17: In your dreams

"... and Liam is extremely important to our cause."
Out of the entire half an hour of rambling, this was the only and luckily, the last thing I caught as the sound of Sebastian's shoes clicking against the floor made its way to my ears.
"Phoenix? It's time for your next lesson." He yelled. He then froze at the doorway, gazing at Aaliyah and Felicity. Immediately his face fell into a scowl, preventing me from even attempting to question Liam's involvement in Team Lupus, as he began stomping onto the terrace. He gripped me by the arm and practically dragged me away from the two. If this was not the height of suspicious behaviour, I had no clue what was.
Eventually, Sebastian's grip on me became unbearably tight and I removed my hand from his grasp.
"Sebastian!" It came out louder and more aggressively than I would have liked, and Sebastian turned towards me, startled himself.
"What?" He asked.
"What? Are you seriously 'Whatting' me?"
Sebastian looked taken aback and then began folding his arms as he began speaking to me. "Excuse me? I don't think I appreciate your attitude."
"And I don't appreciate yours. What was that all about, Sebastian? You pulled me away from my friends without-"
"Friends? *FRIENDS*?"
It seemed I had forgotten all about Sebastian's ability to be frightening, and he was doing a good job of reminding me with his pulsing red eyes and his growing fury stretching across every single facial feature of his.
"I'm sorry, but did I say you could have friends? It started with Liam, and now the other nobles. I should have known you'd fall for the trap that is 'Team Lupus'."
My eyes widened and I was about to say something when he cut me off.
"You are not to get involved with their antics, am I clear? Team Lupus has nothing to do with you, and nothing to do with our plan."
"But Sebastian, they are fighting for a good cause!"
"No-" He then took my hand in his and gripped it tightly as he stared me in the eye, "They are a bunch of nobles who are fighting Liam's cause. And what, pray do tell, is Liam's cause? The crown that should be on your head."
But I was tired of hearing the same old story from Sebastian, and quite frankly, I'd become tired of hearing people tell me what to do and what I was. Yes, Sebastian had helped me a lot, but still, that did not give him the right to tell me who my friends should and should not be. And so, I began to yell... really loudly, louder than I'd ever yelled at anyone else.
"Sebastian, I am going to be friends with whoever I want to, and you can't stop me!"
Sebastian was now almost at a loss for words. Almost.
"Are you talking back to me? You, Phoenix Ackerman, most hated person in this entire palace?"
"Not everyone hates me, but you did a good job of making it seem that way, why?"
He turned away from me and began walking away, furious and clearly unwilling to answer me. But I was not giving up without a fight. After all, that's what Sebastian wanted from me.
"Hey! You didn't answer me! Why do you keep convincing me that everyone hates me! Felicity doesn't, Aaliyah doesn't and you and I both know Liam doesn't either, otherwise he would never have stood up for me-"
"And that's the problem. Liam. That boy is a ticking time bomb, waiting to drag everyone with him. He's dangerous, and so are they."
"Why, Sebastian, talk to me. It's no good keeping secrets between the two of us, especially since you are the only person I can trust right now." My last words seemed to get to him, and he turned around, slowly before uttering out a long, signature sigh.
"Not here, let's go someplace... private." He said, now looking around.
I nodded reluctantly and he took my hand, leading me to his favourite spot, the balcony overlooking the back of the outside section of the yard. We stood there in silence for a while, before he began with another sigh, and then he began to speak.
"... There was an incident with Liam a few centuries ago. A girl, her name was Lila Farington-"
"You don't mean-"
Sebastian nodded, and I gaped at him. The Farington family used to be one of the strongest werewolf families, before they were wiped out by an ancient noble vampire clan. Back then, the two families were rumoured to have had a heated, hateful relationship, but it seemed there was more to it. Finally, I began to see why Liam's mother was so hard on him, and why he needed to earn the crown. It would, in a way, make up for his ruined reputation, no doubt caused by his relationship with a werewolf.
"That's why 'Team Werewolf' is nothing but a bunch of stupid, idiotic, manipulative morons who have this idea that one day, through Liam, there will be peace and unity. But it is clear that even they have given up hope in him and that they are shifting it to you, a symbol."
And finally, I was beginning to see it all. I wasn't hated by 'Team Werewolf' because I was useful, and I wasn't hated by Liam because once upon a time he loved someone like me... well, half like me.
"So, Phoenix, when I say you can't have friends, it's not because I'm trying to control you, or because I want to make you miserable, it's because the people who don’t hate you want to use you..."
"But, what about Liam?"
Sebastian chuckled, "That young man is one big ball of confusion. You need to stay away from him because you can't afford to get involved with someone who does not know whether his allegiance lies with his family or with his heart. Indecisiveness is the ultimate killer in this game we are playing and for Liam, it cost him someone he once loved, something he can never change and never take back. Do you understand now, Phoenix?"
I nodded and sighed, "Yes, I understand. Thank you, Sebastian, and sorry for..."
"Stop apologising when you actually do the right thing. Speaking up for yourself is an admirable quality and, although I was quite angered by your outburst, it also made me very... proud. In fact, you are beginning to surprise me more and more. Perhaps I won't need to work so hard anymore."
And for once I saw an actual, genuine smile appear on Sebastian's face. It was something so beautiful and so... glorious that I had to blink a few times to make sure I was not just seeing things.
"What?" Sebastian asked, "Is there something in your eye? Let me see."
He then gently placed his hand under my chin and lifted my head up, staring me straight in the eye. Sebastian was even more handsome up close, and I found my heart thudding erratically in my chest and I prayed to the Moon Goddess that he wouldn't see the blush creeping so obviously on my face. He was so close I could just-
"Kiss me?" He said raising an eyebrow.
My eyes widened as I realised that I had been thinking out loud, quite literally.
"N-no... I um..."
Sebastian smiled again and then winked before saying, "In your dreams Phoenix, in your dreams."
Slowly he began walking away, still with that cocky look on his face. I on the other hand was getting ready to launch myself off of the balcony and plummet to my death. Liam, Demetri, Xavier, and now Sebastian. All four men had found a way to mess me up, and albeit small ways, they were large enough to have me on the brink of insanity.

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