To Love, Once Again

Chapter 58

Crick-Crack.

The bones in Lucien's thick, corded neck pop as he twists, rolling his shoulders back after creating as much distance from Sera's hiding spot; at the same time not too far that the assassins find it suspicious.

It was time.

Lucien takes the lid off of one of the wooden wine barrels he'd passed along the way, no longer bothering to hide his presence. The lid would suffice as his shield. His footsteps, strong and sure, echo out in the alleyway as he walks.

The dagger twirling in his palm was the only indication of his eagerness to get back to Sera. He wanted to end this quick. Clean.

There's a slight limp in his walk as blood trails down the back of one calf.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

The hilt of his dagger hits the thick wooden oak, creates a noise that echoes and reverberates off the brick walls. Like the tolling of a church bell, it felt heavy, final.

Death was coming. Only time would tell for whom.

As if they'd been summoned by the sound, black shadows appear out of the night mists.

Soon, they would descend upon him; like a swarm of locusts ready to devour their prey.

One dagger hilt in his hand, the other holding a thick wood barrel lid, Lucien crouches, ready for them.

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The slight sound of breath, shuddering in and out. Her own pulse, whooshing in her ears.

It was the only thing she could hear. Everything else was silent around Sera.

Sera waited obediently, too scared to move though the hay scratched at her. Her heart was torn. She didn't want to stay here hiding in the dark. She wanted to go help Lucien.

But he'd told her to stay put. The logical part of her mind was telling her that doing otherwise would cause more harm than good. Didn't they say that when you get lost it was better for you to stay put? Either way, her mind would tell her, Sera should know who she was. She was no warrior. What was she going to do once she found Lucien in the midst of a fight. Throw rocks at the attackers?

'But!' Her heart would scream in response. 'Lucien was powerful, but no man was an immortal!' She would know. The area around her home was supposed to be safe, yet she had died once. Watching the truck come at you while the world slows down.. She'd experienced firsthand what it felt like to have death come at you while you were unable to respond.

...her heart kept screaming at her to go after Lucien, get out of there, go look for some knights or something. There must be some sort of order to keep the peace here, something like the police??

Wasn't there anything, anything at all she could do to help Lucien???

Her heart and mind kept up the battle against each other. The hands at her sides formed tight fist, the hilt of the sword in one hand sticky with the dried blood that covered it.

Tap.

What was that?

Tap.

Faintly, there was the sound of someone's presence nearby.

She bites her lips.

Who was it!?

Sera huddles in the hay, willing herself not to move, to even breathe.