reading and making her lose her page.

It took Shelby a few minutes of scanning the pages around where she had left off to find her place. Once she found the general area, it was made simple by knowing that the paragraph she left on was one that continued over more than one page and was rather long. Just as Shelby was marking her page, Lucinda entered the room.

He older woman met Shelby at the other side of the room and helped her get dressed. Before leaving, Lucinda informed Shelby that her breakfast would be brought in shortly. Shelby smiled and thanked Lucinda before she left the room.

As Lucinda had promised, Shelby's breakfast was brought in for her a few minutes after Lucinda had left. Like with the day before, Shelby ate while she read, and once she was finished, she left the room, taking only the book with her to the library to add another entry to her journal. She wrote about what Sebastian had done to her the night before.

She kept the diary entry brief, only writing about what she had to endure at Sebastian's hand. Once she was done with that, Shelby hid the papers again. She then took her book with her to sneak into the kitchen where she would hopefully find what she was looking for.

Shelby was careful not to be seen as she snuck around the kitchen. A couple people exited when she was near so she had to duck behind some curtains across the hall that covered a window. When they were gone, she carefully peeked out from behind it to make sure the coast was clear. Finding the hall once again deserted, she went into the kitchen. The room was empty and after only a couple minutes, Shelby was able to collect the apples she wanted and stash them in a bag she found there. Before leaving, she looked out the kitchen door to make sure no one was around, finding no one in sight, she snuck back out.

With the bag of apples in one hand and the book in the other, Shelby made her way out of the castle and down to the stables. There were more horses in the stables that day than there had been the last time she was there. However, Midnight was in the same place as she had been.

"Hey, Midnight Shadow, remember me?" Midnight gave a small whinny of response. "I know you like these," Shelby said, pulling one of the apples out of the bag. Midnight whinnied her approval and stomped her foot on the ground to show that she wanted the apple. Shelby stepped forward and let Midnight eat the apple from her hand. "You like that, huh?"

Midnight whinnied again and nudged her nose up against Shelby. Shelby set the bag of apples and the book she had brought with her down so she would be able to pet Midnight. After a minute, she looked around for a brush and found one on a nearby shelf.

That day, Shelby spent her morning with Midnight. She left only when she knew it was around lunch time and after she had hidden the remainder of the apples and her book away. When she returned from eating her lunch alone as she normally did, she got the apples and her book from their hiding spot. She feed the apples to Midnight and brushed her for a little while before sitting down to read until the light in the stables grew too dim to read by.

When returning to the castle as the light began to fade, Shelby brought the book to her room. From there, she took the chance of going to Daisy's tower to see if there was any chance of the rift opening for her. She knew there wouldn't be a whole lot of time for her to stay there as it was almost time for dinner, but a little time trying was better than none at all.

In the time Shelby had to test her theory about the rift opening again, she walked through where it had been to get it to open. When that did nothing, she stood stationary in its place to see if that would wield any different result. After finding nothing more, she returned to the main portion of the castle. Only a few minutes into that, a servant came and found her to lead her to dinner.

Shelby had only been sitting at the table for a few minutes when Sebastian entered the room and sat down at the opposite side of the table from Shelby. Their dinner was soon brought out to them. Unlike with the night before, they ate in complete silence rather than talking. Shelby avoided looking over to Sebastian in an effort to make sure they had no eye contact, and he made no effort to say anything to her.

Once they had finished eating, Shelby headed back to their room without saying anything to Sebastian. He didn't follow her so she was able to have the room to herself. While alone, Shelby continued to read and ended up finishing the book before Sebastian got back later that night.

Closing the book, Shelby made her way over to the door. She peeked out to find that the hall was empty. The only thing that really filled the halls was the flickering light from the candles and torches that lined the halls. It was an eerie feeling to be walking through the castle halls as late as night as she was. Everything was quiet. Even during the day when Shelby found the halls empty, she could usually hear someone taking care of something even if it was in the distance.

