He had watched Emrys leave the shop. Like always, Lucien had been watching over Solenne. Well, watching her as best as he could from this distance. One day he would be closer, at her side, just like he was always meant to be. Pushing off the wall, he blended amongst others to move across the street, placing himself near Emrys in a way the other man wouldn't notice.

  "What in the Light is a [name of plant] and why does she need it?" Emrys mumbled to himself as he looked at what seemed to be a list.

  Lucien frowned, his brow knitting together. [Plant] was something only found in the Wilds. Was Solenne sending him out there? Why? The scholar was not equipped to do such things. Neither was Solenne, not at first, but luckily she had gotten a bit of formal defense training after an early run in with something nasty out there. Lucien had nearly lost his mind watching her get attacked knowing he couldn't help. Exposing his existence then would not have gone well for either of them. Even now it probably wouldn't.

  "Okay. These shouldn't be too far in. That is what we agreed on." Emrys continued speaking to himself as he walked.

  The path they took would lead Emrys to another shop near the gate of the Veil. Lucien watched as the redhead went in. The explorer shop was the last stop before the Wilds. This was where most got supplies, bags, and anything else they might need for going outside of the walls. He didn't use places like this. There was no need to. If he was going into the Wilds, the Pale Order had everything he would need.

  He could count on one hand how many times he had been sent to the Wilds since he started his assassin work. The deeper one went, the more dangerous the forested area became. Lucien had gone almost a half days walk from the gates one time while tracking a target. Calen pulled him back from that hunt. Going any further would have been a death wish for him as well. That mark never came back anyway. Lucien wondered what managed to finally get him in the end.

  "Thank you again for your assistance!"

  Emrys' voice tugged at his attention. He watched the scholar walk out of the shop with a new pack on his back and a small axe on his hip. It was sort of cute seeing someone in silver and blue with a weapon on them. Lucien knew the axe would do little in term of actual damage. Emrys adjusted the pack as he walked past the guards at the gate. They all exchanged nods in greeting. Lucien would wait until Emrys was out of eyesight before continuing after him.

  "Why are you following him?" Lucien asked himself as he followed. He knew why. Emrys was close to Solenne. That meant he needed to protect him if he could. He hated it. He didn't want to keep another man safe. Especially when the other man could potentially take what was his. It would be easier to just kill him. Then he was keeping everyone safe. Solenne would no longer have the Ecclesium in her shop. He would just go back to what he had done before. A slip of the knife.

  No. That would make the apothecary more suspicious. She asks the scholar to go to the Wilds just for him to wind up dead? She'd have one of his brothers or sisters at her door before the sun rose the next morning. Lucien ran his hand over his face. He stepped to the right of the path, keeping in the trees as he watched Emrys. The scholar was mumbling to himself again as he compared a flower to the piece of paper. This was going to take forever.

  Two hours later, Lucien felt like he was going to die of boredom. This wasn't like when he followed Solenne out here. She knew what she was doing. Watching her was like watching a forest deity in its home. She walked through the Wilds as if she was born of them. This place almost seemed to sing for her and she replied back in soft touches and gentle whispers of encouragement of growth to the plants. She thanked them for their lives. How he wished he could do the same.

  Killing hadn't always been easy for him. He remembered the first life he took. It had been a middle aged man when he was just a teenager, barely out of puberty, and unfamiliar with his suddenly longer limbs. The whole thing was messy. Blood had been everywhere. The man had taken forever to bleed out and Lucien hadn't been able to leave until it was done. He hadn't know how to mercifully kill someone then. Not like he did now.

  A twig snapped. Lucien tensed. He crouched lower to the ground. Something was nearby. Looking at Emrys, he seemed unaware of the other presence around them. He steadied his breathing as he scanned the area. Another snap. Across from where he hid. Emrys' left side but up farther. Was the scholar being hunted? Lucien's head tilted, eyes narrowed, and he focused on where he swore the movement came from.

  Lucien began to move. It was automatic. He cursed the way his body just did as it pleased sometimes. He glanced at Emrys who had moved closer to where Lucien had been hiding. He was suddenly glad something was seemingly stalking them. Emrys was looking for [different flower] now if Lucien was still following his mumbling correctly. As soon as Emrys turned his back, Lucien dashed across the path to the other side of the woods. Now his hunt began.

  Gracefully, he pulled a dagger from his belt. Lucien stalked forward. The closer he got to where he assumed the creature was, the more he noticed a sickly sweet scent filling the air around him. Fuck. Lucien tried not to tense up. If this was what he thought it was, he needed to stay loose and limber. [Creature name] was some floral, bi-pedal monster that the Aureate said was created by the Fallen to lure maidens into his grasp. Lucien knew that wasn't true. [Creature name] didn't care if someone was a maiden or not. It just wanted to eat whatever it could grab.

