Children of Blood ✔️

Chapter Twenty Eight

I shift in the saddle on my horse, leading the cavalry with Luke through the dense woods. Alaric and Adam are guiding the soldiers through the terrain with Maverick while the medics trail behind, led by Josef. He tolerates me after I sacrificed myself for Alaric. It feels nice to not be on his bad side, but I still feel the underlying tension.

I try to keep my mind off of anything but how it'll feel to slit Lady's throat. She'll finally taste her own medicine. My hand gravitates to my eye to I feel the "L" scarring.

"It doesn't look bad," Luke trots next to me and smiles. "It looks good on you."

"Why are you kind to me?" I spout and clench my reins, "I don't deserve it."

"No, you don't." Luke agrees and faces forward, "But Alaric explained to me what happened between you two."

"That's it? You forgive me on a toss of a dime because your brother explained how we're friends?"

"No," Luke groans and tilts his head up before sneaking a glance at me. "I forgave you when you offered your life for ours, and Lady almost killed you."

"My heroism won you over," I say sarcastically. "I never asked, but how am I alive?"

Luke flings his horse's mane over and combs through it gently, "My mother- no, Lady. She was furious with you. She yelled, Alaric and I caught the soldiers off guard and killed them. The guard holding you down let you go and guarded Lady, she got away."

"But that doesn't explain why she didn't kill me," I press my hand to my head and brush the hair out of my face.

"Lady is a stubborn woman," Luke stares up at the sky. "Once she set her mind on killing you when you're awake, she would not have it any other way."

"She'll regret she didn't kill me when she had the chance." I mumble.

Luke clears his throat and shifts in his saddle uncomfortably. "There's one more reason."

"One more reason for what?"

"For forgiving you," Luke shakes his free hand as to get rid of water, "I realized life is too short to stay mad at someone you just want to love."

My body stiffens, eyes widen and I keep them forward. My lips form a line and I bite my tongue. "Luke," my voice lowers, "I hope you can love me like a friend. After you came back, we've both changed. I don't want to go back to what we had when we aren't the same people. We both said terrible things we can't take back. Maybe we are made to be friends?"

"Oh, maybe." Luke looks away and I try to hide my wince as he peels off.

I lied to Luke; we are made to be friends, but we are also made to be something more than that. I can't tell him though. It would make things complicated.

It would be unfair to both of us if I didn't put effort into a relationship.

《《《《《《《《》》》》》》》》

We set camp as the 800 soldiers, 40 cavalry and 20 healers laugh quietly, the campfires burning through the forest.

I sit by the fire and rock myself back and forth surrounded by men and a few women laughing. I don't fit in. I stand and make my way to the edge of the crowd for fresh, cool air.

A hand taps me on the shoulder and I spin, grab it and pin the assailant to the ground.

"Nice grip." Luke groans as I let him go.

"You startled me."

"Sorry." Luke leans on a tree across from me and looks away. "I'm so sorry."

I try to reassure him with a smile and shake my head. "It's okay, seriously. I'm just anxious."

Luke shakes his head, "I'm not talking about that. Earlier you mentioned the mean things we said to each other, I'm apologizing for what I said to you when we broke up."

"I'm sorry too," I tilt my head to the side and try to get his beautiful set of tawny brown eyes on mine.

"She did things to me, that made me want to hate you." Luke whispers and finally looks up, his eyes painted with uneasiness and pain.

"Like what?" I inch closer to him, keeping a friendly distance between us.

Luke hesitates and shakes his head. "No, never mind." He pushes off the tree and walks away.

I gawk in absolute annoyance before grabbing his wrist and pulling him a little further into the woods. "No, you don't get to do that. I'm always tired of not being able to read you. I am tired of trying to guess what you're thinking. I'm tired of being in the dark. I am your friend, you can tell me things."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't helping Luke!" I snap and pinch the bridge of my nose, "Please, talk to me."

"Lady tortured me so I'd tell her where I sent you. She locked me up and put me through something so excruciatingly painful I broke down and became a ghost." Luke runs both his hands through his hair like he does when he's stressed or worried. "She forced my men, the soldiers I trained, to beat me. But when that didn't work, she forced me to watch her torture them."

I scrunch my brows together and take his hand, "Oh my god, Luke. You didn't tell her where I was?"

He shakes his head and clenches my hand desperately. "Jean," his voice breaks as he tumbles over his words, "she skinned them like rabbits. She scalped them, cut their eyelids off, but left their tongues in so I could hear their screams."

Forgetting about the distance between us, I pull him into a hug. He breaks his form and falls to his knees; I fall with him. He muffles his heart-shattering sobs in the crook of my neck as I weave my fingers through his hair. I hold him tightly and his arms wrap around my waist, our sorrows entangled.

Luke watched his men get tortured and killed because he wouldn't tell his mother where I went. I would hate me too. A few tears streak down my cheek as Luke shakes in my arms.

I hold him until his breathing steadies and he pulls away. "Seeing you here Jean," Luke wipes his tears and relaxes, holding my hand. "Seeing you breathing and smiling and touching your skin; it makes everything worth it."

I close my eyes, rest my forehead on his, holding his hands I let the warm silence fill the void.

Why do you make it so hard to be your friend, Luke?