A visit to Wesborne

Luciana stared at him in disbelief. "And you agreed to it?" She asked doubtfully.

"I told him that I might take one or two." Raziel recounted his meeting with his father to her.

"Oh, 'might'. You are not certain."

"You'd be surprised." Raziel said with a smirk.

"I don't believe it." Luciana argued, her gaze narrowed at him.

"You don't want me to get married?" Raziel raised a brow teasingly at her.

"That's not in my place to decide, but I don't believe you will be getting married. You must have some ace up your sleeve."

"I'm with her. Knowing you, you would play a trick on them again." Lorenzo added, and Raziel only smiled.

"We will see."

*****

The next morning, Luciana woke up early to go find Raziel. Strangely she did not have her nightmares that night and she would have loved to sleep more, but Raziel offered to help her find her sister, and she didn't want the opportunity to slip off her fingers.

Before she could knock, she heard his voice asking her to come in, and she stepped inside.

"Good morning your highness."

"Did you get any sleep at all Luciana? It's still very early."

"Strangely I slept through out the night."

"You should have remained in bed, and I will come get you when I am ready." Raziel said to her.

"I don't want to take any chances."

"You think I will not come?"

"I don't know, but I am not ready to find out."

Raziel shook his head. This one really had a problem with trust. He then stood up.

"You should allow me bath first, or you'd rather me go like this?"

"Take your time your highness."

Raziel walked through the connecting door to another room, which was obviously the bathroom. While Luciana stood in his room, looking taking a real look at it for the first time.

It was large, and he seemed to like dark colours. They was a table with a big book on top, and a chair with it. Luciana checked the name of the book.

"The art of war." She read out.

She then walked to his closet, but she decided to not open it, as he might find it offensive. She then decided to go sit on his chair and wait for him.

But before she could reach the chair, the bathroom door opened and Raziel stepped out with only a towel covering his lower body.

"Your highness!" Luciana yelled in shock and quickly looked away.

"I'm tempting right?" Raziel teased her.

"No. You are shameless."

"What? It's not like I'm naked or something."

Luciana's stupid mind decided to imagine him naked at that moment and her face turned red.

"I should leave your highness."

Raziel laughed as he watched her scurry away.

"You'd probably faint the day you will see me naked."

Luciana increased her pace before she hear him say another scandalous thing.

When Raziel was done, he went to find the human. He knocked on her door. He was carrying a cloak with thick furs on one hand.

"You can come out now. I am fully clothed."

Luciana opened the door, pretending not to be bothered by his words.

"You have eaten right?"

"Yes. I ate when I woke up. I know you won't let me go anywhere without eating."

"Good you know that."

"Your highness. It is going to take two days to get to Wesborne on carriage ride, one day by horse alone. Won't your father be displeased?" She asked thoughtfully.

"He is already used to that." Raziel answered, and Luciana said nothing to that. "Wear this." He then draped the cloak over her.

When they came outside the castle, Luciana searched for the prince's carriage, but she didn't find it.

"Where is your carriage? Maybe Adam got caught up on something."

"Who said we are using a carriage?"

"We would be using horses?"

"No."

"We will walk?"

"You were worried that we would get spend too much time on the road right? But we don't have to do that when we can get there in a few hours."

Luciana was confused. Have something faster than horses been invented?

"How do we go your highness?"

"Have you forgotten that I'm a vampire? That I have supernatural speed?"

"But I am not. I can't keep up." She reasoned.

Raziel smirked. "That is why you should be happy that I am strong enough to carry you."

"What?!!!"

"Remember to cover your head."

Before Luciana could say one more word, Raziel already picked her up and zoomed off. Because of the speed with which he moved, Luciana didn't know when she wrapped her legs around his waist, and her hands tightened around his neck. She then buried her head in his shoulders.

"I thought you were scared of nothing." He laughed.

Luciana felt like screaming because of the speed and wind, but she bit into his shoulder to stop herself.

"Luciana!"

"Sorryyyy." She screamed.

In the next three hours, they arrived at the border of Wesborne. Raziel finally stopped and dropped Luciana down. He held her for a while as he knew that she would be feeling light headed for a while.

"Are you alright now? Can you walk?"

"I am okay."

He then left her, and she walked forward like a drunk person.

"Right. You are not okay. We should find somewhere to sit for now." He held her and took her to one of the benches he sighted.

"I said I'm fine." She insisted.

"Of course. You look very fine right now."

They stayed there for a while, until Raziel concluded that Luciana was okay to move. He then carried her to her old house with a lower speed, and Luciana gave him directions through out the journey.

When they got to front of Luciana's old house, they were surprised to find it empty.

"I thought someone would have bought it." Luciana said.

"Maybe you are on luck."

She still looked confused. She then spotted a someone she knew passing by.

"He lives down the street. He should know something about the house." Luciana said, thinking of questioning him. But Raziel was faster and he approached the man first.

"Is this house for sale? I would love to buy it for my family."

"I am afraid not. It was bought by a family a few days ago, but the duke found the documents to be illegal. He then seized the house. It is the property of the duke now."

"Thank you for your time." He said to the man, then he went to tell Luciana what he was told.

"The duke is trying to keep the house for me." Luciana noted. "I don't know if he had found out what happened to my family."

"I believe he has. That's why he's keeping the house in hope to find you."

Luciana then stared at the house that once belonged to her family, and it brought pain to her chest.

"Are you ready to go in?" Raziel asked softly when he noticed the change in her mood. "I could go in and bring out every photograph I see."

Luciana shook her head. "No. I can do it. The door is locked."

"That is not a problem."

That is when they both looked and saw where it was written 'Property of the Duke' on the door. Raziel easily broke the lock, and Luciana entered first.

The place was eerily quiet, and with each step she took, she felt her heart sink. Her body turned cold, and goosebumps covered her skin.

She opened her parents bedroom door, and her memory was triggered to remember their happy moments together. She couldn't count how many times she had walked in on them kissing. She went in and took a photograph of them.

The house still looked the same. It was as if Elric made sure nothing got missing.

When she came out, she went into Finn's room, and also took a photograph of the young boy. She did same with Aunty Madeline's room, before going into Freya's.

She took four of hers, so no one would have difficulty recognizing her.

Raziel followed close behind and notice her wobble.

"Luciana are you okay?"

She shook her head vehemently, and her stomach churned. She fell to the ground, and everything in her stomach poured out.

"I can't take it Raziel. Take me out of here." She didn't even realize when she called the prince by his name. The pain she was feeling was suffocating her.

"Freya used to stay here. That was Aunt Madeline's, that was Finn's..." Tears gathered in her eyes and her voice broke.

"That belonged to my parents." Now the tears streamed down and Raziel reached to hold her.

"This house is filled with the memory of everyone I have loved that had died. They are dead. All of them."

"Luciana, Luciana listen..."

Luciana fought against him, hitting his chest. He then left her.

But in the next moment, he pulled her into his embrace.