Chapter 13: The Distance Between Us
595 Words
Rain found Selene before the sun disappeared.
It began as a whisper through the leaves.
Then the sky opened.
Within moments, the forest dissolved into silver curtains of water.
She welcomed it.
Rain washed away footprints.
Rain blurred the world.
Rain made it harder to be found.
She wished it could wash away guilt just as easily.
Lucian's cloak grew heavy across her shoulders.
She pulled it closer against the cold.
It still carried the faint scent of cedar and smoke.
Home.
Her chest tightened.
She stopped walking.
For one dangerous moment...
She imagined turning back.
She imagined seeing him standing where the trees ended.
She imagined him smiling that quiet smile that never asked anything of her.
The vision hurt more than the bond.
"No."
She whispered to herself.
"If I go back..."
Her voice broke.
"...he dies."
She forced herself to keep walking.
Miles behind her, Lucian studied the rain-soaked forest.
The trail had vanished.
Every footprint.
Every broken branch.
Every clue.
The storm had erased them all.
Elder Rowan stepped beside him.
"We've lost her."
Lucian remained silent.
His eyes never stopped searching the trees.
Finally, he spoke.
"No."
"You still know where she is?"
"I know she's frightened."
Rowan frowned.
"How?"
Lucian pressed a hand lightly against his chest.
"I can feel it."
The ache wasn't physical anymore.
It was something deeper.
Every time Selene doubted herself...
The bond seemed to know.
And somehow...
So did he.
By late afternoon, the rain eased.
Selene reached a narrow clearing surrounded by ancient pines.
She lowered herself onto a fallen log.
Her legs trembled from exhaustion.
Her chest still burned whenever she thought about Ashwood.
Or Lucian.
She laughed quietly.
A sad, broken sound.
"I finally meet someone who doesn't fear me..."
A tear slipped down her cheek.
"...and I'm the one who has to leave."
The forest offered no answer.
Not far away...
Lucian stopped suddenly.
His heartbeat quickened.
He didn't know why.
He only knew the feeling.
She had been here.
Recently.
He looked around.
A fallen log.
Rainwater pooled in fresh footprints already beginning to disappear.
He knelt.
One footprint was smaller than the others.
His fingers hovered just above it.
He didn't touch it.
It somehow felt...
Personal.
He closed his eyes.
"You don't have to do this alone."
Only the wind answered.
By sunset, Selene reached the edge of another stream.
She knelt to drink.
The water reflected the evening sky.
Then...
Another face appeared beside hers.
Lucian.
Her breath caught.
She spun around.
No one.
Only empty forest.
She looked back into the water.
Her own reflection stared back.
Nothing more.
She touched the surface.
The image shattered into ripples.
"I've started imagining you."
She smiled sadly.
"This is getting worse."
Less than ten minutes later...
Lucian emerged from the trees.
He stopped beside the same stream.
The water was still disturbed.
Someone had been there.
Recently.
He knelt.
A single strand of long black hair rested against a smooth stone.
His fingers closed around it carefully.
His chest tightened.
Not because he had found another clue.
Because she was close.
Too close.
And still completely alone.
Night settled over the forest.
Neither of them slept.
One stared into a sky hidden behind clouds.
The other stared into a dying campfire.
Both whispered the same silent prayer.
Please be safe.
Neither knew...
The other had asked the Moon for exactly the same thing.
High above the trees...
A silver hawk watched them both.
It remained perfectly still until dawn.
Then it spread its wings...
And flew north.
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