FROM HELL
From Hell – Chapter 5&6
→ Craving•The•Unhinged ←
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, or reposted in any form, or by any means without a BOLDLY written permission from ME.
Copyright © 2026
Naomi Cindy B.
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★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Illumination returned to the room. The flame from the lanterns reached the walls, roof, floors, and it settled on Ares’s perfect face too.
Now, his body is clearer. He has a large, dark burn mark on his chest—right on top of his heart.
Surprisingly, Lucia isn’t here anymore. From the side of his eyes, he saw the room window is open, meaning she already escaped.
The box containing the rejuvenating pills is open beside his resting chair, and the pill bottle is still inside, untouched.
His eyes came back to Princess Ina who’s still standing in front of him with her maidservants flanking her.
She looks mad, and honestly? It’s her trademark at this point. When does she not look mad?
“You’re a eyesore at this point. Why are you here?” He turned away and began returning inside.
Princess Ina hurried after him, slipping her arms around him from behind. The maidservants swiftly turned their backs cos witnessing royal affection is forbidden.
It’s a huge crime that could cost them their heads.
Ares stilled, his bare upper body tensing, muscles drawn tight beneath Ina’s firm hold.
She kissed his back deeply.
“If it’s about how I threatened you at the brothel yesterday, then I’m sorry. You can’t come late to the wedding and you know it. I know you hate threats and love challenges, and I know you’re planning to come late, but that’s just humiliation for me. Besides that, you’re going to get burnt by father again as punishment for your lateness, and you know I can’t watch that.” She muttered.
One would wonder if this was the same female who decapitated people at the brothel yesterday.
But Ares knew not to be moved by her fakery, so he unlocked her arms from himself and faced her.
“Return to the Palace,” he said, voice too cold. He sounds different.
Even his eyes are different—a deeper kind of coldness, but Princess Ina took it for deep affection since she likes her lover cold-hearted.
She nodded, stepping back.
“Don’t be late,” the words left her mouth with a smile, and she exited the room with her servants.
Ares waited till two minutes later when he heard the sound of her carriage wheeling away.
He threw on his robe jacket and jumped out through that outer room window, running under the faint moon gleam in the sky.
He’s aware that Lucia is long gone, but so far she went through that outer room window, she’d go through the left fence of his manor.
He arrived at the left fence and paused, turning around on a spot. There was complete, suffocating silence. It’s so eerie.
He inserted two fingers in his mouth and whistled with it.
Two black-clad females jumped down from the fence, landing clean in front of him. Two ruthless-looking females.
His sidekicks.
Both has extravagant makeup on, and they’re strikingly beautiful.
“Speak, Qui.” he ordered, lifting his brow at the first one.
“She escaped by jumping over this same fence straight from the ground. They weren’t lying, she’s indeed the strongest jumper in the world. She’s insane.” The first one replied.
She’s obviously Qui.
Ares faced the second one.
“Meng,” he muttered.
“Qui was right. But why it makes sense. You underwent bloody trainings, she underwent it too. It’s normal for you both to have the same level of insanity.” Meng shrugged.
“Am I the only one who wants to hear her speak to My Lord?” Qui faced Meng with a dark smile.
“Who cares if she speaks to My Lord? Her words aren’t gold.” Meng scoffed.
Qui gasped. “My Lord, did she take the rejuvenating pills like you predicted?” She asked.
“She didn’t,” Ares uttered, the words stiff and strained.
“She didn’t?” The ladies chorused.
“Why?” Qui continued. “You even payed hunters to gossip about the pills at your place when her mother’s caregiver was gathering herbs in the field cos you were sure she’d tell Lucia, and Lucia would come. She actually came, but she didn’t take the pills with her?” Qui blinked.
“I might actually like her unpredictability.” Meng commented.
“Ares? Where are you at!?” Lothar’s voice came from the manor.
“It’s the General,” Qui muttered.
“Stay down for now, you both. Till I’ll be back from the wedding.” Ares ordered curtly.
Their eyes turned back to him immediately.
“Yes!” They echoed together.
He left them by the fence, and they traded looks.
“If only Princess Ina knew what she’s signing up for at the wedding.” Meng laughed wickedly.
“I can’t wait for things to get heated. I trust My Lord.” Qui sighed.
They easily climbed a huge stone beside the fence, and from there, they jumped up together.
