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Siobhan’s favorite place is the bed she shares with Sebastian.
It doesn’t even need to be their bed—the dusty sofa in the Undercroft, her childhood bed he sneaks into when visiting Sloane Homestead, a rickety cot in a makeshift tent in the middle of nowhere—so long as they are lying side by side and wake up in each other’s arms, she is happy.
The first time is long before—or just as—their feelings for one another blossom, Siobhan falls asleep with her head on Sebastian’s shoulder and wakes up to his hand laced in hers. She barely catches the frightened expression on his face before he startles himself awake, blearily tugging her closer and then leaning away when he realizes he is no longer dreaming.
Later, when their love is burning red and unbreakable, it becomes impossible to spend a single night apart. Siobhan slips into his canopy bed with the silk sheets and silence-charmed curtains, or Sebastian finds his way to the Room of Requirement where instead of a proper mattress, it’s just a pile of ornate pillows and a thick duvet on the floor.
Slumber doesn’t come so easily when they are apart.
Years pass and after a long day tending to the garden and wrangling children, Siobhan crawls into the bed Sebastian built by hand, snuggling into his waiting embrace and smiling as he recounts his day between doting kisses across her temple.
She wakes up with the sun, blinking the sleep from her eyes as she turns to look at Sebastian, who has earned his right to a peaceful sleep, undisturbed from nightmares. The morning light shines across the linens, dust particles looking more like fairy dust above his head. She counts his freckles—coming up with a different number each time—and studies the little lines beside his eyes that crinkle when he laughs.
Their hands are laced—they always are—only parting as he yawns and stretches with his entire body before curling around her like a blanket, limbs tangled and face buried in her hair. Sebastian murmurs good morning, hands roaming like he’s the hot-blooded boy she fell in love with so long ago. Siobhan giggles as he squishes her with his affection, the two playfully arguing over who will get up first.
Most mornings, they both lose, only departing when the sound of toddler’s feet go running past the bedroom door, the Sallow brood calling for their parents to feed them breakfast. Of course, Sebastian still takes his time, holding Siobhan tight to his chest as he kisses her, grinning against her lips when she tells him she loves him.
There’s nowhere else she’d rather be.