N O T  H I S

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HE HEARD HER before he actually even laid eyes on her.

Lucius accomplished his task fairly quickly, dusting his hands as he stared at his handiwork in satisfaction. With a new burst of sunlight supplied to the plants in the North Garden, they flourished with great beauty, almost dazzling in their own little way. As usual, displaying his magical prowess gave him a great deal of pride. There was only a small amount of other angels that could proudly say that they could manipulate and weave sunlight and Lucius was more often than not described to be the best at it.

Once he was done, he heard a chorus of laughter in a distance. At first, the voices were soft, far too tame for the normal ear to catch unless they strained it. But as the seconds passed, Lucius thought that he recognized the voices that fuelled the laughter, making him spin on his heel in the direction of the noise.

"You are absolutely delusional!" There came the unmistakable voice of Adelia, voice much lighter than usual and filled with bubbling joy.

The thought of seeing the beauty again made Lucius's heart race. In an instant, a smile graced his handsome features as he absentmindedly combed a hand through his pale platinum blond hair, feet hurrying through the grass before his wings spread out to allow him to take flight. He was careful to steer clear of the larger flora, keeping near enough to the ground to spot Adelia's familiar face but not too close that would cause destruction to the plants of the garden.

"I only speak my mind when I am sure of it, Adelia," another voice replied.

Lucius had not even thought that there would be a possibility of there being someone else accompanying the night angel. When he was close enough to see two separate figures, he landed on the soft ground, tucking his wings carefully behind him so as to not knock into the trunk of the towering trees. Cautiously, he peered from behind a bush only to find Adelia's familiar black wings dragging across the forest ground, followed by the majestic ombre wings that belonged to one of the four other angels that worked in the North Garden.

It took no more than a few seconds for Lucius to recognize the man that was walking beside Adelia. His skin, though shades lighter than that of Adelia's, was still dark enough to resemble the night. Yet, his hair was a stark contrast, glistening and reflecting every ray of the sun like the ice crystals during the coldest of winters. When he smiled, Calvin flashed his pearly white teeth, his electrifying blue eyes sparkling with good humor.

"What brings you here today?" He asked her. The both of them had not noticed Lucius yet, continuing on their path and strolling past where Lucius hid.

The day angel did not know what it was that had come over him. On a usual day, he might have already made his presence known, jumping out of where he hid to make a big greeting for the angel that had captured his undivided attention. Yet, today, it seemed as though there was a sliver of doubt that had embedded itself inside of his usually bright heart.

Fear was not an emotion in which he was all too familiar with but it rained down on him like a raging storm that could not be tamed.

"Can I not visit those whom I am closest to?" Adelia simply replied, cleverly evading the question as she waved the matter off nonchalantly. "It felt like it has been forever since we last had a good talk about something other than work."

"I doubt that I was the only reason why you would risk losing your sleep to visit the North Garden. Was it because you knew that someone else would be here?"

Calvin's assumption made Lucius's heart skip a beat. It pounded rapidly against his chest, making his breath clog up in his throat. Why that simple sentence had affected him so, Lucius did not know. Perhaps it was because how his mind immediately went towards the easiest positive assumption and that was that Adelia had visited the North Garden because she had heard news of his presence.

One simple thought was enough to make Lucius's lips stretch widely. He grinned so broadly that if anyone else were to see, they might have thought of nothing more than how much it would physically hurt to do something as such.

Without a second thought, he quickly slipped out of his hiding spot – which was now a good distance behind the two other angels – and soared through the air. The wind caressed the feathers of his wings, sending a thrill of cooling air down to his back as he raced back down from the skies to the ground level. In swift, agile, and practiced movements, Lucius carefully landed a few steps in front of Adelia and Calvin, his usual broad smile gracing his face angelically.

For a split second, a look of surprise flitted over Adelia's features. Her bright eyes lit up, lips parting for a brief moment before she sighed out in relief with a smile.

"Lucius," she breathed out, placing a hand on her chest to calm her hectic breathing. "You startled me."

"Quite an entrance you've got there, dear friend," Calvin chimed in his agreement. "I suppose that you've finally accomplished the task that Fabian had set out for you?"