—
Getting back to the manor, Ares met Lothar loitering around, still looking for him in there, but his loiter ended when Ares entered.
His eyes widened.
“You rebellious thing, why aren’t you wearing your robe yet? You should be at the Palace already!”
“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be at the military camp, training armies or something?” Ares walked into his bedroom and picked the robe.
“Be at the military camp when my friend is getting married tonight? Can you be less cold to me at least? I should be at the top of your heart as your only person. Who else would befriend a jerk like you?” Lothar complained jokingly.
Ares put on the robe and faced him, looking even moodier.
“You know the reason I didn’t try to refuse this wedding, don’t you?” He asked in a mutter.
Lothar got serious and patted his shoulder. “Of course I do. And always remember that I’ll support you no matter how you chose to go about it.”
“Don’t get cheesy,” Ares smiled a little, and Lothar laughed, but he frowned a bit when he saw the open window.
“The window of this outer room is never open. What happened?”
Ares looked at the window too, and his little smile returned.
When he remembered how he slammed her hand with the edge of his own hand earlier in the dark, the smile stretched wider.
Yeah, it’s nothing intimate, but to him, it felt intimate.
That was the first time he actually touched her.
Yeah, he touched her.
He doesn’t care what anyone else says, but he touched her.
He was still smiling as he did the cuffs of his robe.
“You’re smiling that tricky meaningful smile?” Lothar studied him attentively. “What exactly happened in here?”
“You’re being a pain, Lothar.” Ares replied. He has finished wearing the robe, now he’s brushing his hair.
“You gatekeep gists too much. I hate you,” Lothar walked out of the bedroom to go get some wine.
Ares looked in the mirror again, and that smile wiped off.
Tonight, the step one will be completed.
*Marrying the Princess.
—
[Streets of Somara – A Tavern]
Lucia waited under the soft splash of oil lanterns, but her face is covered by her veiled hat.
To sit here successfully, she had to be be covered. Otherwise, people would stay away in fear and just stare from a distance, and while she likes the privacy, she doesn’t want to call attention to herself tonight.
She left Ares’s mansion ten minutes ago. She left without taking the pills cos she changed her mind.
It went too well.
First was the lanterns surrounding the manor—they were off. Second was the window she opened too easily, and third was the pills.
She found them stacked in a bottle inside a box in the outer room.
It’s as if he knew about her coming and waited patiently for her.
Which means he has something to do with the hunters who gossiped to Doja at the field.
It was all his plan, and she refuses to fall. She’s not a puppy.
She drank from the bowl of rice wine on the table, and she grimaced.
She’s not a big fan of rice wine. Plum satisfies her more, but plum wine is expensive, and for a Minister who doesn’t get paid, she’s playing the part by drinking rice wine outside.
Immediately she lowered the bowl back to the table, two men sat right in front of her—her sidekicks.
No masks, and now their gorgeous faces are out. Young, mean-looking men by the names Falcon and Limon.
“My Lady, you didn’t take the pills?” Limon asked seriously.
“It was all his plan,” Lucia said with impassive expression.
“He knew you were coming?” Falcon frowned.
Lucia stayed silent, meaning yes.
“I knew that scheming man was tricky, but I didn’t expect him to go this far just to lure you.” Falcon said.
“And by now, he should know you aren’t the simple type to be lured. Brain is active all day, all night.” Limon smirked like a threat.
“There’s still lots of time to make preparations, we don’t have to rush this.” Falcon said.
“It’s nearly time,” Lucia drank the remaining wine in her bowl. “I can’t be late to the wedding.”
“We meet at midnight?” Limon asked.
“Will the wedding be over yet at midnight? After the wedding, there’s a midnight party in the Palace of Moonlight.” Falcon said.
“I’ll find a way to slip out. We meet at midnight.” Lucia concluded and stood, carefully stepping through the wide tavern door.
—
[Jade Brothel – Edwin’s Room]
“My Lord!”
“Ah….my…my Lord…”
“My….Lor….d…”
The melody in the room was sinful, dark, brutal. The female would surely not forget tonight easily. Her hands are grabbing the camphor table tightly, chests pressing the surface.
Her n+ples are kissing the coldness.
Her legs wobbled on the smooth floor, and streams of male release ran down the middle of her legs.
Drip.
Drip.
Her sweat leaked to the table too, and her voice already turned sour and raspy as she has been crying and moaning for about an hour now.
