21. Sebastian

Chapter 21

I sat on Mother's couch and watched Nic standing, so imperious and pompous behind the delicate chaise on the other side of the room—like he couldn't bear to be near me.

I could hardly bear to be near myself after everything I'd done and tried to do—after the way Mother looked at me now. Her disappointment weighed on me far heavier than any anger. At least her anger would have been short-lived.

Well, shorter. The woman had been known to bear a grudge for centuries.

She wrung her hands as she watched me now, a handkerchief clutched in them, her fingers white-knuckled as she clasped them. Her eyes were pink-rimmed, and it was all for fucking show. This was for Nic's benefit today, to ensure he didn't have me put to immediate death. Sometimes, being Mother's inexplicable favorite had benefits.

"Brother," Nic intoned, his gaze assessing Mother before landing heavily on me. "You have done me a great wrong."

With difficulty, I withheld my sigh. "I know."

I even managed to sound contrite rather than exasperated… But how many times did he want to retread this old ground? We could go over this ad-infinitum and ad-nauseum but each retelling wouldn't change the facts.

I'd tried to turn his true mate and that hadn't been my right.

"Sorry," I added belatedly. "I'm… I'm truly sorry, I mean, my king."

I bowed my head before glancing back up at him. The expression on his face suggested he didn't believe my apology…but he was prepared to accept it.

I was actually sorry, though. There were simply only so many times I could utter the phrase before it became meaningless and sounded disingenuous. I'd been sorry as soon as… Shit. As soon as Nic discovered us and stopped the turning.

I would have gone through with it, though. I would have completed the process and made Leia my sireling. Even now, the thought left me cold. Just the rift it would have created in our family… Hell, I would have deserved my final death.

Yet, I still couldn't bring myself to regret the one thing I was truly sorry for. How did that duality work? Why did I feel sorry yet not find it in myself to regret?

Perhaps I simply couldn't regret Leia.

"Brother," Nic said again, and it was like he'd been attempting to get my attention while I'd been lost in my thoughts. His tone verged on frustration, and his fingers curved over the back of the chaise, his knuckles white now.

"Yes?" Again, I managed to sound more meek than irritated.

Perhaps he'd just come to gloat again. After all, he'd done that several times since he'd enforced my stay with Mother on the grounds he could no longer trust me to roam freely in Baton Rouge or even live in my own home.

I was as much a prisoner here as I ever had been in Nic's cell, and in some ways the cell had been preferable. At least I'd known what my activities were limited to, and I hadn't needed to ask Mother's permission for everything like I was the newest of fledglings.

"I've decided what to do with you."

"Oh, good." I almost rubbed my hands together, and my tone conveyed a hefty dose of sarcasm.

"Sebastian." Mother warned me with one word—my name, which she had certainly overused recently—and I resisted rolling my eyes.

"Yes, Nic? What is my punishment?" I met my brother's gaze and he narrowed his eyes slightly, but I could only apologize to him so many times. "I'm ready to do my penance and repent."

Okay, so I shouldn't have added that last part, but drawing this out wasn't benefitting anyone.

"Hail Marys and Our Fathers won't cut it." Nic smiled at his joke, but I didn't bother.

"Then what will? What can I possibly do, Nic, that makes up for almost turning your true mate?" This time, I allowed my frustration to show.

He shook his head. "I don't know. Nothing. But Mother said I must keep you alive, and you're my brother, so here we are. All in a room."

"Yes, we are." I couldn't disagree with him. We were indeed all in a room.

But what did my brother intend to do about it?

I tried to keep my face neutral. Pleasant, even, but when I glanced at Mother, she held herself tense as she watched Nic.

"What have you decided?" She asked the question almost like she didn't want to know the answer.

"I'm sending Sebastian away." Nic's words fell into the sudden silence like small, sharp stones.

Each of them seemed to cut me. But I hadn't expected anything less or more or different. Of course he'd exile me. He'd told me as much when he visited me in the cell, and it would have been wrong of me to assume that the passage of time, that my help in his war against Francois would have changed his mind or softened his attitude.

"Away?" Mother spoke as if it was the last thing she'd expected, but she'd always been queen of the last-minute reprieve where I was concerned, never quite coming good on her threats or punishing me like she'd warned.

Nic wasn't like her, though. He was king, and kings needed to say what they meant and mean what they said.

