Page 107 of Scourged
“You’re distracted, Seb.” Matheo slung his bow over his back as he strode for the tree. He ripped the arrows from the soft wood before facing Sebastian with an expectant grin.
Sometimes, Sebastian really couldn’t stand having his actual blood brother bound to be his brother-in-arms for life.
“There are a lot of distractions right now.” Sebastian ignored Matheo’s raised brow and notched a new arrow. “Things are very … distracting.” He gritted his teeth. His arms burned as hedrew back the string, an exhale whistling between his teeth as he released the arrow.
It missed the tree entirely, soaring past the wide oak and disappearing into the brush.
Sebastian groaned. “Fuck.”
“I’ve neverseen you this bad, brother.” Matheo clasped a hand on his shoulder. “And what distractions? The pirates are gone, theallumeseems to be fixed, and most importantly, Mariah is back.Things should be easier for you now, not harder.”
Matheo was right, in a way. The issues that had plagued them just a few weeks ago were gone.
But that didn’t mean Sebastian no longer had anything to worry about.
Sebastian also wasn’t in the mood to discuss any of it with his brother.
“Just take your shot so I can go find my arrow.”
It was a game they’d played since they were boys, running wild around their parents’ manor house in Sacale. They each had a single arrow, and whoever shot poorly enough to lose their arrow first had to do the other’s laundry for a week.
It was how they’d each become so skilled with a bow. It didn’t take long for most matches to end in stalemates, their games called off only when their mother summoned them for dinner.
The game was much the same now, except it was their duties summoning them away instead of their kindhearted mother.
“Ifyou can find your arrow.” Matheo smirked as he notched his bow. “My laundry desperately needs attention. It’s getting warmer out, and my socks are getting particularly ripe.” His bow snapped, and the arrow, again, struck the center of the target.
Sebastian groaned. “You’re disgusting.”
“I learned from the best.” Matheo propped his bow against his hip. Sebastian set his own weapon down, unhooking his leather bracers.
He had to find that fucking arrow.
“I’ll make you a deal.”
Sebastian glanced up at Matheo. “A deal?”
“Yeah,” his brother said. “I’ll let you off the hook from laundry duty … if you tell me what’sreallygoing on. Particularly with a certain blonde-haired lady.”
Sebastian stilled. He’d ventured into the city with Ciana yesterday, joining her for that beer he’d promised her. But was that really the reason he was so distracted?
“There’s nothing going on,” he answered gruffly, dropping a bracer on the ground. “She’s just a friend and wanted to grab a beer. That’s all.”
“Right.” Matheo drew out the word, mischief twinkling in his hazel eyes. “That’s why you’re blushing. Because you got beer with yourfriend.”
“I am notblushing, you asshole.” The heat burning down his neck called him on his lies.
Matheo’s grin widened.
Sebastian sighed, slumping against a nearby tree. “Alright. Fine. Whatever. It was nice to get out of the palace for a bit and do somethingotherthan be an Armature.” He slipped off his other bracer, and it landed on the grass next to the first with a dull thud. “She makes me feel … I don’t know, normal. Like I don’t have to be perfect all the time and can just beme.”
His brother made a low noise before turning and striding to their target tree. He pulled his arrow free, tossing it between his hands as he walked back.
“You don’t, you know.” Matheo leaned against the tree beside Sebastian. “Have to be perfect, I mean. No one expects that—you should know that by now.”
“Iexpect it of me,” Sebastian murmured. He glanced up as the wind brushed through the trees, rustling the branches overhead.
That strive to be perfect … It had always been his struggle. It came so naturally to him as a boy and as a young man, especially when all he had to do was follow orders and obey.