Chapter 2
961 Words
“Lucian, how long will you keep looking for her?”
Lucian Blackthorn stood before the tall window, his face hard and still.
“Until I find her.”
“It has been centuries. You have searched for nine hundred years.”
“And I will search for another nine hundred if I have to.”
The room fell quiet.
Lucian did not turn.
“She disappeared that night,” he said. “My family died. I survived. And she was there.”
“You still believe Mara Everwyn betrayed them?”
“I don't believe it.”
He turned at last.
“I remember it.”
“You were young.”
“Old enough to remember her standing near the gates.”
“You don't know why she was there.”
“I know she disappeared.”
“That doesn't prove ”
“It is enough for me.”
His voice was calm, but something heavy lay beneath it.
“She was trusted by my parents.”
“I know.”
“They treated her like family.”
“I know.”
“And when everything began, she was gone.”
Lucian's jaw tightened.
“Then my parents were gone. The estate was gone. Everyone was gone.”
He looked away.
“I was the one left behind.”
“You have carried that pain for nine hundred years.”
“I have carried a promise.”
“What promise?”
“That I would find Mara Everwyn.”
“And then?”
Lucian's eyes hardened.
“She would answer for what happened.”
“You became Alpha King because of that promise?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“I needed the strength to keep looking.”
“You could have stopped.”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
Lucian turned back toward the window.
“Because every time I closed my eyes, I remembered that night.”
He paused.
“My mother. My father.”
Another pause.
“And Mara.”
He said her name as if it carried nine hundred years of weight.
“She was the last person I saw before everything changed.”
“You never forgot her.”
“Never.”
Far from the Blackthorn territory, Mara Everwyn lived quietly beneath another name.
She kept her life small, spoke little, and trusted no one.
One evening, she sat alone by the window.
“You're still afraid,” she whispered.
The room gave her no answer.
Mara lowered her eyes.
“He will find me.”
She had always known it. Nine hundred years had passed, but she had never believed Lucian would forget.
“He won't.”
Her fingers tightened.
“He never would.”
She looked outside.
“Perhaps he already knows.”
The thought tightened her chest.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“If he knew, he would have come.”
Even as she said it, she knew it was not comforting.
Mara had changed her name, vanished from supernatural society, and settled in a remote territory. She had avoided close relationships and never revealed who she truly was.
All because of one man.
Lucian Blackthorn.
“Why are you still waiting for me?” she whispered.
“Why can't you let the past go?”
She knew the answer.
Because she couldn't let it go either.
Nine hundred years had passed, yet the memory remained.
Mara closed her eyes.
“I knew this day would come.”
She opened them.
“I just hoped it wouldn't.”
In the Blackthorn territory, Lucian stood over a table covered with information about the woman he had searched for all his life.
“Is this everything?”
“Yes.”
“Her name?”
“The name she is using now.”
“And her real name?”
The answer came quietly.
“Mara Everwyn.”
Lucian stared at the name.
“Mara.”
After nine hundred years, he finally had something real.
“She has been hiding all this time?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“In a remote territory.”
“How long has she lived there?”
“Long enough to disappear completely.”
“She thought she could hide from me.”
“I don't know what she thought.”
Lucian looked down again.
“I do.”
“What?”
“She thought I would forget.”
“Will you?”
Lucian raised his eyes.
“No.”
He picked up the information.
“I promised myself I would find her.”
“You found her.”
“Yes.”
His fingers tightened around the paper.
“After nine hundred years.”
For the first time, the woman he had searched for was no longer a memory.
She was somewhere in the world.
Alive.
Waiting.
Lucian's voice was low.
“Mara Everwyn.”
He said her name again.
“I finally found you.”
Mara sat alone that night, staring at the quiet room.
Nine hundred years.
Nine hundred years of hiding.
Nine hundred years of waiting.
Her lips parted.
“Lucian…”
She whispered his name as if saying it too loudly might bring him closer.
Then she closed her eyes.
“I knew you would come.”
She remained still for a moment.
“But I never knew when.”
Her voice softened.
“Maybe tomorrow.”
She opened her eyes.
“Maybe years from now.”
A pause.
“Maybe never.”
She looked toward the window.
“I was wrong.”
For the first time in centuries, Mara said the words aloud.
“You found me.”
And somewhere beyond the quiet life she had built, Lucian Blackthorn was no longer searching.
He knew exactly where she was.
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