Lilac

Chapter Eighteen

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"Down?" Ethan asked, and for the briefest moment Lilac heard something akin to despair coating his words. It faded away quickly, not even lasting a second.

She caressed his arms lightly with her shaking, pale hands.

"Badly wounded," answered Alric.

"How bad?"

Alric did not answer this time, but he gave Ethan a look.

Alric lead his wife upstairs, and soon it was just Lilac and Ethan. Alone, again. How many times have they been alone?

"Where's James?" Lilac asked. Ethan said James was waiting for them here, but she didn't saw him earlier when they arrived.

"Outside. Listen." Ethan held Lilac's cheeks with his fingers. "Stay here with Mari. We'll go check what happened."

A surprising, intense chill went through Lilac as all the possible things that could go wrong rummaged and caused mayhem inside her mind. She didn't want him to go.

But he had to.

This is what makes me, Lilac.

"I want to go with you," she said.

A stern gaze took over his face. "No. Stay here."

"But-"

"No, Lilac." He must have seen the tremor that went through her because his eyes softened. "I'll be fine. Please, stay here for me. I'll have this house secured. I need to make sure nobody gets hurt."

But what about you? What if you get hurt, Ethan?

He leaned in very closely, looked at her eyes, then his gaze dipped lower. She realized he was staring at her lips, and for the briefest moment her heart halted. He looked at her eyes again and leaned further as he breathed her in deeply, as if he could ensnare her and keep her essence with him.

Lilac didn't dare breathe. She would never survive him, would she?

He pressed a long kiss on her forehead, leaving her feeling bereft of something she neither knew nor understood.

"I'll be fine. I'll see you."

With that, he was gone.

Lilac stared at the door for a very, very long time.

***

It took him thirty six minutes. Lilac kept track of the time inside her mind. One.. Two... But she was divided, feeling herself get lost. With every tick of the seconds, visions of him holding her would go and mess with her thoughts.

He was affecting her, that much was clear. Disarming all of what Lilac never thought she had.

Fifty eight, fifty nine... thirty six.

And there he was, opening the door with ease as if he had heard her counting.

But the metallic smell of blood lingered on the air.

Ethan had blood on him, on his fingers, on his forearms, staining his shirt, tainting him but not changing him. He was and would always be Ethan, no matter if he swam in the river of red and death.

Lilac's hand went to her mouth. Ethan looked at her, face impassive and distant.

"Come on," he said.