The Night Watch | The Nocturnal Chronicles {Book One}

Chapter 31 - The Aftermath

"It is the calm after the storm. A time to renew and regret after the battle. We all wish things would have gone differently, but we do nothing to change."

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The Stars.
They sparkled in the sky above. Erudessa stared up at them as she sat alone on the hill in front of the cabin. The snow was cold and wet beneath her, but it was rare to see the stars during winter. Even with the beautiful stars above her, Erudessa's heart felt like a deflated balloon. Not even wishing on a shooting star could change that. She remembered it so clearly. The color draining from his face as the blood drained from his back. Her trousers were covered in his blood since she held him in her arms. His hand was warm against her cheek. Warm like it had always been. She missed it already.

After Edwin's eyes closed, Leno came running over. One of the soldiers had fetched him. Erudessa cried out as they took Edwin from her. She clung onto to him for dear life like it would save him. As the soldiers carried Edwin back to Leno's house, Leno told Erudessa he would do what he could to save him. She was too heartbroken to go with him. Fredric went though, claiming he had to. Whatever the reason was, Erudessa just hoped Edwin would make it. She needed him to make it. It was so stupid to think he would die this way, and because of her.

The only reason he got hurt was because he looked at her. In the small moment that he was distracted because he looked at her, Rowe was able to hurt him. It was hurt fault he was even in the battle. She was selfish and ignorant. She was unprepared. Now that she was, she would never get the chance. It was all her fault. Everything was her fault, it seemed. She just couldn't escape the bad things that always befell upon her, and now, her bad luck was affecting someone she cared deeply about. She was helpless to stop it. It was a burden to believe that everything bad was because of her.

She knew it would be a good idea to go inside, but how could she when she didn't know anything about Edwin? It was eating her alive. She needed to know if he was going to live or not. She would stay out for as long as she had to to find out. Cold winds blew all around her, but they were gentle. The stars sparkled and the constellations were clear above. She didn't know the names of any. Most had been lost from the Age of Old. So much had been lost to that time. There was so much they would never know about their ancestors.

As Erudessa stared at the stars, the snow of crunching snow drew her attention to the source. Someone was walking toward her. She internally screamed and groaned when she saw who it was. Rowe. Could she ever escape him? Well, when she killed him, she would escape him forever. At these physically. He would probably plague her dreams was a few months. Maybe his ghost would follow her around. These thing tended to happen to her.

He came up to her and she could see he was debating on whether or not to sit beside her. He chose not to, but crouched down at her feet. He smiled nervously. "Seems we meet again."

"I'm not going to escape meetings like these. Neither of us are. We have too much history. You've been near me my entire life. It would foolish to think a month could be enough time to draw us apart completely," Erudessa said, drawing her knees closer to her chest. She rested her chin on the back of her hands on top of her knees.

"Look, about Edwin," He sighed, taking a moment to compose himself. "I didn't mean to hurt him like I did. No one was supposed to die, especially not him. The battle of very heated though. I could tell Fredric was close to back off, but Edwin... he targeted me specifically. We fought the entire tome."

She narrowed her eyes. "What are you implying?"

"Well, unless you have a better option, I'd say he was intending to kill me or die trying," He shrugged, rubbing his hand together. They glistened with sweat despite the cold wind. He always got sweaty palms when he was nervous though.