“Remarkable! Forty-seven...forty-eight...”
Sebastian’s gaze slid to his own arm. And his heart kicked so, so hard.
There was a sudden shout before Edmund yanked himself away from the sunlight, stumbling over his feet in his haste. His face was scrunched in pain, tears leaking from his eyes. He panted heavily, his blistering arm crossed over his chest.
Sebastian looked again into the beam shining on his own skin. Self-preservation told Sebastian to step back. To pretend to the others.
But his preoccupation held him enthralled. He monitored the progress of his arm, its appeal unwavering to him.
“What is this?” Jacob whispered.
All eyes turned to Sebastian, and he suddenly wished he’d listened to his gut. “I’m a year older,” he said. “I’ve been exposed longer.”
Jacob held up the pocket watch. “One minute, one...two...”
They all stared at his arm. The supple skin still intact. The healthy glow steady in its color. It did not smolder.
There was no damage whatsoever.
“Ten...eleven...twelve...” Jacob droned on in a low voice.
“What is this?” Edmund echoed. His voice wavered, and Sebastian didn’t know if pain or amazement trembled it.
He didn’t know how long they stood there, waiting and watching for the slightest indication that the sun did damage to his arm. “I thought you were full-born?” Jacob asked.
“I am.”
“I’ve never heard of a full-born who could withstand sunlight. There has to be a mistake.”
Sebastian wouldn’t accept that. Couldn’t. There were already enough rumors and speculation about him and his mother. Once word got out about this...
“My birth was witnessed and documented,” Sebastian said aloud, more of an affirmation for himself than the others. They were slowly distancing themselves from him now, whether they realized it or not. “I was born a vampire, just like all of you.”
“Not like us,” Edmund replied. “The sun would have destroyed your skin if you were anything like us.”
Sebastian pulled his arm from the sun’s beam. At least two minutes, maybe three had passed by now. His skin was as intact as it was before being introduced to the potentially lethal rays. Folding his hand into a fist took no effort at all. One by one, the fingers curled in, the skin stretching across his knuckles. The sun might as well have been water for all the damage it had done.
Was there something about himself he didn’t know? Did this have something to do with his father?
“You’re not like one of us,” Edmund sneered. A hard look filled his eyes. “How far back can you trace your bloodline...oh, beg pardon. You can’t.” He took a step forward, careful to avoid the sunlight. “So you’re not even just a bastard. You’re probably a half-breed in addition. What sorts of creature is your mother willing to fuck, Sebastian of Kent?”
Sebastian didn’t think. Unlike Edmund, he didn’t bother to avoid the sliver of light, instead launching himself at the dark-haired man. The other young men began to cheer them on as fists flew, intense blows landing on belly, back and jaw. Sebastian felt the crunch of Edmund’s ribs snap beneath a punch, while pain exploded in his groin from a well-placed kick.
As Sebastian grunted, then rolled, blocking a punch aimed for his ear, the last of Edmund’s words echoed over and over in his mind.
Who was he?
Chapter Eighteen
“Fuck!” Bast bolted upright, the flash of pain so bright, it flared behind his previously closed lids. By the time he’d figured out what happened—no, he wasn’t even certain of that—the pain had vanished. As quickly as it had risen.
A delicate hand rubbed a small circle on his lower back. “You okay?”
He turned to face Alice. His lover. His friend. Her voice was whiskey-rough from their slumber. Very sexy.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.” He leaned over and kissed a greeting on her lips.
“Is it the heat again? Do you need to feed?”
Always so quick to put him first, despite his insistence she couldn’t sustain him at the current pace. There was no way her mortal heart could tolerate the drain on its system. “No, not hungry.” He stretched his torso, pulling out the kinks. Elongating his spine. “For a second there, I’d felt like...shit. Shit.”