To Love, Once Again

Chapter 44

They sit on Lucien's large warhorse, staring out over the clear reflective waters as Aslan carries them back, headed toward the Azai camp.

Aslan's hooves trotted lightly over the roots and grass. He was happy since the place his master lead him to had lots and lots of delicious sweet grass that he'd gorged himself on.

Sera sits sideways in Lucien's lap like a child while he rides Aslan.

Lucien was satisfied. Rather than having a child in her lap, it was right that she was here, in his arms. Breathing in the soft fragrance of her hair, he hoped his lap was comfortable enough for her.

It was too bad they couldn't stay any longer. Time was short, especially with all the preparations he was going through with Icaros for his plan. He had to go back to the castle and meet the Minister of War.

Clicking to Aslan, he takes one last, long look at the lake and the blowing willows, and guides them out of there.

Sera was wearing his white linen poet shirt over her dress. He'd ripped the top of the bodice in his eagerness, earning him a scolding from her after all was said and done.

Lucien surreptitiously drinks from a vial he'd taken out from somewhere, the delicate flower smell erased under the strong and vibrant fragrance of the wildflowers around them.

"My mother brought me here, once"

He glances back at the deep lake, the line between his brows relaxing. It had gotten better, Sera was glad to see, craning her neck up at him, compared to the haggard features and blank look of a wild animal that she'd first looked upon in the courtyard.

Recently, his expressions have become more relaxed, more, human..Why wouldn't it, when he had a mistress and a new wife on the way? Sera thought with bitterness. The boys in her university would've been green-eyed with jealousy that Lucien could be with two women.

Small white blooms with golden yellow centers wave their heads in goodbyes to the two humans and one horse.

Lucien thinks back to long ago, when he was still a child, his mother lovingly calling to him as he brought her some wildflowers he'd picked in this very place.

"Lu! Come sit with Mother." She'd say, patting the picnic rug upon which she sat. His mother loved beautiful things, was obsessed with it. Most of his early childhood had been spent  accompanying his mother in "the pursuit of elegance and beauty" as his mother so often liked to put it. As a young princess of a poor country who'd been married off an elderly King for the trade routes, she reveled in pretty knick-knacks and precious stones. Her spending grew wilder as she aged, buying up horses to breed and vacation houses in far-away lands, across the Silver Sea, that she would never use.

This was the last place she ever brought him on a small vacation. It would be their little secret, she'd giggled and said. After that, his sudden growth spurt had made his arms long and spindly, while cheeks lost their plumpness. His mother had thrown him away like spilt water at that point. After all, she was interested in beautiful things. A pre-pubescent awkward child was not beautiful to her, making her lose all interest.

Lucien's mother had thrown Lucien away like a priceless masterpiece she'd outgrown, her changed aesthetic tastes causing her to be interested in other things. After his growth spurt, she never called for him anymore, nor glanced at him when she saw him in the halls. She was only interested in being surrounded by pretty, lovely things. Hence the Royal Gardens. It was another reminder of his mother and her obsession with beauty. He'd been glad to see it wither and rot away, like all things his mother loved.

Like he did, before he first met Sera.

Shaking the dark memories that settle like heavy cobwebs on his mind, he focuses on getting them back to the Azai camp. It was a shame he couldn't accompany Sera any longer. Lucien had stretched his schedule too far tonight.