Betrayed [Lucien x OC]

44

They had been walking for almost an hour. Sage holding on to her torn up dress, and mangled hair. Lucien trailing, fighting back every questio, concern, and confession he wanted to spew. His mate was so far out of reach without physically being distant.

He wish he knew how to feel about her. If it was just the mating bond or something else that made him feel nervous by just being in her presence. Sage was no easy person to look at. No matter what state she was in, from her mix-matched hair, to her glistening skin, and sultry voice, it was hard not to feel a certain way about her.

Then again, Lucien hardly knew her. He only recalls how Feyre described and now it's as if he can throw all of that prior knowledge out of the window because so many lies have been built between the two best friends that the truth turned out to be devastating.

But then there were small instances where he felt that something was there. That the mating bond, despite not clicking for Sage, lingered somewhere in the back of her skull. She looked at him differently. Not out of dismay, but curiosity.

She tried to keep that mean streak with him, and while he believed every threat that crossed her lips, he also noticed the constant questions. Like she was trying to understand him.

And he felt it was due time he understood her.

The night was still vibrant. Through sound and color. The moon shone every abstract of the leaves and trees, making it almost impossible to ignore their surroundings. The sound of fae were dying off as they trailed further from the inner city of Velaris. Leaving behind a broken inner circle. Lost without their High Lord up and ok.

"So.."

"No.", Sage said sharply. Cutting Lucien off mid-word. She didn't dare look back. Gone was the grateful tone from earlier, she sunk back into her defensive mode. And if he'd known anything, it was that breaking barriers was hard even for those clearly in need of help.

Instead of letting the quiet split the two apart again, Lucien rolled his eyes. Clearly being nice and sympathetic wasn't the way to go. Though he did not wish to be anything but that sometimes two wrongs make a right.

"Let's hope your father won't reciprocate that same answer."

Sage took a second to process what Lucien just said. But when it sunk in, she stopped. Crunching on top of a dead lead. Slowly she took a deep breath. Not daring to turn. Lucien too stopped, fearful of what she was going to say but thankful that he wasn't swatted away like a pest again.

Or so he thought. But after Sage had closed her eyes, let another elongated exhale past her lips she continued forth.

Because..... what if he did react the same. Shut her out. Leave her to not only ponder on her species. What she is? But her entire existence. If both of her parents despised her, her husband and child dead, what did she truly have left.

It's been a while since the overwhelming lump in her throat surfaced. And it was harder this time to swallow that rising anxiety.

Lucien didn't have a clue as to what was wondering through her head. Not knowing that his words didn't anger her, but made her spiral with more sets of questions and terrible outcomes.

"Why are you following me?", Sage asked, almost tripping over a hidden root. She kicked at it, breaking it from under the earth and continued on.