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There was one term I didn't think I would ever associate with Lucas but it was the only thing that came to mind. He looked fragile.

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I WATCHED THE waves crash against the rocks down below as I leaned over the ledge, trying to catch my breath from all the running.

Looking up at the moon, I run a hand through my wild hair, shaking my head in disbelief, heart thudding courtesy of the marathon I had just run.

It shouldn't have been possible, but it was.

The stone had moved- it had frickin moved.

I felt sick, and yet all I could do was dry heave. I didn't know whether I was happy or sad.

Having a dilect meant that I could finally live on Kingsland without feeling guilty about what I was or rather who I was and yet it also meant that I knew nothing about who I was.

That all my life I had been lied to.

This was different from keeping Kingsland from me, but lying to me about who I was was something even I couldn't accept.

I never wanted to be the girl to ever say these words. But at this moment I felt every ounce of it.

My whole life had been a lie.

Dad was prime- he had to be, he was the King of Kingsland.

Mom? She couldn't be if she had gotten hurt during the fall whilst I was left unscathed.

Now that I was a dilectus, so many questions were tearing through my mind.

What was my dilect? How did Gravis know to put me in red? Was he aware of what I was or had I used my dilect once long before I can remember for him to go by?

Also, why was my dilect barred?

Harvest had said that it had been blocked, but why?

My gaze shifted over the reflection of the dark ocean, breathing harshly, pushing my hair out of my face as the wind howled it around me.

My mind flashed to the meeting that Gravis and I had on this very hilltop, on a night just like this.

He had so many chances to tell me about what I really was.

I could care less about Keeping Kingsland a secret from me, or that my father was actually the king of Kingsland, all that seemed to have been in line to be told to me eventually- but this-

This was hiding a piece of who I was- of what I could be.

All my life, I thought I was human and now, I find out that somewhere in my veins, from centuries ago runs the blood of the old gods.

I looked down at the pebble that I was fidgeting in the palm of my hand. This one little thing changed my whole life.

I brought it up to my face, examining it for a few seconds before my fists wrapped around it-

Was I even ready for this?

Could I handle it?

I should just throw it away and keep pretending I was who I believed myself to be. I never did do well with change anyway. 

I stared out into the far ocean, the night sky plain tonight, only the moon hanging and a rebel star that had managed to dodge the night clouds and shine.

I breathed out, thinking about tossing the stupid pebble but a voice startled me, whipping around in time to see Lucas Bowne standing a few feet away, eyebrows arched.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his eyes narrowing down on me. He looked different than usual.

Not the confident Lucas Bowne who stood proudly taller than everyone else but with his shoulders hunched, the bags under his eyes, hands in his hoody, he watched me,

"It's dangerous standing that close to the edge, it's a 60-meter drop- you could die," he grunted moving toward me slowly.

I said nothing, only licking my dry lips, my hands slipping in my pocket placing the stone inside it safely.

He stopped a few feet away from me, staring down at me. I got slightly uncomfortable, wringing my hands in front of me, eyes dropping to the ground.

"Well?" he asked once more.

My eyes shifted to his hazel ones, eyebrows arching- not understanding what he wanted me to say, and so I ended up waving at him.

He seemed surprised at this but chuckled nevertheless, and for that brief moment, I saw the old Lucas.

I smiled, taking a step closer to him as he watched,

'Are you okay?' I signed.

He paused at this question, refusing to hold eye contact for a few seconds as he breathed out slowly, eyes snapping back to mine,

"I've been better," he confessed, his tone low.

There was one term I didn't think I would ever associate with Lucas but it was the only thing that came to mind. He looked fragile.

He moved closer, standing next to me, looking out at the ocean, not saying a word.

I wanted to ask him more about the Crimson Blood moon, anything to stop me from thinking about the pebble and my not-so-human status, but something told me that was the last thing he wanted to talk about.

My eyebrows furrowed as I remembered something turning to him, 'The tree?'

