Despite the guilt that so raged through Sebastian's system, despite the despondency, the shame, the hurt, despite it all, he found himself almost leaning into William's embrace. Those slender arms that so enveloped him somehow brought back that security when his world felt entirely bleak all over again. How reliving those memories managed to create such pain for the vampire, even he wasn't entirely sure. Sebastian hardly anticipated that softly spoken apology that so rang out in his ear, the man still lost within that haze of all the hurt his indiscretion had brought the man he had, at the time, loved more than any soul in the entirety of the world. What could he have done to have fixed this? What should he have done differently? And what did any of it mean for now? Now there was an eternity that stretched before them and though Sebastian wholly relished in the idea that William might remain at his side, and in some fashion too his for the rest of their infinitely long lives, he knew the improbability of such a notion. Not if he remained entirely unforgiven for his reprehensible actions with the lovely Georgiana nearly two hundred years past.

A delicate exhale so left the man's lips and yet, it only seemed to serve for William to pull him even tighter against the man's chest. It astounded him that William felt such regret for those final months of their lives. The silence that William had abandoned him to had been harrowing for the Englishman and yet, he knew he deserved every ounce of that solitude and isolation. God, he had tried everything to warm that veritable winter between them, to rekindle that relationship. His lips parted ever so quietly as William insisted that he hardly had done what was right or just either. "I just...I just wanted to be with you...it was the only way I knew how." His voice sounded pathetic, even to himself. Hell, his excuse sounded just as pitiful, as if that desire for William somehow made it right to bed his sister. How deplorable even modern society would have found it for one soul to bed siblings. Still - back then....he had thought things were different. He had thought it the only way and now, look where they had ended up.

Still, it was their talk of Dorian that brought Sebastian perhaps even more discomfort, discussing the Italian King with William somehow felt...wrong. His two greatest affections. The two individuals he wanted most and yet, fate was cruel enough to give him them both and then demand he simply choose between them. He abhorred it. For perhaps the first time since that promise to Dorian left his lips, Sebastian found that commitment...difficult. Still, Sebastian was happy with Dorian, of that he had no doubt. He was, perhaps, as happy as he was assured he would have been those years he'd spent at William's side if those social norms hadn't so squashed those budding feelings of adoration that had once afflicted them in silence. Those still glassy crystalline blue eyes finally turned back towards the man at his side, offering the Hunter the weakest of simpers as William so staunchly declared himself the defender of Sebastian's heart. He felt William step away from him, leaving nothing but that eternal coldness in his wake and slowly, Sebastian turned back towards his friend, watching in silence as the Duke so unceremoniously wiped the dears from his eyes. The vampire reached into his pocket, plucking out that same handkerchief he'd once given to another not terribly far from the same place they stood. His own initials were still delicately sewed into the corner with that royal blue thread and hesitantly, Sebastian held it out to his companion for the man's use.

The vampire's crystalline blue gaze dropped down towards their hands as William's fingertips so enveloped his own, the Duke clearly making an effort to move on beyond such lingering emotions that so threatened to tear them apart once again. His head bobbed ever so slightly in confirmation of just what he had offered his companion - a home. Still, that suggestion of rent or blood in exchange for such an offer cause his lips to purse ever so slightly, the vampire waving away such words. "No, it's fine....I'm....fine." He clarified after a moment, before falling back into silence. Sadness was not an emotion that usually crossed Sebastian's spectrum and yet, when it did, it so often stunned the vampire into a silence that was wholly uncharacteristic of him as his thoughts so lingered on those declarations of love that had spilled from both of their lips and what he had denied himself. That coldness of his undead flesh felt as if it was seeping into his veins and creeping ever so methodically towards his heart. Still, regardless of those dismal thoughts that so lingered within his mind, the vampire stepped from that alleyway only to lead his newfound companion back to the northern districts and his own manicured mansion. "I live here." He uttered softly as he paused on the sidewalk in front of his own home, his gaze momentarily shifted back towards William before he led his companion up the walkway and into the warmth of that brightly lit home.