DEAREST

PART 1: FEAST OF WAR, Ch. 9

9

In the garden, the snow is soft under our shoes. In a few more hours, the snow will settle, and I regret this because it puts us at a disadvantage. It could be fatal if Luciana fights on a floor so white and slippery, but it's possible that the enemy wants it exactly that way.

I follow the energy; I feel it like cold in my veins. I have read that the perception of energy is clear and defined, and that it must be so in order to respond to a rapid sensory response in the Atavist person. But now, when I find myself in contact with the snow, I compare more with the cold of the snow than with anything else.

We try to move towards the forest, but Luciana extends an arm right in front of me to stop me from moving any more forward.

"I'll do it," she says.

"I must see who crossed the barrier."

"No." Her reply is blunt. "That's my job. Master, get back inside." Luciana makes a quick gesture with her head towards the house behind us. "You won't help in your condition."

Luciana turns around to face me. It's the first time I see her take an aggressive stance. Despite this, I can't tolerate it, and I approach her with contained anger. What she says is true. In my state, it will be difficult to be of any help, and I get upset because of my impotence, so I hold her wrist, squeezing her, and pinning her skin with my nails. She doesn't even wrinkle her nose.

"You'll come back alive," I warn her. "If you don't, I'll kill myself, and you'll stain all that honor you have even in death. I'll chase you for eternity."

If it wasn't my squeeze, it was my words, curiously. She stared at my face for a moment, stupefied.

"And you won't go like that," I continue. "You will dress appropriately and use the right weapons," I go on, as I walk away from her, stomping back into the villa.

From her place next to the door, the maid sees all this, and takes it as an order to prepare Luciana.