  Lucien spotted it. He had seen [creature] before but this one was different. Typically they were light green with bright flowers along their appendages. Their heads, if you could call them that, were spindly twigs that would look normal sticking up from behind bushes or trees. These things were made to lay in wait for someone to walk by without noticing them. If it wasn't for the smell, they'd have the perfect camouflage.

  This one was nearly black in color. Its flowers were dripping what looked like ink. The smell was still sickly sweet but now that he was closer, he could smell the underlayer of rot seeping from it. Lucien pulled the neck piece he wore up and over his nose to try to block the smell as much as he could. From where he was, he could see fungi sprouting from various places. Its head looked as if it was covered in a white fur. He had seen that before but where? Lucien began to think back, searching his memories, knowing it was just right there.

  The creature breathed in. It sounded choked, almost wet. His eyes went wide. Bloom. The creature was infected by Bloom. How? There hadn't been any notice of Bloom being in the Wilds. Yes, they had some infected come out here to die but for it spread to the creatures? Was it that contagious? What did that mean for the people still living in Caelora? He needed to kill this thing and report what he had found to the Primarch. Even if it meant he was going to be punished, they needed to know.

  It stepped forward. Lucien shot forward. He was swift with his blade, burying it deep in the creature's neck. It didn't even try to fight back nor did it make a noise before hitting the ground. The thump made Emrys turn but he went back to finishing what he was doing when he saw nothing. Lucien abandoned the blade in the creature. He moved back as quickly as possible while making sure nothing got on him. That was highly abnormal. Why didn't it scream? They always screamed when attacked. It was how they called for help. Usually there were always more than one in any given area. This was all wrong. So wrong.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Lucien was tempted to grab Emrys and drag him back to the city. It was safer inside the walls... wasn't it? He sucked in a lungful of air and closed his eyes as he held it. Letting it out slow, he shook his head to rid it of his racing thoughts. The city was as safe as it could be with a disease starting to spread again. The Aureate would protect the people of Caelora just like they always had. This was nothing new. It was going to be fine.

  Emrys stood up straight and stretched. He placed the paper into his pack. Finally. He had finished. Lucien stayed back and followed after Emrys as he walked back into the city. At least this meant that Solenne wasn't going back into the Wilds until after Lustration. With the ritual coming up, Lucien would be unable to protect her. He would be sent to stalk the shadows and protect whomever they chose as the sacrifice. Lucien watched as Gwen ran up to Emrys. The young girl was panting heavily, tears streaked through the dirt on her face.

  "Sol is sick! She needs help!" Gwen yelled at Emrys.

  Lucien felt what color he had in his face drain. His heart started racing, palms got clammy. He only moved when Emrys did. He wanted to run to her. To be the one to rip open the door, scoop her up, and take her up to her room. It wouldn't hurt anyone for him to just take her up to her room and sit at her side. Please don't let it be Bloom. He couldn't stand the idea of her dying from something she couldn't be healed from because of what she was. Lucien didn't know if she could heal herself with her magic or not. If an Ecclesium healer came to her...

  Emrys had stopped in front of him. Lucien swerved into the nearby alley. He sighed heavily as he dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. Every time that Light forsaken woman came across his mind it was as if he lost all sense of logic. He reached over and pinched his arm, letting the pain flood an icy focus through him. Stepping back out onto the street, he realized they were near the shop again. They'd both run at nearly top speed to get to Solenne.

  Walking across the street, he watched as Emrys came out of the shop with Solenne in his arms. Panic ripped at his chest. Why were they leaving? Had something happened in the shop? He waited impatiently until they were out of sight. When no one else was looking, he crossed the street and slipped inside.

  Lucien stopped in the middle of the shop. He glanced around, taking it all in. It smelled like the Wilds, earthy and warm, mixed with coffee. She smelled like this, didn't she? Of course she did. This was where she lived. This scent would be stitched into her very essence. He gulped down as much of the shop's air as his lungs would allow, tasting it, savoring it as if he was a man scheduled to hang and this was his last meal. Even as his body demanded he breathe again, he fought against it for as long as he could. The burn in his chest and the coughing fit were worth it.

  He walked slowly around the shop. His hands ran gently along wooden shelves, glass jars, bundles of freshly dried herbs, and the counter where Solenne did so much of her work. Lucien took in the burn marks, the scuffs, places where it look like she had spilled ink pots. He could also picture her scrambling to clean them up before they ruined something. A smile tugged at his lips. Then he scowled. Lucien slammed a fist against the top of the counter.

