When vengeance strikes in the form of a bullet out for the princess's blood, Princess Aleia VonAuclair must flee the heart of her country in order to protect the people she loves and take back the pieces of her soul she'd lost to the girl she once l...
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Edrian and I wandered around the streets of Los Angeles with nothing but the sounds of the bustling city life and the melodious birds chirping in the trees to keep us company. We kept a languid pace, strolling down busy avenues and past local storefronts with the stride of two people who had all the time in the world.
And maybe we did.
Maybe time no longer existed. In this moment, I could stay here forever, and I wouldn't even regret it.
Because hand-in-hand, with the city's sprawling enchantments and daily symphonies strumming in our ears, time no longer moved forward. The conceptual study of the fourth dimension where time spun on its axis seized to a halt- vanishing from the minds and the souls of those who still lived with it.
I peeked a glance over at Edrian. He hadn't said a word since we left the strip mall. Part of me knew his silence was him processing everything that happened- everything from start to finish. From the minute Anthony set foot in front of the hospital to the moment Edrian punched him in front of an entire shift of nurses.
Whatever it though, I was sure Anthony deserved it. I didn't hear what he said to Edrian, but I knew it crossed a line.
Another part of me also knew though, that despite all of Anthony's faults, that that wasn't the way Edrian would've liked his mom's family picnic to go. Anthony showing up was his own fault, but Edrian punching him would put a spotlight on Arina for the weeks to come, and I wholeheartedly knew he regretted it.
An ear-splitting honk sliced through the air, and I jumped in shock.
Edrian broke himself from his daze long enough to glare at the passing car waving a frantic hand out the window at another pedestrian before he stepped around me to stand on the side closer to the road. Our hands released from their hold with the shift in position before he gently grabbed my other hand in his.
It took me a minute to realize that he needed the touch- needed it to ground himself back to reality, back to me. I could feel it in the way he clung onto my hand with a certain sense of urgency.
Heat curled through my blood, setting light to the butterflies in my stomach until I could feel their fire-tipped wings running down my skin.
We rounded a corner and onto a street with a food truck parked on the other end. My eyes lit up with excitement.
Asrea rarely had those out in the town square anymore ever since the third Seraphina Slayer killing. They couldn't find a lead on the suspect and imposed a strict curfew on the entire country.
One of my major projects a couple years ago were for the administration of plazas in rural villages and countryside areas. The most successful ones were plazas that sold street food. It was a different kind of comfort, a childlike joy.
Edrian must've caught my line of sight because he picked up his stride and led me towards the truck scrawled with the words Sweet & Salty.
A tall Asian man with a neatly trimmed beard welcomed us with a wide smile from inside the truck.