That seemed to have been another wrong question because his jaw went rigid like he didn't want to answer that one too either, but just when I thought I had overstepped he replied sticky-

"It was the largest tree on Kingsland, sat right at the heart of it," he explained, glancing down at me momentarily, "it was healthy too," he grunted, jaw tightening and shaking his head.

"Being at the center of Kingsland in the heart of the Fairborn forest it had as much energy as any living plant could have to sustain itself, not to mention," he added, in a deep breath as if breathing was a little bit harder for him too,

"Lwangi and Rangi keeping up its maintenance- there is no way it could have just- died like that." he paused, turning back to me, his eyebrows drawn together, "no normal way," he muttered.

Normal way?

Did he believe it was unnatural? That something drained all the energy from it?

Miss Almulese did say the wands were created from a wilting tree as they are good conductors of magic.

What if- I paused, eyes widening slightly- signing softly

'You think someone used the tree to get its power."

He didn't say a word back, his eyes searching mine silently, swallowing for a second, before nodding slightly,

"I know that someone did it-" he paraphrased but shook his head, "I just don't know who but I can't help but think that maybe I could have  protected it if I was there if I just felt like my old self" he paused, frustration laced in his every word, sadness in his tone, eyes turning back to me stinging in pain,

"Then maybe, I could have saved it."

My heartbeat slowly at his words, shaking my head-

"It's gone," he finally grunted out, his tone shaky as he looked out into the wide ocean, "when the wilting tree died its last attempt for life was to take in as much energy as it could. There are more than thirty trees that have rotted to the core in there," he grunted, pointing in the direction of the Fairborn forest, "including mine."

My eyes snapped to him at this. His scene.

His tree was gone.

He looked at me with what seemed like vulnerability in his eyes,

"When I first came to Kingsland, I was the only kid here," he explained, "and I never felt so alone, away from Grandmother, my friends, and all the people I called family- that tree-" he paused, seemingly picturing in his head, "was the one place that got me through it, one place that I could go for refuge and now..' he trailed off, " and now, on the one time of the year that I need it, I have nothing. I'm back to feeling weak and alone, with no friends because the last thing they need is to be around me. Daya's been extra busy this year and now no place of comfort." his shoulders fell and I could see the pain traveling through his body in dark veins that disappeared and reappeared on his neck.

"Once again- I'm alone," he finished, his jaw ticking, "it's so quiet out here."

I did not know what made me touch him, but I did.

Maybe it was refreshing to hear that some people had bigger problems and a break away from the headache of what I had just found out was all that I needed.

My hand touched his arm, and he turned as if no one had touched him for a while, my hand finding his way just above his sturdy beating heart, a small reassuring smile on my face as I signed,

'You have me."

Silence consumed both of us, with only the sound of the waves, the rushing wind, and the soft thump of his heart beneath my hand.

I was only offering a shoulder as a friend would but when he took a step closer, towering over me so that the flat of my palm lay directly over his chest, my own heart thudded through me.

He was right.

It was way too quiet.

Way too beautiful and peaceful to be trapped in this moment with him.

His hand brushed my hair off my face, and he tilted my chin to look back up at me, a shimmer in his hazel eyes.

"Tell me you're not real," he chuckled lowly, deep voice rumbling through him, the vibration reaching my hand, my heart still a hard beat within me, searching and yet mesmerized by his calming hazel eyes-

"you're too perfect to be real-" he finished, his tone low and breathing shallow, a whisper away from mine.

His gaze suddenly dropped from my eyes to my lips, drawing in, my heart a long beat about to flat line-

"TALANDA" a sharp voice barked, startling the heck out of me, my heart now hammering like a drum as I snapped in the direction of the sharp voice.

My eyes widened at the sight of Harvest standing a few feet away- his gaze was dark and broody, a clench in his jaw, blue eyes burning with what I could only describe as anger, eyes shifting from Lucas to me.

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[perfect place to end a chapter I think :)]
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