"Yes, Mother," Nic confirmed. He watched me, his gaze not wavering. "Sebastian knows the terms of his continued position among the land of the living. He survives merely at my will, currently."

Mother paled. "But surely—" she began, but Nic shook his head, and her protest died before she could finish it. Possibly before she could even think of a good enough one. "So where are you sending him?" She sounded resigned now.

Exiled was better than dead.

Almost anything was better than a final death.

"Not far." Nic's amusement came with a hint of a fang, and a chill rushed through my blood.

"Oh." Mother glanced at me. "That's good, sweetheart, right? You won't be far."

I nodded but my movement was hesitant. "Mm." I was noncommittal because it sounded too good to be true. "How close is close?"

"We've been there together recently. A couple of times." He nodded, and his look of pleasure grew.

I wasn't going to like this. I didn't even need to question it. Whatever Nic had in mind was going to keep me busy because there was no way he'd keep me close if he thought I'd be at a loose end. After all, who knew what I might get up to then?

Although, it wasn't like I was still a danger to him or to Leia. They'd had a human marriage ceremony, and I'd done them both a damn favor—Nic had finally turned her, and they were both nauseatingly happy.

Not that I was bitter.

Suddenly, being sent somewhere else didn't sound quite so bad. I'd actually be glad of the space. I'd never quite redeemed myself for the incident I'd caused in Roanoke…and now I'd merely added Leia to my list of misdemeanors I needed to find forgiveness for.

I studied Nic, really trying to take him in. I'd wronged him, and yes, this part was demeaning… I was a centuries old vampire, for fuck's sake, being chastised and sanctioned like a fledgling, but I had actually brought it on myself. I'd probably been fucking building up to it for years.

And maybe I was benefitting from the fact I was the king's brother. Hell, there was no maybe to it at all. I was still alive because of who I was, who I knew, the fact the king's mother had turned me.

"I'm sorry, Nic," I murmured, and it was the most heartfelt I'd sounded for a while.

He nodded sharply. "What I'm going to ask you to do won't be easy, and it isn't to see you fail. It's because I have faith in you. You're my brother, a Dupont, I trust you."

I… hesitated. I'd been about to trot out some throwaway line about not failing him, but… he trusted me? And his gaze said he spoke the truth.

I lurched from the couch and took a knee in front of him, my movements suddenly clumsy. "I won't fail you, Nic."

He chuckled. "I know you won't."

"Where are you sending him?" Mother's question refocused my attention, and all the clues Nic had laid out suddenly made sense.

"I'm going to New Orleans," I said. It wasn't even a guess. It was knowledge, sure and steady, beating inside me like a second heartbeat.

Nic nodded. "I need a regent there, a representative with the Dupont name. Someone to command the respect of our royal family, and I still have rebuilding to do here. I can't divide my attention, and I can't be in two places."

"Plus it keeps me busy and it keeps me out of the way." But I wasn't bitter about it. Everything Nic had said made complete sense.

And I was lucky he still wanted me so close, still trusted me to act in the best interests of the family. He could have cast me out completely.

"Sit down, Seb. Let me tell you what I know about New Orleans."

I moved back onto the couch and Nic moved for the first time, walking around to take the seat next to me. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket like he'd prepared a list. I glanced at the bullet points and his neat handwriting. Yep… he'd prepared a damn list.

He indicated the top point. "Kyle is currently there, but mostly just keeping an eye on things. Nothing seems to be out of hand, things are just ticking over, but we need to establish out rule. The Neutral Zone will need a facelift—we can make it our new seat of power and erase Francois from the minds of the people all in one go if we get it right."

I nodded.

"Jason will be there sometimes, liaising with Conri's beta over the various agreements we're putting in place with the wolves."

I nodded again. Perhaps I should be making notes, too. "What's Kyle's remit?"

"Currently, he's mostly gathering information—people of interest, the current political climate, things like that."

"People of interest?" I couldn't imagine any of émile and Francois's people would be that interesting.

"I have him seeking out contracts, mostly—people who signed on with House of Ricard who might also be of use to use." He waved a hand. "You've probably noticed, we have a particular shortage of witches, and Francois killed the only one who'd been inclined to be friendly to our family for a while."

It was my turn to nod. "Got it, so I have two tasks?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Establish our rule and find a witch to act alongside our family?"

He chuckled. "That's about the size of it."

I tensed my jaw. I could do those things. Now that he'd given me my mission, I'd do anything I could to prove to him that I was worthy.