Lucia's Reign

Chapter 2

~Mahdi~

Sera looked so much older then she really was sitting behind her mother's desk. Sera had a fistful of the burnt jacket in her hand. She was right the only person capable of making someone do that to themselves was Lucia. And after five years she was finally coming after Sera, and after the throne.

"What course of action will we be taking, Your Highness?" one of Sera's advisors asked.

"I don't know yet. We have no idea where Lucia is hiding. Which means we can't strike against her yet. We need to find her first. Desiderio I want you and some of your men to search Miromaran waters," Sera said. Des nodded.

Yazeed wam forward. "I'll have Matalian guards search Matalian waters for her too just incase she took advantage," he said.

"Thank you."

"What do we do incase we do find Lucia?" Des asked.

"Capture her, and bring her back here. If she's dead, bring her back, she could be playing us. Use iron so she can't use her magic." Des nodded, and so did Yazeed. "You're all dismissed."

Everyone began to swim out of the room except for, Des, Yaz, and me. Sera slumped back in her chair, and covered her hands with her face.

"Are you sure this is Lucia?" Des asked.

"I'm positive. Look for yourself," Sera said. She tossed the jacket through the water, and at her brother.

Des messes with it until he found what he was looking for. "An L. Sera this could be anyone."

"I know it's Lucia. It's embroidered in gold. It's also the same L that was embroidered on the scarf Mahdi had five years ago."

The scarf. I had been with Lucia the night before Sera's dokamí. The scarf that Lucia gave me had a golden L embroidered on it. "Let me see it," I say reaching out for the jacket.

I look at the jacket, and sure enough there is a tiny gold embroidered L. If this is her way of getting to Sera, it was working. I handed the jacket to Yazeed for him to see.

"Sera. You do know that if Lucia is here, she is going to be hiding in a spell. She can't risk being seen by anyone," Des said.

"I know. But she can't hide behind it forever. Locking down Curlea won't do any good. She'll be long gone by now. But I know her. She's going to start low, and make her way up. Double the guards in the poorer part of Curlea, put them on tighter shifts. Then add a few more guards to the rounds in the next level up. We can't risk having anyone else hurt like that. Anything suspicious, report it. Mahdi, do the same for Matali. We can't afford any one else's lives. We've already lost too much," Sera said.

I nod. "I'll go back to Matali to make sure everything is okay," I say.

"Okay. Go ahead and go with Yazeed. Don't pressure Neela I'm going if she doesn't want to."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Sera gives a small smile. "I'll go get everything ready to go," Yazeed said, and he left, with Des following him.

I swam to the other side of Sera's desk, and bent down to her level. I placed both of my hands on her shoulders, and looked into her eyes.

"Sera, look at me," I whisper.

She looks into my eyes, and I could tell she was about ready to cry. "Oh Mahdi. Why does this always happen? We get something nice, and then it gets ruined," Sera said.

"Hey. It'll be okay. Nothing can break us. Not Orfeo, not Abbadon, and definitely not Lucia Volnero. I'll be gone for a few days. I'm going back to Matali to check on everything. You just worry about Miromara. It needs you." I hear her let out the tiniest of whimpers. "Come here."

I pull her close to my chest. I rest my head on hers. She begins to calm down a little. She pulls back, and I look into her eyes. I rub her hair which now lays about halfway down her arms now.

"Better?" I ask her. She nods. I lean in and kiss her on the lips. It lasts only a few seconds before I know I have to go. I pull back, and we touch foreheads. Then the door opens.

"What is going on?" Neela practically shouts.

Sera pulls away and looks at Neela. "Lucia attacked this morning. We just adjourned the meeting," Sera said.

"And I wasn't asked because?"

"Because I was going to tell you later. Plus all we discussed was who did it, and what we're going to do about it."

"Oh. That still doesn't explain why Yazeed burst into my room telling me that we're leaving."

"I told him not to."

"No. You told me no to. You never said anything about Yazeed," I say.

"Same thing. Neela you don't have to go back if you don't want to."

"What exactly is going on with leaving?" Neela asked.

"I'm going back to Matali for a few days. We need to make sure nothing happened in Matali while the wedding was happening. If you want to stay here with Sera you can. She'd probably prefer you here anyway," I say to Neela.

"You would be right," Sera said from behind.

"That's what I was going to chose anyway," Neela said swimming over to stand by Sera.

I smile. "Take care of each other. I'll be back soon," I say. "I love you Sera."

"I love you too," she says.

We lean in and kiss. I pull apart, and swim out of the room. It was the hardest choice I had to make. I knew Sera didn't want me to leave, but she knew that I had to. We haven't been married a full day, and I was already leaving. Disaster had struck, and we each had a throne to protect from the one person who knew how to take them. Lucia.