The only sound that filled the hallways then was the soft sound of Shelby's footsteps. She still hadn't come across anyone when she reached the grand doors of the library. The sound the wooden doors made as they squeaked open seemed ten times louder than it normally did during the day with the silence of night. As soon as she could fit in the opening, Shelby slipped into the room and let the door close behind her. When the door was closed, Shelby leaned her back against it and breathed a sigh of relief. It took a minute after that for Shelby to calm her breathing that she didn't realized had become uneven with the adrenaline that had filled her in sneaking around. With less care than before, she made her way up the moonlit stairs to the second level where she had been getting her books from.

Only a minute later, Shelby found a book that she thought seemed interesting enough. Quietly, she retraced her steps back to her room. The halls were just as quiet and abandoned as they had been on the trip there. Arriving back to the room, Shelby found that Sebastian had not yet returned.

While she entered the room, Shelby was already beginning to open the book in the process of going towards the table by the window where she would have light to begin to read by. However, the sound of the door opening stopped her in her tracks. "Shelby," Sebastian's voice was slow and smooth in a way that could only send shivers down her spine.

"What?" Shelby asked, turning to face Sebastian. She crossed her arms over her chest and held the book in her right had which was tucked under her left arm.

"Nothing really," he said as he began his slow approach towards her. "Just wondering what you've been up to."

"I just went to find another book to read from the library," Shelby replied, holding the book up to show him.

"Ahh," he spoke, continuing towards her.

"Please stay away," Shelby tried to keep her voice even. "Wasn't last night enough?" she asked, though she asked the question reluctantly, not truly wanting an answer she knew she'd dislike.

"Shelby, it's never enough." He gave her a cocky smile and continued to approach her in the same manner as he had been.

"Never enough is the title of a song in the future," Shelby said, trying to distract Sebastian.

"Oh, right," he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, right," Shelby replied. "The band's really popular. Or was, I don't know, they're on hiatus and one of the members left before they recorded that song."

"You don't have to make things up, Shelby. I know what you're trying to do."

"Really?" she asked, beginning to walk back towards the wall as he got within 5 feet of her.

"Yes. You think I'll buy into your lies."

"Actually, I was just hoping to distract you," Shelby answered, continuing to move backwards as Sebastian shuffled forward.

"Oh, right. Because lies will distract me."

"They're not lies, it's just stuff that hasn't happened yet. Like it won't be until 1776 until the country I'm from declares its independence from Britain."

"That all sounds ridiculous," Sebastian said, continuing towards Shelby.

"I'm pretty sure you'd say that about anything I tried to say. Things get so much more advanced than they are now by my time. You can talk to people halfway around the world in real time."

"What does that even mean?"

"You can have a conversation like the conversation we're having right now with someone in a different country or an entire ocean away."

"Sounds ridiculous," Sebastian said as Shelby's back hit the outside wall. An evil grin spread across Sebastian's features. He wasted no time reaching her and putting an arm on either side of the wall next to Shelby's shoulders.

"What do you want?" Shelby asked, trying not to let the fear she felt come through in her voice.

"You know what I want," Sebastian said. Shelby gulped; she didn't want to go through what she had the night before two nights in a row.

"Sebastian, please, don't." she begged.

Sebastian shook his head and took a half step forward to press his body against Shelby's. "You always seem to forget that I'm in change here and that I'm much stronger than you are." He raised a brow at her in a cocky manner. "Last night, you refused to listen to me," he began, shifting his weight so he had one of his legs pressed between hers.

"No," Shelby coughed out, feeling her heart catch in her throat as anxieties began to fill her whole being.

"Really?" he asked, bringing a hand towards her face to trace her jawline. If it weren't for Shelby's hatred for him because of his demeanor in that moment and the fact that they didn't get along in general, the gesture might have been seen as romantic; but it was all so Sebastian could continue to intimidate Shelby.

"Really," Shelby confirmed with a brief cough.

"Why, then, do you find a need to defy me?"

"It's hard—to answer—when I can't—really breathe," Shelby spoke as Sebastian had suddenly pressed himself more firmly against her.

