To Love, Once Again

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.

The handsome man's thin lips press together as he winces for her, though Sera could barely feel anything anymore from her cheek except a throbbing pain.

"It's alright, Lucien. I'm alive, and he only got me once in the face." Sera says, forcing the uninjured half of her lips to rise in a smile.

Lucien shakes his head. Water continues to trickle down his temples, down his high cheekbones and scarred cheeks.

"This should never have happened. I'd failed you.."
Lucien was angry at himself for allowing something like this to even happen. If he hadn't take her to the orphanage, hadn't refused to take a detail of soldiers with him, if he'd kept Sera in the castle, protected...

Precious, beautiful Sera was injured because of his carelessness.

His large, callused hands lift her up, the other going under her bottom to lift her up against him.

Sera's legs wrap around his waist like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. Looking down on him as he holds her close, Sera can see the relief swirling in his blue eyes that makes Lucien's gaze soften. There was still a slight frown between his brows as he ran a hand over her body, methodically checking for injuries.

She winces when his finger runs over the corner of her lips.

"I'm so sorry, it must have hurt. I never should have left you back there, I-"

"Shh-"

Pressing her finger against his moving lips, Sera strokes back the rough hair that lovingly draped itself over his face, stuck to his cheeks and forehead with the wetness of the rain and blood.

The words drop from her lips, with the timing of a plump ripe fruit that falls off the vine. "I love you."

"You, you love me?"
Lucien stops the kiss, the rain and the moonlight doing nothing to hide his shock, hearing the words he'd longed for.

This wasn't a dream, was it?
Had too many a night and day spent waiting, dreaming for her response to his confession of love had made him hear things?

"I love you."
Sera says again, in a clear, tremulous voice. She blinks, but keeps her earnest gaze focused on his.

Sera's mind was the clearest it had ever been. Never-mind what had happened between them before, the endless wrong turns and dead-ends they had hit.

Sera loved Lucien.

She tilts her head downward while cupping his structured face with her hands, giving him the sweetest, the most reassuring of kisses she could give him. 'Let him feel how much I love him' Sera thought, doing her best to pour all her emotions of longing, of want for Lucien into their kiss.

Lucien breaks off the kiss, closing his eyes tightly as waves of emotion crash over him. This was a lot for even him to handle.

What were you supposed to do when something you'd always longed for was finally placed in your hands?

"And I, you"
Lucien hoarsely whispers, looking at her like she was the most beautiful thing in the world. Sera, soaked like a wet rat with bloodstains everywhere, cut lip, and a giant bruise on her cheek.

Lucien's heart, which had been thirsty for so long, was filled with joy.

There was a mutual need there, as their lips met in a kiss once more.

Tasting the cold, wet drops that slide between their lips, Lucien and Sera angle their heads to become closer to each other.

"Mmm.."

From the initial tasting and touching softness of lips against each other, the kiss was growing in its intensity.

As they licked their hot tongues together in a frenzy, rubbing their tongues against each other's to make sure they tasted each other. Both their hearts beat hot and pounding within their chests.

"Lucien...I missed you..."

She was desperate for him, and he for her.

Finally, she was freed from the nightmare of being separated from him. Sera could taste him, the distinct earthy fragrance that was Lucien, and know he was here with her again.

Tears leak out as she tightly wraps her arms around his neck, pressing her body closer as he lowers her so that their heads were level with each other. With the height difference between them, her feet were still in the air.

But this was good. He was good.

The emotions in her heart fills and overflows, and Sera was unable to stop it from becoming tears. Holding onto his dependable neck, she began to cry raggedly. Lucien softly kisses away each teardrop that wells out, and gently licks up the salty tears and rain that fall over her neck.

The rain continues to fall over them, light enough like a gauzy hazy that mists against their skin. Both of them were completely soaked, but neither seemed to care.

Sera initiated the deepening the kiss. More. She needed more. After the assassination attempt and the desperate running she had done to survive, her heart felt raw with unfettered emotions.

She needed Lucien! She needed him now.

Even when the corner of her lip splits a little as they continue kissing over and over, and the slight taste of blood on her tongue, she can't stop.

"Wait...Sera" he murmurs between kisses, licking at the wound. Both of them were breathing hard, chests rising and falling against the other with the intensity that they hungered for each other with.

Letting out a sweet sigh, "I need you, Lucien." Sera nibbles at his lips again, begging.

If it had been Sera before, she would have been too ashamed to be so forthright, so straightforward in her need to him like this. But she was so happy to be reunited with him once again, to be able to touch him, she wanted every part of her body to be closely stuck to him.

Lucien groans. "As much as I would like to take you, right here and now we need to get you tended to, someplace nice and warm.." he tilts his head back, letting the rain stream over his face as he tries to cool his head, release the heat building in his body, wanting to make the right decision for them both.

Sera, too. The logical part of her mind knew what Lucien said was correct. But that logical part was nothing compared to the urgent need she felt.

With wide eyes, Sera looks up at Lucien, going on her tiptoes to kiss his strong jaw. "Lucien, I'm begging you"

She kisses the strained jaw that ticks as Lucien tries to control himself.

Another groan, and Lucien scoops her up, back towards where the shed was. If his Queen demanded something, who was he to deny her?