Master

Chapter 51

Wrote this chapter to I love you by RIOPY - it's added to the Master Spotify playlist!

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Lincoln's P.O.V

The muscles in my legs throb, burning with the effort it takes to keep moving forward.
Each step felt like a spear was being driven up my body from the soles of my feet.

Still, I press on, searching through the narrowed vision my drooping eyelids allowed.

I look for dark brown curls, hazel eyes, a wide smile, praying that I'd glimpse any part of him.

But despite all the life I sensed around me; all the chittering creatures and blinding light above, none of it belonged to my light, to my Kalem.

My face grows wet again, lined by the evidence of my shame.

I'd promised to keep him safe. I'd told him time and time again that we'd never part, that no other would ever hurt him, that we were forever...and I'd failed him.

I'd failed my love.

The tears fall faster as the weight of my failure floods me once again.

"Lincoln," 

My gaze lifts just enough to spot the two figures who step before me, blocking my path, not for the first time. 

"Lincoln," Wequie whispers again, his voice uncharacteristically fragile.

I couldn't deal with them right now. 
They'd tell me that I needed to come home, to strategize instead of searching desperately with no lead. But I couldn't stay still, behind the walls of the castle when there were still stones that hadn't been turned.  

I try to muster my energy so I could evade them again, but it's harder this time, my body barely managing another staggering step forward.

"I need to find him," I rasp, looking around the little spaces I could.

There was nothing familiar about the area, nothing that could hint to where we were, it'd been two nights since I saw a thing I recognised.

Two nights since I'd seen him...heard his voice, seen his smile, felt his love that was always so abundant that it felt like a living, breathing thing he kept safe just for me.

It'd been two nights since someone had taken him from me.

The rage that consumes me once more, lends me the strength to press forward, past Malcolm and Wequie to follow the scent of honey that had drawn me to this area in the first place.

I knew there was a slim chance that it was Kalem, or even a mark of his sweet scent, but if there was even a slight possibility, then I had to look.

I had to know, hope that maybe this would be it.

Maybe I'd finally find him and mend the tear in my soul his absence caused.

But when I stumble into the small opening of flowers and sunlight that spoke of all the things Kalem cherished, I don't spot him, or anything that pointed to him. 

He wasn't here.

My heart threatens to crumble under the weight of the disappointment that only grew crueller the longer I was without him. It made my mind reel with the knowledge that the longer I took to find him, the higher chance there'd be that the worst scenarios would become reality.

If Kalem was hurt...

Shoving my hand into my right pocket, I desperately thumb the bind of the small yellow notebook there.