8 - Betrayal
"I don't think I was ready for it," Minerva said resolutely, watching Albus for his reaction, "Not to share my body with him, and especially not to share my secret with him. If I hadn't of, maybe none of what happened would have."
It took another day of lewd comments and subtle mentions of things being the key of an issue or unlocking meaning for Minerva to really become so hurt and worried that she wanted to ask Sebastian of his part in the rumours.
She sat on the bed up in their room, fingering the locket that hung at her neck. She had a terrible churning sick feeling in her stomach at what was happening, but she was too unsure to cry. If she asked him, what would he say? Would he tell her the truth? Would he lie? What if he hadn't said anything? What if he was so hurt that she had even suspected him that their relationship wouldn't recover? She was plagued by a thousand demons but she had no answers for her questions.
She thought about what Jeromie had said. "Just say something, Minny. It's bound to unlock a few barriers." She though about his choice of words, twisting the chain at her neck. unlock a few barriers. What had her aunt said to her, all those years ago? "Use it when you must, but only when you must, for be aware that it will have consequences." She remembered it as though it were yesterday, though she hadn't understood it then, and wasn't sure that she even did all these years after.
Consequences? She wondered questioningly. What kind of consequences? What would happen if she used the key to find out what Sebastian was feeling and thinking while he slept? What kind of consequences? She was sure she could handle them, whatever they were. Only when you must. Did this warrant as such a time? She didn't know, because she didn't know how dire the needs may be. Her aunt had never explained to her specifically what 'when you must' meant. She knew she wasn't to use it every time she suspected someone was lying to her, but she wasn't sure just how specific 'when you must' was supposed to mean. Only when you were in dire peril? Or whenever you felt like you were never going to be able to live your life if you didn't know the truth? The latter were her feelings at that moment. She looked down at the pendant where it hung between her breasts, and made a decision.
Sebastian snored lightly from beside her, his raspy breathing filling the room. Minerva's eyes were wide open. She sat up, twisting around to stare at him. He lay curled on his side with his back to her. She felt scared by what she was about to do, and scared that reading his heart would confirm her suspicions, but she had to know. She slid from the bed and walked lightly around to his side, kneeling on the floor beside him to watch his bare chest slowly rising and falling, his eyes moving slightly behind the closed lids as through he were dreaming. She reached up to push a hair out of his face, kissed him, her lips light as the landing of a butterfly, then stopped.
How would she even use the Key? Her aunt had never told her that either. Perhaps he aunt had hoped she would never need to use it. She pulled it out from beneath her nightgown and opened the locket. The key glinted at her, even in the darkness, as though it generated its own light. Well, she thought, it was the Key Of Hearts. Unhooking the chain from around her neck, she reached across and lay her hand on his chest, and touched the golden key to the spot above his heart.
The room lit up with a golden light, the light of understanding. Sebastian woke, eyes wide, and his gaze locked with Minerva's, an expression of surprise and shock across his face.
And Minerva saw. His thoughts, emotions and feelings poured across the link between them directly into her mind, images flashing before her eyes like secret code made clear.
Him taking her in his arms, enfolding her in his love. he loved her so much, he had never felt so wanted than the moment than she had had decided she wanted him. he wanted to marry this beautiful Scottish girl with the amazing powers he had never even thought possible. She was the most amazing person he had ever known. Watching her fall from the window, catching her in his arms. "kiss me"... driving all night with her curled at his back like a baby squirrel. watching her get to know his friends, laughing and joking with them. abandoning everything she had ever known for him. her immense wisdom about some things but intense naivety relating to others. the night they had made love. it had been like nothing he had ever known before, like nobody he had ever known before, she had got into his heart and his mind. it was the most private, fantastic thing he had ever felt before, nothing like the kind of experiences people told crude tales about in bars. her placing her precious key in his hand. an object of such power. her trust of him that made him feel as though his chest was going to burst with love for her. felt like a better person for knowing her and having her love. surely her love made him something he had never been before.
Sebastian's fingers closed around the chain hanging from her fist, and shocked her out of what she had been seeing. Tears streamed down her cheeks, tears of happiness at what she had seen, but they stopped abruptly at the look of pain etched across his face.
