Shattered: The Gregorian Chronicles Book Two

15: Lovers Lost

"Adriana? What's wrong?"

            Adriana rushed into Lucas' arms without speaking, sobbing uncontrollably. She had asked fifteen different guards to discover where he lived, for there was no one else whom Adriana felt she could confide in at this time. Dawn was out in the Forbidden Forest, ready to tear her sister to shreds, Skylar was trying feverishly to bring some of her brother's memories to light, the king and queen were busily preparing to keep Dawn out of the castle, and James, the one person who Adriana would want to speak to most of all, had absolutely no idea who Adriana even was.

            That left Lucas.

            "I...James...I can't..." Adriana tried to get out the words, but her shaking body prevented them from escaping clearly. She could barely see through her tears, but could feel Lucas pulling her into his home and sitting her down on a soft surface.

            "Adriana, please." Lucas whispered, "Please calm down. Tell me what has made you so upset."

            Adriana took deep breaths, hiccupping and shaking as she tried to form words. Eventually, as Lucas rubbed her back comfortingly, she found the ability to speak.

            "James doesn't remember anything." She whispered, a single tear escaping her eyes to join the other streaks on her face. "Dawn took his memories, and she's the only one who can give..." she hiccupped before continuing, "...them back."

            Lucas seemed confused.

            "If Dawn can restore his memories, then we should march down to the Forbidden Forest and force her to!"

            Adriana shook her head.

            "I had a dream a few nights ago, where Dawn gave James his memories back. Yet she gave him false ones, ones that made me out to be James' enemy and Dawn to be his hero." The tears were returning, and she buried her head in Lucas' chest. "I just can't bear to not have him remember me."

            Lucas held Adriana close for a few moments before pulling her away slightly, hoping against hope that what he was about to suggest would prove to be false.

            "Adriana," he waited patiently for her to dry her tears, "Is this reaction due to your feelings for James? Feelings other than friendship?"

            Adriana looked taken aback.

            "Of course not!" she cried, the tears drying immediately as she became defensive. "I have no feelings for James that are not completely platonic. Why would you even think something like that?"

            Lucas shrugged.

            "In my experience, no one becomes so incredibly distraught over someone unless they love them. Then again, I've not seen too much of the world in my time, so perhaps I just haven't seen someone in your situation before."

            Adriana shook her head, feeling her cheeks grow warm from embarrassment. Naturally she didn't have any "feelings" for James. He was simply one of her dearest friends, who she would miss talking to.

            Yet as those words crossed her mind, she knew immediately that they weren't true. She wouldn't "miss talking to" him, she would feel a hole in her heart whenever she passed by something that they had shared a memory of. For he would no longer think of that memory when he passed the same spot, he would simply see it as a tree he hadn't passed before, or a loose brick in the castle wall without a stash of Jasmine's chocolate candies hidden there.

            He would be seeing a new world for the first time, while Adriana would be seeing an old world filled with beautiful memories that had suddenly turned sour. Memories that she would no longer be able to share with anyone but herself, because the person she wanted to share them with most no longer remembered them.

            There was nothing platonic about those feelings, those memories, and for the first time Adriana felt herself acknowledging it.

            Yet did James share those feelings before Dawn had struck him? Had he felt for Adriana as she clearly had felt for him, yet had not been ready to accept it? Adriana thought back to their conversations before the accident, to all their laughs and smiles. Had those been the laughs of a friend or of something more?

            Adriana thought back to the few minutes before everything had changed, about how James had been comforting her.

            "You didn't fail. How could you possibly fail? You're one of the most amazing women I've ever met in my life. You're incredible. Just the fact that you were willing to go back multiple times to try and save Dawn even when she wasn't responding to you is both brave and amazing. You're a brilliant person, and I can't even begin to comprehend how you could possibly think otherwise."

            Yet what had she replied with?

            "Thank you, James. You're a wonderful friend."

            Friend.

            She had made it sound like he meant nothing to her other than a friend. He must have thought that she was not interested, that she was only his friend. That was the last thing she had said to him.

            "Lucas, I have to go." Ad stood up suddenly, gathering her skirt in her hands. "Thank you ever so much for listening to me in my time of grief."

            Lucas looked slightly surprised, but nodded courteously.

            "You're quite welcome."

            As Adriana left his home, Lucas stood up to watch her through the window. Whatever had just happened it Ad's head did not appear to be in Lucas' favor.

            Memories or no memories, that James will have to go.

——-

A/N: *insert scared emoji here*

Sorry that that was a short chapter, but I'm starting to build up to the big battle (coming your way around Chapter 20) and it's gonna be intense, so I'm trying to get everyone's feelings out of the way before we get there!

Also, I forgot to thank you guys last chapter, but Spiral hit 18,000 reads, and Shattered hit 2,000! That's completely INSANE, so thank you guys so much!!

I'm working on so many projects right now, but one of them is editing Spiral! So comment below if you would like me to post a bonus chapter of Spiral on my website once it hits 20k reads! I'm considering either that, or making a trailer for Shattered. Let me know what you'd like!

As always, remember to vote, comment, and check back for the next update! I am not regularly updating Shattered every Sunday.

-Katherine