"It was a simple one. I ensured plenty of sunlight for the North Garden. The flowers will be blooming for many years to come with how you four take care of them." The smile hardly even left Lucius's face, continuously growing when he noticed, from the corner of his eye, how Adelia had only been grinning softly at him.

"Perhaps I stand corrected and day angels are not that bad, after all." With a flimsy wave of her hand, Adelia concluded her thoughts out loud. Yet, that statement was enough to make Lucius blush. The apples of his cheeks burned a bright cherry red and he instinctively dipped his head low so as to avoid the other two angels catching sight of his embarrassment.

Hiding his nervousness with a cough, Lucius looked back up again, his gaze lingering on Adelia's line of sight for a few seconds more than what was normal before changing to glance in Calvin's direction.

"So what brings the angel of the night here in the middle of the day?" He asked, directing his question at Adelia.

He had not noticed how she was fidgeting where she stood, her fingers continuously twiddling and wings twitching every so often. Those small movements went unnoticed by Lucius due to his delight at seeing her. In truth, he was too absorbed by what was ahead of him that what was behind him went unnoticed.

"Adelia arrived at the North Garden for a visit. She heard that—" Calvin was abruptly cut off when a delighted scream came from beside him.

"Dimitri!" Adelia cried out, sparing no time before lifting off the ground to fly towards where the other angel stood.

"What?" Lucius whispered under his breath more to himself than to others, slowly turning around as his eyes trailed after the course that Adelia took.

She landed on the ground elegantly, taking a few steps before throwing her arms around Dimitri's neck in a warm embrace. The dark-haired angel, though surprised, quickly responded by wrapping his arms around Adelia's waist. Lucius had to grit down on his tongue to prevent himself from screaming when Dimitri pressed a feather-light kiss onto the crown of Adelia's head, combing her long black hair back with his pale fingers.

Their conversation seemed to have melted away into the surroundings for Lucius could not seem to catch even a single word that was passed on between the both of them. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Calvin calmly making his way over to stand beside Lucius, placing a clueless hand on the blond's shoulders before sighing.

"She always rushes here whenever she hears news of Dimitri being around. I do not think that she's done anything like this before for anyone else." Calvin's comment was almost absentminded, completely oblivious to the fact that Lucius's blood was boiling with betrayal.

The angel of light had his fists clenched, his nails digging painfully into the flesh of his palm as he watched Adelia and Dimitri interact like old friends. Jealousy burned through every fiber of his body when the angel of the night kissed Dimitri's cheek, pressing her lips against his skin for a second too long to be friendly before hesitantly parting. In return, Dimitri simply smiled, combing back a stray strand of midnight dark hair behind her ear before leading her off in a distance, flowers blooming after each step he took.

"Lucius?" Calvin asked from beside him but Lucius ignored the other angel's words.

If there was such a thing as rage in the realm of Heaven, Lucius must have been the only one to feel it for it came after him in waves much stronger than anything he had ever felt before. Anger was an emotion rare for the angels for they were taught to embrace peace and serenity yet those lessons were the last things on Lucius's mind as of now.

He only saw blind rage, the world a blood red with anger as he shrugged Calvin's hand off of his shoulder wordlessly before soaring off into the skies without another word.

After all, what could he possibly say?

He and Adelia were hardly friends. The friendship that had bloomed between the both of them was only beginning less than a few weeks ago as compared to what could be since the beginning of time for Adelia and Dimitri. For the first time, Lucius was reminded of the fact that he did not wish to acknowledge.

No matter which realm they were in, which time they lived in, and how long had passed between the both of them, Adelia was ultimately still not his and perhaps never would be.

[A/N]:

In case you missed the announcement on my Twitter profile, I will be taking a 5-month hiatus due to a busy work schedule. I know that I have not been updating at all for the last month or so and I do not have any excuse for that. I can only ask for your forgiveness. With that, I will try my best to sneak in an update or two during this period of time.

However, do take note that [Lucius] is just a prelude to what is to come. It is a novella type of story and I do not plan to have it for as long as any of the main [Kisses From Death] books. In estimation, there is only maybe one or two more chapters left, followed by the epilogue, and this book will be completed (or at least the first draft).

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.

xx aurora

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