"Minny," he whispered, "You. you didn't trust me?"
The tears were drying in sticky rivers down her face, but she couldn't keep the relieved smile from her lips. "No, Sebastian, Seb it's okay." she sniffed. She had known him more completely in those moments than she had ever known him before. "I love you."
But her happiness turned to horror when a few moments later the light surrounding the key turned red, and the small object began to grow hot in her fingers. She wrenched it away from Sebastian and dropped it to the floor, the chain and locket clattering alongside it. But there was a small, key shaped burn on Sebastian's chest, and the key on the floor began to smoke, and so did the mark on his chest. His face went taut with pain, and he looked at Minerva with eyes that she would remember for the rest of her life: so full of hurt, bewilderment and betrayal. "Minny.why?" the word escaped his lips, but she never had the chance to tell him.
The mark on his chest turned black, and Sebastian died.
Minerva gasped and gagged, the pain in her own heart very much physical, a terrible burning fire of guilt, shattered dreams and grief. She shook him violently, as if expecting him to snap out of it and smile as though it was all a big joke, but he just lay there unblinking, all the expression gone from eyes that now looked like no more than cloudy glass marbles. Minerva screamed in despair, clawing at him in an attempt to bring him closer to her, to bring him back, to say she was sorry. To give her own heart to save his.
"You killed him, Minerva." Came a soft voice from the doorway. "Didn't you know you would?" Minerva looked up, tears obscuring her vision like heavy rain on a windscreen, but Minerva didn't need to be able to see properly to know who the very tall figure before her was. Jeromie.
He strode across the room and scooped the key and the locket from the floor, and she looked up at him in bewilderment as he fastened it around his neck with a satisfied smile. "Sebastian's heart was his weakest point, so prone is he to fall in love, to love so blindly and desperately that the whole world apart from his lover disappears. Of course it would be what the key took from him. He loved you, Minerva, and you killed him. Just like I knew you would."
And he turned on his heel and strode from the room.
"I don't think I was ready for it," Minerva said resolutely, watching Albus for his reaction, "Not to share my body with him, and especially not to share my secret with him. If I hadn't of, maybe none of what happened would have."
It took another day of lewd comments and subtle mentions of things being the key of an issue or unlocking meaning for Minerva to really become so hurt and worried that she wanted to ask Sebastian of his part in the rumours.
She sat on the bed up in their room, fingering the locket that hung at her neck. She had a terrible churning sick feeling in her stomach at what was happening, but she was too unsure to cry. If she asked him, what would he say? Would he tell her the truth? Would he lie? What if he hadn't said anything? What if he was so hurt that she had even suspected him that their relationship wouldn't recover? She was plagued by a thousand demons but she had no answers for her questions.
She thought about what Jeromie had said. "Just say something, Minny. It's bound to unlock a few barriers." She though about his choice of words, twisting the chain at her neck. unlock a few barriers. What had her aunt said to her, all those years ago? "Use it when you must, but only when you must, for be aware that it will have consequences." She remembered it as though it were yesterday, though she hadn't understood it then, and wasn't sure that she even did all these years after.
Consequences? She wondered questioningly. What kind of consequences? What would happen if she used the key to find out what Sebastian was feeling and thinking while he slept? What kind of consequences? She was sure she could handle them, whatever they were. Only when you must. Did this warrant as such a time? She didn't know, because she didn't know how dire the needs may be. Her aunt had never explained to her specifically what 'when you must' meant. She knew she wasn't to use it every time she suspected someone was lying to her, but she wasn't sure just how specific 'when you must' was supposed to mean. Only when you were in dire peril? Or whenever you felt like you were never going to be able to live your life if you didn't know the truth? The latter were her feelings at that moment. She looked down at the pendant where it hung between her breasts, and made a decision.
