Page 50 of Born Chaos
“Everything okay?”
I startle. Roman just walked out of the room, I didn’t expect him to vampire wink back into the space. I put my hands down, steadying myself in the chair. “Yeah. Shit, you startled me. You’re pretty damn quiet, even for a vampire.”
He walks back into the chapel wearing a black pair of sweatpants and a heather gray t-shirt. I think it may be the first non-black thing I’ve ever seen him wear.
“Okay, it’s really bizarre to see you dressed down,” I say, unable to contain the chuckle that slips from my lips. “I mean, you’re always so… lord of the underworld.”
“Does that make you Persephone?” he says, and I’m quite proud that I’m able to pull a smile from him.
“Ha!” I call out loudly. “Trust me, I’m no goddess of spring.”
Roman takes a seat at one of the desks. He laces his fingers behind his head and leans back. He seems so… casual. Relaxed. It’s disorienting.
“No, I guess not,” he says, his eyes lingering. And I’m not sure what the hell that means.
But I can’t do more heaviness right now. “I found an apartment,” I say, moving on. “It won’t be ready for another two weeks, though. Think you can stand to put up with me for that much longer? I can always go stay with Elena if you’d prefer.”
“You’re safer here,” Roman says smoothly. “Sebastian’s still being a controlling overlord.”
“Oh no,” I say, even as everything in me sinks with dread.
Roman nods. “He interrogated Mason today. Cornered him at the office. Seemed convinced you might have reached out to him. Took four vampires in the office to kick Sebastian out.”
A curse slips from my lips, and my face turns back up to the ceiling. “I’m never going to be able to work at that hospital again, am I?”
“I don’t think so,” Roman says, and I can tell he doesn’t want to have to admit this. “Juliet, if he keeps escalating like this… if he keeps causing this kind of trouble, I can’t let him stay. We wouldn’t tolerate it from anyone else in the city.”
“What do you mean?” I ask as ice fills my veins.
Roman holds my eyes for a long moment, and I see the plans being formed behind his eyes. “I mean if he doesn’t cool off, I’m going to suggest to the rest of the council that we banish Sebastian from Chicago.”
Banish. It’s such an archaic term. “And what makes you think he’ll respect that?” I ask, because I cannot see him simply accepting it and walking away when everything he’s worked for is here.
“We’ll enlist the gifted for help if needed,” Roman says. The chapel feels darker, colder. The heaviness in the air is nearly suffocating. “And if that doesn’t work…”
“If that doesn’t work?” I repeat, not knowing how I’m going to react to whatever he says next.
“We do whatever we have to do to keep the city safe,” Roman says darkly. “If Sebastian is a threat, I will treat him like any other threat.”
I once watched Roman bite a man’s throat out. And then he pulled the man apart, limb from limb. This man had done horrible things to some women in the city. He’d refused to be tattooed. He was looking to set up a blood trade here.
Roman killed him without hesitation.
I swallow once and look away from him.
I’m angry with Sebastian for what he’s done. So damn angry. But the thought of him being kicked out of the city, of forcing him to give up his hospital and everything he’s worked for… It makes my palms cold. I know he’s being insane right now. I know he’s a legitimate danger right now. Sebastian is capable, strong, powerful.
He’s gone after people I care about.
He’s destroyed property.
He’s stepped over boundary after boundary.
But I don’t want to see him dead.
“I have to talk to him,” I say, my throat tight. “Somehow, I will talk him down. Make him see reason.”
“Juliet, he lost his reason overyou,” Roman says as he crosses his arms over his chest. “I think you’re the very last person who is going to be able to talk him off the ledge right now. With everything he’s done recently, I think we have to consider he’s capable of taking his obsession even further.”