To Love, Once Again

Chapter 61

Cold droplets trail their way down her skin, off her light brown eyelashes made black by the moisture gathered there. Sera still shivered in her sleep, curling deeper into the hay as the curious old mule whickers and nibbled at her long hair.

The sound of galloping hoofbeats and a loud horse whinny awakens Sera from her fretful slumber atop the prickly hay. Sitting up, she rubs the exhaustion out of her eyes as she peers out of the makeshift stable.

Who was it??

Pressing herself deeper into the thin pile of hay, Sera bites her lip in fear. Had the men somehow tracked her down all the way here!?

The rain had lessened now to a lighter pitter-patter that hits the tin roof of the shed with a musical tapping symphony. The muddy yard was visible now, lit up brightly by the moon in a way that makes everything gleam ever so slightly.

Between the hay, Sera can vaguely make out someone riding a horse into the yard. With the speed at which they galloped, when they came to a quick stop, they slid forward a bit with the lessened friction because of the mud that was everywhere.

It was too dark to see who it was from here. Sera dares not to move, or make any sound.

Pressing his hands against the saddle, the shadow of a short-haired man expertly dismounts, jumping lightly to the ground, though she could hear a muffled groan when his feet meets the ground.

Whoever it was, they sounded slightly injured.

"Sera!"

That low, magnetic voice!

It was Lucien!

Moonlight falls over his features, giving Lucien a silver sheen that makes him seem more God than human.

Except for the relief on his face when he spots her sitting up from the hay. That look was all too human.

Likewise, Lucien searches the surroundings, water dripping off his hair, his clothes, making it hard to see. But his mana was telling him that she was close by.

Where was Sera???

"I'm here!!"

Sera runs toward Lucien in the rain, in her soaked white slip with blood smears that drip with the flow of water down her dress.

Finally, they were reunited.

Lucien in his simple white shirt and trousers, blood spattered on his face, black leather boots glistening in the rain, messy hair rakishly hiding one side of his face. He looked handsome even after a fierce battle.

A few strides, and Lucien had her in his arms, his chest moving up and down as he's finally able to breathe again with her back.

Lucien hugs her close, then holds her shoulders, eyes searching everywhere over her body"Are you hurt anywhere? What happened? You must have been so afraid..."

Sera breathes in his scent as she presses her face to his neck, burrowing deeper so she can surround herself in the soothing, tea like smell of the man she loved.

Yes, she loved him.

She loved this foolish, barbaric, thickheaded, perfect man. This man who ignored the injuries on himself, only focusing put her first, her safety first.

A large hand knuckles bloodied and fingers chilled in the previously heavy rain tilts her head up to look at him.

Lucien sucks in a breath.
"One of them found you?"

Fingers hesitating whether it was alright to touch her cut lip, he finally uses the back of his hand to ever so slightly stroke the tight and purpling skin of her cheek.