  There was no reason to stay here. She was gone. Emrys had taken her to choir knows where and there was no way for him to go after them. Especially not if he had taken her to Ecclesium. She would be dead before he could bust in and beg them not to kill her. Not that he would. Killing her would be a mercy to them all. Lucien could go back to just being an assassin, a tool, a shadow in the background of the Light. Emrys could go back to his books and the archive where he belonged. The people of the Veil would be just fine without her.

  Lucien's legs had caused him to wander as he thoughts had. He moved up the stairs behind the counter. One about halfway up creaked under his weight. Old board. Probably needed to be replaced. He made a mental note for some reason. Continuing up, he soon found himself inside of the small flat that Solenne called home. He once more touched things he shouldn't. He tried to picture her life in this small space.

  His own room was barely bigger than the flat. Only he shared it with Calen. Oh how his brother in arms would be scowling at him right now, telling him to forget this girl. There were better things to do. Calen would offer to get rid of her if it meant having Lucien back to how he used to be. Things had been so simpler before that night. Running a hand through his hair, he closed his eyes, and pushed back any and all thoughts of the Pale Order, that night, and Calen. He opened his eyes slowly. Moving forward, he found himself in her bedroom.

  The mattress looked soft. He reached towards it then stopped. He couldn't or he would never leave it. That was where she rested, where she dreamed. Did she dream of him how he did of her? Did his name leave her lips in a whispered prayer of yearning? How many nights did she relive the night they met? Lucien stepped back. He turned and left so he could think clearly once again. The urge to hurt himself again was rising if only to get the thoughts to stop. They wouldn't while he was here. This place was haunted by her and always would be.

  Lucien left the shop. He took shallow breaths of the cold outside air. Every one purged her scent from his nose and brought him back to his senses. The confliction of wanting her versus hating her was tearing him apart yet he couldn't stop either. Stepping out into the street, he walked back across to stand against the perfume shop as he always did. That was where he would stand his vigil until he could no longer. There was still daylight left in the sky.

  People would pass him by as they always did. A few glanced his way but a well place smile and nod sent them along their way. It would feel like an eternity before he saw Solenne walking back to the shop. He pushed off the wall nearly breaking into a full sprint to grab her and demand why she was up walking. Only his training kept him locked in place. Lucien took in her appearance. She was paler than usual but not enough to warrant thinking she had Bloom.

  His eyes scanned down to her hands that hung at her side. They narrowed upon noting the blackened tips. The ashy darkness had moved? How? A memory slammed into him so hard he took a half step backwards.

  She grabbed the knife from his belt. He tried to move, to escape, but stopped not only due to the pain but also her calming shushes as she looked into his eyes. His gaze fluttered back and forth from her hand to her face. She had blood on her hands but not her fingertips. How had that gotten there? Was she hurt as well? Had they wounded her too? He quickly looked her over. He couldn't see any wounds.

  Lucien watched the girl, probably a few years younger than his eighteen, cut across her wrist. His eyes went wide. What was she doing? He started shaking his head but she didn't stop. All he could do was stare in awe as her blood began to glow a bright orange. Magic. Fear mixed with adrenaline flooded through his entire body. It dulled the pain enough for him to scoot back just barely.

  "Please don't move. I can help. I'm not going to hurt you." She cooed. Her voice was so soft yet laced with her own fear. She had no reason to fear him so what was she scared of?

  He stayed still as she brought her bleeding wrist down to his wound. The girl smiled as she squeezed around her wound so the glowing liquid dripped onto him. He growled from the burn. It felt as if his skin was melting back together, each drop making him want to scream out. Lucien bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted his own blood. He was not going to give away where they were hidden amongst the bushes. His would-be killers could still be nearby for all he knew.

  The wound was closed drop by drop. When it was sealed, she put the knife back into its hilt and wiped her hands off on her shirt. Lucien noticed the very tips of her fingers were black. They hadn't been that way before. What was she? He didn't move as she tore off the bottom of her tunic and wrapped it around her wrist. "You can't tell anyone what I just did. Please. I don't want to die."

  He only nodded his understanding. He hadn't wanted to die either. The girl smiled. It was warm and soft and Light be, he wanted to kiss her so badly as thanks. Instead he just watched her go without learning her name.

  The ash had spread. Was she healing others with her blood again? Or was it something else? He watched as she entered the shop again. Lucien turned away. He needed to go before he broke into the shop again. He forced his thoughts away from her. As he walked, he had a sinking feeling in his gut that he was going to be given a mission when he returned to the catacombs.