Minister Edwin stood rigid behind her, plowing her ferociously like a slave. Her v+rgin status is the grease on the metal for him.
He’s ruining her without mercy.
He’s sweating too, and his veiny c+k stretched with every thrust, every push, every dig.
From the back like this, he feels like he’s in heaven.
He can’t have s+x with a female while she’s laying down. She has to stand like this and receive it from him at the back. It’s his style.
“I…I’m….ahh!” Her mo0+ans strung out again, like she was dying.
Edwin’s c+k slid out of her, but she knew it wasn’t the end cos he turned her around and caught her bre+sts, squeezing the two before accommodating one in his mouth, sucking like an animal.
He nearly slid his fingers into her swollen heat as he sucked, but that part was interrupted by the violent opening of the door which made him disentangle, ready to kill whoever interrupted his fun.
But his fury died when he saw the face of his Uncle.
Prime Minister Kai.
“Uncle?” Edwin frowned.
He instantly received a blinding slap on his mischievous face.
His face stung like he got raided by a hive of bees, and he had to hold the cheek with wide eyes.
The pro+titute gathered her clothes and rushed out of the room.
“Uncle!” Edwin snarled, his c+k swinging in front of him.
“It’s the wedding. Everyone’s in the Palace. Every single Minister is there, but here you are, shoving your manh00d around?” Kai glared.
“Why can’t I? The manh00d is mine! Why can’t I have my own moment and who said I wasn’t going to attend the wedding? I’m just going to be late since I’m not the one getting married!” Edwin shouted.
“Late and get on His Majesty’s bad side?” Kai sneered. “I’m trying all I can to make you earn His Majesty’s favor at least and climb up to the top 2 Minister in Court right after me, but you’re doing everything in your power to make that impossible!”
“You could have at least corrected me without hitting me! You can’t hit your daughter Enya this way, I’m the only one you raise your hands on all the time!” Edwin complained further.
“Yes that’s because Enya is obedient and not an animalistic rebel like you!” Kai pointed at him. “Be at the Palace in ten minutes! I don’t care if you have to fly!”
With that, he stormed out, leaving Edwin to grumble and fling away the porcelain figurines on the second table. As they shattered, he grunted.
“I really don’t want to hate you, Uncle. Why are you making it hard?” He muttered, eyes rolling.
But when he remembered he has just ten minutes, he started dressing up.
—
[Palace of Moonlight]
The Moonlight Palace is the most beautiful and the coldest of all Emperor Bones Palaces.
That’s why he specially chose it for the wedding.
It has never looked so alive.
Silver lanterns hung from the high eaves, each one glinting like a captured star.
Their light spilled across the marble courtyard, turning silk robes into drifting shadows.
The air carried the scent of night-blooming flowers, but beneath it lingered something sharper.
Ares stood at the center, clad in his ceremonial blue robe threaded with silver. His posture was flawless, his expression composed, but his stillness was not peace.
It was restraint—the kind that came before something went feral.
As he waited for the bride to join him before they do the conjugal walk forward, he studied the mood around himself. He studied the people.
Every Minister is present from both Cold and Midnight Court. Every royal family is present. Every official.
His eyes met with Lothar’s, and Lothar gave him a dry smile. A smile that says ‘i know why you’re doing this, and I’m in support’
Emperor Bones and Empress Sally sat on the highest pearl balcony.
While a large smile hung loose on Sally’s face, Bones held no smile to his deathly face.
Instead, he’s staring at one person…
Lucia.
Lucia sat across him on the low balcony for officials, and she’s the most expressionless person here.
Empress Sally’s smile faltered when she saw him staring, and she sent Lucia a blade-like glare before lifting a cup of wine from the table.
“Your Majesty,” she offered him, bringing it to his mouth in an attempt to stop him from staring.
Bones pushed her hand down, and the cup was placed back on the table.
Sally bit the inside of her mouth.
“I’ve been wondering why the Empress Dowager isn’t here.” She started a conversation.
The Dowager is Bones strict mother who stays at the last Palace, far from this whole area.
“I know she dislikes me since I became Empress, but Ina is her granddaughter. Her absence on Ina’s wedding is wrong.” Sally continued.
She got no reply from Bones. Bones eyes didn’t even leave Lucia.
Sally’s fists folded painfully.
Minister Edwin and Kai have both joined the guests now, and Princess Ina finally approached with Enya and assigned maidservants behind her.