Sebastian was suddenly made aware of exactly how he had pressed himself against Shelby and thus her to the wall. He kept his leg between hers so she wouldn't be able to move yet and moved his hand back beside her shoulder, but he didn't press their torsos to each other the way he had before.

Shelby took a deep breath in and was able to relax some since she was able to breathe better.

"So, if you seem to know that I can easily overpower you like I have now, why do you continue to defy me?" Sebastian asked. "Last night you refused to look at me when I was speaking to you."

"I was trying to read. I just wanted to finish the paragraph!" Shelby exclaimed. "I mean—" she cut herself off, remembering the position she was in. "I just wanted to get to the end of the paragraph," she finished, dropping her voice down to her normal and natural tone.

"Mm, hmm."

"Really, Sebastian, that's what it was," Shelby persisted, her voice remaining normal and even. "I really just wanted to finish the paragraph; you just wouldn't let me."

"So if I had let you finish the paragraph, you would have faced me?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I might have still not listened, but I wouldn't have been as annoyed with you as I was," Shelby's voice softened more. "If you'll just listen to me," she begged.

Sebastian paused in thought and the pressure he had on Shelby eased up.

"If you actually give me a chance to explain what's going on in a situation like that, I might be more willing to listen."

"Okay," Sebastian relented, stepping back from Shelby.

"Really?"

"Don't make me change my mind," he said, his icy tone suddenly returning.

Shelby nodded and sat down at the table to read. After a couple moments, Sebastian exited the room and was gone for the following hour and a half. By the time he returned, Lucinda had already been there to help Shelby change for the night. Even after she was in her nightgown, Shelby continued to read.

When Sebastian returned, Shelby continued reading as he got changed into his nightgown as well. He went to bed almost immediately without saying anything to Shelby. A couple minutes after Sebastian lay down, Shelby decided to go to bed as well.

XXX

Over the couple weeks following, Shelby fell into a normal rhythm with the way things worked in the castle. Even though she was the Queen, there was very little that she ever did to help the kingdom in any way. She spent most of her days either in the library, the garden, the stables, or Daisy's tower. There wasn't much variation between those four options for Shelby in her day to day life other than the addition of a bath on some days. Lucinda was able to arrange for them to happen as frequently as Shelby wanted as Sebastian had no argument against it.

Despite the agreement Shelby and Sebastian had come to, Sebastian would still force himself upon her every few nights as he felt the need to. That action only fanned the flames of Shelby's dislike and hatred for him.

The life Shelby began to live and had been forced into wasn't a very good one, but she grew used to it. She wished there was something more she could do when nothing panned out from the rift opening again, but she had no way to help herself. However, being powerless wasn't something Shelby was willing to accept, even if she grew accustomed to it.

A/N: Thanks to everyone for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'd love to know what you thought. For the times where Sebastian's voice becomes more soft, I imagine it as the voice his actor, Barrett Carnahan, used when he played the role of Link on Nick's The Thundermans.

Again, as I mentioned at the end of the last chapter, if anyone wants to see the diary entries that Shelby writes and would be interested in them, feel free to ask via review or send me a PM. That offer is still there because I've done ones for the times where time skips take place, and it helps me keep track of things as well.

And, even though the calendar we know today was technically not around yet in this time, for the sake of time keeping this story will pretend that it was in use.

Thanks for the reviews, favorites, follows, and for reading.

Reviews:

sweetsimplegirl: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and hope you enjoyed this one as well. So far, I'm working on the writing of chapter 20, so there's no need to worry about the story ending yet. And I have a sequel in mind for when I finish this. I'm really excited to share Sebastian getting more soft as well, he will begin to in the next few chapters. Thanks for reading and the continuous reviews. :)

princessblue135: Thanks for the review of the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed this update and hope you will enjoy the ones to come. Some of Sebastian's softening up will begin soon, so I hope you will enjoy getting to see that side of him as I have imagined him. Thanks for reading.