Chapter 37 : The Witch

Sebastian's POV I'd been young once, easy to trust, quick to love, earnest in all the ways children are that we lose as we age. How we dim when we learn the way the world is. I remember the day The Witch came to us. Sixteen years ago, we experienced a record heatwave in the Central Plains. I remember being happy it was hot because that meant Alex and I could play stickball in the courtyard with the servants. It also meant that Father was less likely to be out and about in the castle as he usually retreated to his summer cabin deep in the woods off of Castle Lykaia's hunting grounds. Likely entertaining another one of his whores. "Mother! Are you watching?" "Yes, love, I am." Mother rested her hands on my sister Sophie, still in the round of her belly, which had made Alex and I laugh. In those days, late in her term, the baby sat low upon her like a weight. Perhaps Sophie was being difficult, in a way, not that my mother ever begrudged having chil