The maidservants were dressed in rag-like clothes just to suppress their beauty. No one must be prettier than Princess Ina. That’s the point.
Even Enya had to reduce the ornaments in her hair tonight.
Ina’s robes shimmered like sunshine poured into silk, trailing behind her in quiet waves.
A delicate veil framed her face, but it did nothing to hide the faint tremor in her lips. Daughter of the Void Emperor.
No one spoke till she stopped just an arm’s length away from Ares.
For a brief moment, she lifted her gaze, smiling at Ares and hoping that somewhere behind those golden, distant eyes, there might be hidden warmth meant for her.
There was none.
Ares didn’t even pretend.
The officiant’s voice cut through the silence, echoing against the palace walls as he began the rites.
Binding words of unity and fate.
Ares heard none of the words because for a fleeting, dangerous second, his mind betrayed him.
To him, It wasn’t Ina standing before him. It was Lucia.
The officiant paused, awaiting the vow as all eyes turned to Ares.
This was the moment of the final seal.
A faint breeze stirred the courtyard, making the lanterns sway as Ares spoke in his beautifully empty voice.
“I accept.”
When it was Ina’s turn, her voice came softer,
“I accept.”
Silk ribbons were bound around their wrists, a symbol of unity that felt more like restraint—a punishment dressed as a blessing.
Ares’s mind did a little flashback to that day twenty years ago when his father was executed on the Void place grounds. When he watched his poor pretty mother die cos of a sin he’s sure she didn’t commit.
His father was unable to take the sting of his mother’s death, so the man ended up coming to the Palace to confront the Void Emperor, but he was executed too on the same day.
While his father’s body was left out for vultures to eat, his mother’s head was hung high on the gate of the Morning court.
And since then, his existence has been getting controlled by the Void Emperor, down to this wedding.
He had Ina betrothed to him since she was in Sally’s womb.
And now they’re getting married, but it’s the beginning of his plan anyways.
This wedding had to happen.
After the last rites and couple bow, the crowd erupted into a loud celebratory applause.
Ares did not look at his bride.
Not even once.
“That bastard doesn’t feel even the littlest affection for her,” Edwin muttered with a scowl.
“He doesn’t have to feel it,” Kai replied. “He doesn’t even need to, he just has to marry her. To control Ares’s marital life, His Majesty would even sacrifice his only daughter.”
Edwin looked at Kai, sighing. He doesn’t understand his Uncle at all. His aim has always been hidden, and that’s why he’s dangerous.
Lothar is sitting beside Lucia, so he inched close.
“You look like you don’t want to be here, Lucia.” He teased.
She turned her head to give him a look, then she smirked.
“Your friend looks like he doesn’t want to be here too.”
“Ares?” Lothar blinked. “No. He’s definitely in love with the Princess, but he’s too stiff to show it.”
Lucia looked back at the center.
Now, Princess Ina is hugging her parents who’re wishing her a happy married life.
Ares just stood there, blank till Lothar rushed to him.
“May the gods bless your marriage, friend.” He raised a cup.
Ares raised his cup too, and his eyes met with Lucia’s.
Lucia is never the type to look away, so she stared back.
More like glared back.
He smirked demurely, then he drank with Lothar.
Lucia took her cup and drank too, watching the moon in the sky while rubbing her sheathed knife hanging around her waist.
She has to get out of here before midnight. She could feel Bones intense lustful stare on herself, but she really has to leave.
At midnight, the dinner party moved to the Palace second courtyard.
Princess Ina changed into a short, slutty dress with delicate flower patterns stitched to it.
It’s transparent too, and everything she wore under is bare to all eyes.
Her cleavage is out again.
And Ares changed to a gauze blue robe too, living through the party with her. She wouldn’t stop touching him. She wouldn’t stop caressing him and he kept shoving her off.
It’s impossible for her to keep her hands to herself, and through her gestures, it’s pretty obvious that she’s madly turned on already.
In the middle of the partying, Lucia was able to slip away without grabbing anyone’s attention.
But Ares saw her leaving though, and his lips pressed.
Also, Edwin saw her leaving.
“Because His Majesty didn’t attend this night party, she left first? I’m reporting to His Majesty tomorrow!” He said drunkenly. “And I’ll add a false accusation that she left with a man so His Majesty would be moved to really punish her.” He laughed.
