The Night Watch | The Nocturnal Chronicles {Book One}

Chapter 14 - The Rendezvous

"We like to escape to a secret place, our secret rendezvous point. We gather with one another sometimes not even understanding how we ended up together."

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The Streets.
They were packed that afternoon. Erudessa wandered through them to clear her head. She felt awkward staying in the cottage with Grimm. There was something about being compared to Cornelia that made her skin crawl. First, Reyna had compared her to Cornelia saying she looked a lot like her, and then, Grimm tells her she has Cornelia's smile. It just felt wrong. She felt almost as if she were a replacement for Cornelia, and she almost felt used.

It could possibly just be her doubts bundling up into a ball of uncertainty. She had a dent in her armor. Rowe had worn it down with everything that he did the night before. She was still adjusting to reality that she had lost him completely, and there was no way to get him back. He was gone forever. There had been no way to stop it. She had given up that chance a long time ago. At least, it felt like a long time. It had only really been two weeks, maybe. It still hurt nonetheless. The first bump in their relationship.

Things only seemed to be getting worse. Before Erudessa left, Grimm informed her that he would have something big to tell her when she returned. She wasn't looking forward to that in the least. It had been months since she'd been allowed to just be alone with her thought for more than a few hours. She had been constantly going on assignments or mission, and she had been bothered by King Eben and Prince Adan more than normal in the past few weeks before King Eben's deaths. 

If Grimm was going to add something else she the load she was carry, she would probably toppled over. She just wanted a single week to relax. No missions, no royals, no Night Watch. Just her thoughts and possibly a cozy fire. She had worked too hard to not deserve at least a day to herself. But, this world was ever-changing, and she was always on the move. The only relief she would get was this lonely walk down a crowded street.

She walked a little faster, pulling her cloak closer around her. The autumn winds blew at her from in front of her. The trees were burning were color, and the sky was a pale blue. It was going to be winter in less than a month. She was ready for the earth to be reborn into something new. Mostly because she would be reborn, too. She would finally shed the life she once had.

As she reached the end of the street, the forest stretched out before her. She didn't know where to go. It was a lot like her life. She had to choose a path, but unlike the literal sense, she couldn't turn back.  If she went back to the cottage, she would have to face Grimm and whatever it was he had planned. But, if she went forward into the forest, she would have to continue to worry while she tried to enjoy her time alone. There really was no way to win.

She kept walking and heard a dog barking. It had been a long time since she had the sound of a dog bark. They weren't around in the city. Whenever she would go out across the kingdom for assignments she would find them everywhere in the towns and villages. She ran forward and found someone crouching down petting a small black dog with pointy ears. That person was Edwin.

"Edwin?" Erudessa said, making him look up at her. She crouched down beside him, and the dog jumped up and down in front of her. "Is this your dog?"

He smiled. "Yeah, her name is Nocte. I wanted to bring her along to remind me of my home. At least, that's what I told my parents. Really, I just hate being separated from her."

Erudessa scratched Nocte behind her right ear and she wagged her tail happily. "She's really cute."

"She likes you," He commented, gazing at Erudessa happily.