So, I placed my hand on his heart and nodded down to it before I told him…
“When… it is not mine to own.”
6
When Hearts Leave
“When it is not mine to own.” The moment I said this he lowered his head until our foreheads were only an inch away from touching. It was all the reminder I needed to know that pretty soon Lucius would hit his limit, and I didn’t want that to come in the form of violence. So, I kissed the scar on Trice’s cheek, making him suck in a startled breath as if barely ever feeling anything other than his own touch on his marred skin before. The thought saddened me, and I prayed with everything inside of me that he wouldn’t have to wait long before feeling it again, next time from his fated soulmate.
Then I whispered,
“I'll never forget you.” It was in that moment that he felt the tears fall for himself, and when he pulled back, he swiped them away with a thumb. And unsurprisingly, it was in that moment a stern voice broke through our moment,
“You are needed, shifter,” Lucius said, his voice as cold as ice and I knew, despite all that Trice had done for me, he would never have anything but disdain for this particular McBain brother. I half expected Trice to put up a fight but obviously now knowing it wouldn’t have made a difference to my decision, he gave me one last squeeze before putting me down.
“Try keepin' oot o' trouble this time, lass,” Trice said with a wink, before leaving me to my own stern looking King. I released a sigh as I watched the brothers walk away and swiped away the rest of my tears admitting to him,
“I am going to miss them.” Lucius finally lost a little of his stoic stance and released his own sigh.
“This is where they belong.” I nodded, telling him,
“I know that.” This was when he stepped up to me, and as he took my hand in his I knew he was ready to lead me over to his men. But I pulled back and told him,
“Thank you, Lucius.” At this he looked surprised and before he could question it with more than a raised brow, I whispered,
“I know that couldn’t have been easy, so thank you for giving it to me… thank you for giving me that closure in saying goodbye.” I lifted his hand so I could kiss the back of it, wondering why he now looked even more pained. Had watching me say goodbye to Trice been harder on him than I realised?
“You’re welcome, Amelia,” he replied after a long silent moment passed between us.
“What will happen to them?” I asked then and he knew instantly what I was referring to.
“They will be granted back their souls.” Hearing this, I closed my eyes as a deeply rooted relief washed over me. Then, when I opened them again, I looked over to them as a grin spread over my lips.
“Well, they definitely earned it,” I said, and Lucius scoffed at this before telling me in an unsympathetic tone,
“They also deserve death for taking you from me.”
“Yes, well, I think they made up for that offence, honey,” was my reply, and one he might have argued against had I not ended this with an endearment. One that clearly seeped deep into his heart and stayed there, as his features soon softened. He stepped into me so he could cup the back of my head and use it to pull me to him. Then he dipped his chin enough so he could lay a tender kiss on my forehead.
“My sweet girl,” he hummed as if to himself, making me smile as now that feeling was seeping into my own heart and staying there. Now just how long it was to stay there was anyone’s guess as Lucius suddenly stepped back, putting distance between us. I frowned in question but when I watched Lucius shake his head a little, I decided to ask,
“So, what's the plan then?” His answer to this was to simply hold out a hand to me and grant me a one worded order.
“Come.” So, I responded the only way I could in that moment, as I didn’t think demanding much more from him just then was a good idea. Because something was clearly still weighing heavily on his mind and admittedly, I was getting close to trying to shake it from