Enya came to sit down beside her father, taking his wine to drink before grinning at his face.
“Are you drunk?” Kai asked sternly.
“No, father. You taught me not to get drunk no matter how much I consume!” She cheerfully said.
“And what did I tell you about your duty?” Kai asked, sterner.
Enya’s cheerfulness disappeared.
“You told me to try and get close to the exiled Prince. But he’s exiled! Exiled to an unknown dessert. How am I supposed to get close?” She frowned with a hiss.
“You don’t want to become the future Empress of this nation?” Kai’s gaze turned poisonously ambitious.
“And what’s the probability that the exiled Prince will become the future Emperor when His Majesty hates him? For all we know, Empress Sally might even still give birth to an heir.” Enya shrugged.
Kai grabbed her wrist, shoving her close roughly.
“Father!” She gasped, their eyes meeting in the middle.
“I’m trying my best to give you a future. Don’t start disappointing me like your cousin is doing!” He spat.
Enya looked at Edwin who’s still drinking, then she bit her lip.
“I understand,”
Kai let her go, and she bit her lip again, relaxing.
The new couple didn’t last an hour in the party. They left the guests to continue enjoying the party while they retired to their new place.
Emperor Bones gave them Palace of Darkness to stay in, so they went right inside, and once they were in, Princess Ina began stripping.
Her wet juices were already running down her legs, shinning under the glow of the bright lanterns.
She took it slow like her mother taught her, letting Ares watch every step of the nudeness.
The little robe dress went off, and her thin undergarment almost followed, but Ares spoke up.
“Why not let’s drink first?” He picked a wine bottle from the rack, secretly dropping a pill inside.
“To set the mood for consummation?” She blinked in detest. “But I’m already in the mood. I’m so wet, I can’t wait. I want you—”
“Shh,” Ares placed a finger on her lips, and she followed with a blink and a little desperate moan.
“You’ll drink,” he whispered, letting his seductive eyes do the rest.
It got her wetter, but she’s going to wait if he asks her to.
So…she sat on the table with him, and each took their own cup, going one for one, two for two…
Till they got to five for five.
At the fifth cup, Ina was already so drowsy. Her eyes are barely open.
Ares is aware that her limit is six cups, so he poured the sixth.
But she stood from the table and grabbed him, attempting to tear off his clothes.
He grabbed her too, opening her mouth forcefully and pouring the sixth cup in there.
She didn’t last one second after she swallowed a drop.
She dropped limp on the floor, falling deeply asleep.
“Slut,” Ares sighed, dropping the cup and adjusting his robe.
Even with the imperial token, he won’t be allowed out of this Palace tonight cos Bones guards are surrounding it. It’s a must for them to consummate their marriage tonight, but he’s never doing that ritual.
What’s the benefit of being a good jumper if he can’t use it for this part?
He changed his robe to black and tied a black clothe around his face.
He blew off the lanterns before jumping out the high window.
The silent hush of the night wind was following him, licking the back of his neck as he made his way to the madly tall Palace walls.
He made sure to get to the back since there’s no guards at the outer side.
The outer side has an abandoned fountain, so no one uses that way.
His lightness skill helped. He lifted himself off the ground, landing on top of the gilded fence.
He received a pigeon note immediately.
★ We’re waiting at the market stall.
He jumped down the fence, landing in the fountain.
He had to swim out with the next three minutes, but once he was out, he was free.
This has to be tonight.
He has an hour to be outside the Palace to avoid suspicions.
Meaning; he has to be back in an hour no matter what.
He took the fountain shortcut, and five more minutes was all it took for him to arrive at the market.
He found his ladies easily.
Qui and Meng came out of the stall even before she saw them.
No words were exchanged.
They just moved under the pale illumination of the moon.
—
[Northern Road]
Lucia and her men left the goods they stole from the carriage during the day in the woods cos it’s not safe to transport at daytime, so they came back for the goods tonight.
It’s well hidden under a rock, and when Falcon lifted the covering on top of the goods, he smiled.
“I’m wondering how much we’re going to make from these if we transport them to the black market. Like fifty bags of silver?”
“You love counting your eggs,” Limon sneered at him.
“I just love counting—money in particular.” Falcon chuckled, but then he looked back. “My Lady?”
There’s no Lucia in sight.
“Horror!” Limon called out.
And a rustle came from the top of a tree leaning over the rock.