Sebastian snored lightly from beside her, his raspy breathing filling the room. Minerva's eyes were wide open. She sat up, twisting around to stare at him. He lay curled on his side with his back to her. She felt scared by what she was about to do, and scared that reading his heart would confirm her suspicions, but she had to know. She slid from the bed and walked lightly around to his side, kneeling on the floor beside him to watch his bare chest slowly rising and falling, his eyes moving slightly behind the closed lids as through he were dreaming. She reached up to push a hair out of his face, kissed him, her lips light as the landing of a butterfly, then stopped.
How would she even use the Key? Her aunt had never told her that either. Perhaps he aunt had hoped she would never need to use it. She pulled it out from beneath her nightgown and opened the locket. The key glinted at her, even in the darkness, as though it generated its own light. Well, she thought, it was the Key Of Hearts. Unhooking the chain from around her neck, she reached across and lay her hand on his chest, and touched the golden key to the spot above his heart.
The room lit up with a golden light, the light of understanding. Sebastian woke, eyes wide, and his gaze locked with Minerva's, an expression of surprise and shock across his face.
And Minerva saw. His thoughts, emotions and feelings poured across the link between them directly into her mind, images flashing before her eyes like secret code made clear.
Him taking her in his arms, enfolding her in his love. he loved her so much, he had never felt so wanted than the moment than she had had decided she wanted him. he wanted to marry this beautiful Scottish girl with the amazing powers he had never even thought possible. She was the most amazing person he had ever known. Watching her fall from the window, catching her in his arms. "kiss me"... driving all night with her curled at his back like a baby squirrel. watching her get to know his friends, laughing and joking with them. abandoning everything she had ever known for him. her immense wisdom about some things but intense naivety relating to others. the night they had made love. it had been like nothing he had ever known before, like nobody he had ever known before, she had got into his heart and his mind. it was the most private, fantastic thing he had ever felt before, nothing like the kind of experiences people told crude tales about in bars. her placing her precious key in his hand. an object of such power. her trust of him that made him feel as though his chest was going to burst with love for her. felt like a better person for knowing her and having her love. surely her love made him something he had never been before.
Sebastian's fingers closed around the chain hanging from her fist, and shocked her out of what she had been seeing. Tears streamed down her cheeks, tears of happiness at what she had seen, but they stopped abruptly at the look of pain etched across his face.
"Minny," he whispered, "You. you didn't trust me?"
The tears were drying in sticky rivers down her face, but she couldn't keep the relieved smile from her lips. "No, Sebastian, Seb it's okay." she sniffed. She had known him more completely in those moments than she had ever known him before. "I love you."
But her happiness turned to horror when a few moments later the light surrounding the key turned red, and the small object began to grow hot in her fingers. She wrenched it away from Sebastian and dropped it to the floor, the chain and locket clattering alongside it. But there was a small, key shaped burn on Sebastian's chest, and the key on the floor began to smoke, and so did the mark on his chest. His face went taut with pain, and he looked at Minerva with eyes that she would remember for the rest of her life: so full of hurt, bewilderment and betrayal. "Minny.why?" the word escaped his lips, but she never had the chance to tell him.
The mark on his chest turned black, and Sebastian died.
Minerva gasped and gagged, the pain in her own heart very much physical, a terrible burning fire of guilt, shattered dreams and grief. She shook him violently, as if expecting him to snap out of it and smile as though it was all a big joke, but he just lay there unblinking, all the expression gone from eyes that now looked like no more than cloudy glass marbles. Minerva screamed in despair, clawing at him in an attempt to bring him closer to her, to bring him back, to say she was sorry. To give her own heart to save his.
"You killed him, Minerva." Came a soft voice from the doorway. "Didn't you know you would?" Minerva looked up, tears obscuring her vision like heavy rain on a windscreen, but Minerva didn't need to be able to see properly to know who the very tall figure before her was. Jeromie.
He strode across the room and scooped the key and the locket from the floor, and she looked up at him in bewilderment as he fastened it around his neck with a satisfied smile. "Sebastian's heart was his weakest point, so prone is he to fall in love, to love so blindly and desperately that the whole world apart from his lover disappears. Of course it would be what the key took from him. He loved you, Minerva, and you killed him. Just like I knew you would."
And he turned on his heel and strode from the room.