Moonbound: The Rogue's Second Chance-Chapter 123: APPEAL (II)

"Thornridge?" Darius repeated. He pushed himself off of the desk and shot Serena a quizzical look. "Where did that idea come from? And have you been studying the maps?"

"No, I do not even know where the maps are, you should show me sometime," Serena said airily, waving a hand as if to brush aside the question like dust on a shelf.

Darius narrowed his eye and slid close to her and then leaned over. "And the idea?"

"You know I met a lot of people during that evening gathering," Serena said, her tone deliberately light. She shifted back into the chair, crossing one leg over the other. "And there was this beautiful little girl. I promised to come visit her one of these days."

"You can not go making promises to everyone who looks at you with teary eyes," Darius said.

Serena’s lips parted slightly in astonishment, she relaxed into the chair and shot Darius an incredulous look. "She did not look at me with teary eyes. Her name is Clara."

Darius froze for a split second before he pushed himself off the chair and walked over to his seat. The wood scraped across the floor. He placed his hand under his chin and closed his eyes briefly.

"You know her, do you not?"

Darius winced and then looked away briefly. Of course, he knew the girl.

He hadn’t meant to end up in Thornridge that day, not really. It was one of those reckless rides...cloak, saddle, a fading moon overhead— taken when the weight of being Alpha dug too deep into his ribs. He remembered the wind biting his cheeks, the sting oddly welcome. He tied his horse to an outpost, half-hidden, and wandered into the town like a ghost

\At the time, he knew his Scoutmaster, Emmett, was from this town but the man was hardly around due to his duty. He kept away from the people, it was easy because he had begged and pleaded for the Moonseeker to give him a strong scent suppressant so he was near invisible.

A sniveling child, maybe ten, staring with wide eyes and a trembling mouth, nose shiny with snot. Darius had frozen like a startled deer. He fumbled for a handkerchief, held it out awkwardly. She took one look, then bolted. A smart move, he thought, he was nothing but a stranger in her eyes.

He was reluctant to go back to his brooding walk, every step he took was to find the girl. It took him some time but he found her sitting next to a run-down cottage house, staring into nothing.

"Are you a spirit here to take me?" she had asked, voice too calm for a child.

Darius remembered blinking slowly and letting out a sound that expressed his confusion. They had gone back and forth and he finally understood the full gist of things. Her parents were nowhere to be seen and a knot formed in his stomach. He could already imagine what had become of them, the reason was the person who had sired him.

"What is your favourite game?" Darius asked.

And it was hide and seek, and they played for so long that his legs nearly gave out. He laughed till there were tears in his eyes, even with his advantage he was beaten by this little girl. Darius’ heart fluttered when she flopped on him after their last game.

"Here," he had said, handing her a fat purse full of coins. Clara had hesitated but he pulled her hand and placed it in hers. "For you and your grandfather, say it is from Darius."

He had seen her back to her house and refused to get in, he waved the girl off and he went back to his horse.

Darius would have never imagined she came all the way from Thornridge, most likely on foot. He squeezed his hands tighter together and sighed.

Serena looked at Darius, he had been painfully silent for a few minutes, he looked up at her like he was about to speak.

"I do know her," he said, voice low.

Serena smoothed the fabric of her dress, fingers tracing idle lines across her lap. She smiled softly. "You played hide and seek with her."

Darius’ brows lifted, a flicker of disbelief crossing his face. "That is not true. She told you that?"

Serena cleared her throat, trying and failing to cover a small laugh. "She did. I can’t imagine you playing hide and seek at all."

"You can not imagine it because it is not true."

She nodded slowly, biting back another smile. Then she leaned forward, her expression sobering. "So you do know who Clara is... That’s who I am going to see."

Darius shook his head. "I can not."

Serena placed her hands on the table and hummed. "Why not?"

"Because the Dawnbreak party is so close and I can not afford to send you out so far from the castle. And there are no people I am comfortable sending you out with," Darius said.

Serena pressed her lips in a thin line, her upper lip twitched and she exhaled slowly. "I made a promise."

Darius licked his lips and then relaxed into his chair, the timing was just awful, so many issues to take into account. He squeezed his hands closer together and looked at Serena.

She tied her hair back tightly like how one would before they would go horse riding. He had never seen her hair like that before, he had a thought to get her shawls and scarf. That was how she dressed when she left Oakspire.

"It will be fine, if they get here, then that means you and I will be so occupied," Serena said.

It did not sit right with her, if she were to be going in and out of the castle as she pleased. In her mind, the assault Dawnbreak would bring would only last a few weeks, a sensitive period that would be.

Darius looked her over, weighing things, reluctant to start another argument he didn’t have the energy to finish.

"Fine," he said at last, with a breath like defeat. "But on one condition."

Serena tilted her head, curious. "What is that?"

"I will go along with you."