They both looked up to see Lucia sitting there like a coil of darkness and predation, stabbing the tree branches with her knife.
“All these fortunes I’m making from thieving, and I still can’t find the maker of the rejuvenation pills. I’ve followed Bones servant several times just to find out who they buy it from, but I’ve never seen who.” She said.
Her voice is chilly.
“Like I’ll always say, Horror. There’s still lots of time.” Falcon said. “We’ll still save your mother.”
“Did you say you met an obstacle when you were trying to kill the magistrate at our rival Empire?” Limon asked, jaws tight.
“Yes,” Lucia nodded blankly. “When I met the magistrate at the rival empire gambling den and was trying to befriend him, someone suddenly shouted from the back… ‘She’s from our rival Empire Zura! Kill her!'”
“What the hell!” Falcon exclaimed. “It’s definitely Empress Sally behind it. I can’t hate her less. She needs to just focus on sucking Bones’ cóvk!”
“How did you get out of it?” Limon asked Lucia.
“No one heard him. The den was too loud with hollers. His voice was like white noise, so I took him out by slitting his neck quietly at the back.” Lucia said, voice heartlessly sweet.
“And that’s the Horror I know,” Falcon laughed. “I wish I was there.”
Lucia jumped down from the tree, landing as clean as usual.
They carried the bags one per one, then they all moved.
—
[An Ancient Tomb]
This is the same tomb that was raided yesterday, but Ares has an habit.
After raiding a tomb and stealing the treasures, he’d dig a different hole in that same tomb and bury the treasures inside.
So when the government comes to investigate, they won’t spend much time before leaving since it’s already raided anyways.
What’s there to protect again?
They won’t come there again.
Exactly.
So Ares and his women came to get what they buried yesterday.
Taking the things to the black market in broad daylight would be risky, so it could only be done now.
They took what they kept in the ground, and now they’re leaving, each carrying a bag of treasures.
“Calamity, i’m sure Ina tried to get you to bed before you came here. Hell, you scent like her lousy perfume.” Qui said.
“I expected her to grow up and reject Calamity, but she fell stupidly in love instead. Yawn-jerking.” Meng scoffed.
“I don’t blame her though,” Qui chirped. “I mean…look at Calamity.”
She looked back at Ares who’s behind them, and Ares gave her a glare.
“Your mouth works too much. Do you want it ripped off?”
“Pardon this lady, My Lord.” Qui smiled poisonously.
And that was the end of the talks cos a low rumble came from the other side of the road immediately.
They stopped, professionally slipping into the forest without waiting.
They set the bags down quietly and used their fingers to brush the bushes apart so they got a view of the other side of the shrubs.
Right there, there’s a average-height man patrolling the forest with imperial guards behind him.
He wore combat clothes and a black long cape, and his hair is in a topknot
“That’s Dakota. He won the best martial arts figure three rows in a row now in the Empire.” Meng said.
“He must be the new Minister of Security,” Ares muttered. “He hasn’t been introduced to the court, and he’s already on duty?” His lips twitched. “Bones is crafty.”
“We should get out of here as fast as possible.” Qui said.
Ares moved first, then the ladies followed, all retaking their bags.
The road isn’t smooth, so they had to jump over rocks and stunts, going as stealthily as they could till they came to the end of that road where there’s a four-way intersection.
From the second way, Lucia and her men appeared, the three of them carrying their prize bags just like Ares and his ladies.
Territorial panic shot through the air, and their eyes moved diagonally in their sockets at the same time.
Their hands worked faster, each to his or her own weapon.
Limon and Falcon pulled out their daggers.
Meng and Qui pulled out their arrows.
Ares unsheathed his sword, and Lucia unsheathed her knife.
With three calculated steps from each side, they knocked into each other, and while Ares’s sword pressed on Lucia’s throat, Lucia’s knife pressed dangerously on his chest—right on top of his heart.
But they’re obviously more interested in seeing faces first, so at the same time, their weapons moved to the middle of their faces, and they both slashed off their iron masks.
As the four iron parts hit the stony, dry ground, their shocks were evident in their four eyes.
Their faces bared.
“Lucia?” The name slipped from him, barely a breath.
His gaze locked in place, pupils sharpening as if the world had tilted.
Lucia’s lips parted, then it closed again. Her eyes flickered.
“Ares?” she breathed.
TBC.
