"Awaken, my Queen."

Lucien kisses Sera's quivering eyelashes, making her sigh, so comfortable in Lucien's arms.

Warm water lapped at her skin, surrounding her in a soothing warmth. She giggles when he runs his nose over her sensitive, delicate neck, finally opening her groggy eyes.

"Where are we?" Sera looks around her to see that they were in Lucien's room, in the same bath she'd bathed him in before, this time together. The bath was a perfect luxurious temperature that made her warm up from the coolness of the rain outside. Sera was still sleepy, but the lather Lucien was working into her hair with his thick fingers felt amazing.

Falling asleep in a small stable while the rain fell around them, and then waking up in a soothing bath was a bit jarring to her. It was like teleporting from one spot to another.

Or maybe this was a dream she was having in her sleep? That couldn't be right.

The water trickled over her shoulders and swirled around her body with Lucien's slight movements washing her hair behind her. Two of them in the porcelain claw-footed bathtub, Sera sitting atop Lucien's lap with eyelids drooping when he dug his fingers deeper into her scalp, massaging the soap in.

The feeling the length of Lucien's body under her was making her hyper-sensitive. Her body might melt like butter if she went another round with Lucien tonight.

"In the castle" He chuckles in a low voice. Looks like his Sera was still groggy, to not recognize this room when she awoke.

Lucien picks out each varying piece of straw that had woven itself into her hair.

"Does your face still hurt?" He asks, tracing his tongue ever so gently over the bruise, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Sera shakes her head, a clump of soap bubbles falling from her hair. "Only a little"

Humming in response,"Close your eyes" Lucien begins to rinse her hair, using a bowl to splash water on her while his other hand laid atop her forehead to keep the soap water from getting in her eyes.

"I'll put some ointment on it once we're all clean." He kissed her other, uninjured cheek.

Sera lowers her lashes, playing with Lucien's hand that circled her waist, weaving their fingers, large and small, together.

"I'm so glad you found me, Lucien."

With the danger behind them and the roaring fire of need slightly appeased by their violent lovemaking, the couple talked over what had happened to them during the separation.

"How did you do it?" Her Lucien would act like a big, red dog at times, so friendly and mischievous with her....Did Lucien have the scenting capabilities of a hound, too?

"It's this, the ring." Lucien holds up her left hand, the jewel on her ring catching the lamplight as it glowed on her finger.

"There's a search mechanism on it." Sera could feel a slight pressure in the room as the glow in the ring began to burn brighter.

"You don't have to do that, Lucien! You're using your mana now, aren't you?" Lucien had never used his magic so easily, indiscriminately like this before. The fights in the Great War too, he'd barely used mana, relying on his swordsmanship to survive. Because he hadn't had the vast mana pool. It wasn't that he wouldn't but simply, he couldn't.

"It's alright"

"And the price of a magic item like this, it must be valuable! You know the price of magical items, what they can take from a person"

"Did it take your lifespan-"

"No. The price has already been paid. It was all worth it, since it played it's role to protect you." Lucien gives a slight smile to reassure her. Truly, the price wasn't high to him in comparison with her. Without her, he would have no value. It was given back what was due to him.

Sera had nothing to say to that. Though he shrugged it off, she just hoped that whatever price Lucien had paid wasn't too costly. Whenever magic became involved, money alone was never enough to pay the price.

"Who were those people that attacked us? I thought there was peace in the nation since the Great War ended..."

"There was, for a short while. Yet with time, the castle coffers had begun to deplete themselves at an unusually high rate, and rumors began to reach this castle. Children disappearing, lands erroneously awarded to the wrong people, successful businesses suddenly dying."

Lucien rests his chin on Sera's shoulder. His low voice resonates against the bare skin.

"An unseen blight was spreading in Thornmere. The nobles had formed a coalition behind my back, working for their own riches..."

Pressing his forehead to her shoulder, he sighs. The sigh was deep and heavy, full of inexpressible sorrow and regret, anger at himself.

"I'd lost control."

He doesn't mention it was because Sera left. It was his fault, not hers, for forsaking the people in their time of need.

"The place we met- The woman living there, in the cottage next to the stable" Sera takes a breath.

"She talked about someone named The Collector, and the girls he owned.."

Lucien frowns at the new information.

"Tell me more."

"I don't know anything else. She wanted to see my hands to check if I was one of his girls.."

"Hard labor perhaps?" Muttering under his breath, Lucien ponders.

He pours some soap into his hand and quickly washes his own hair, much faster and without the carefulness he'd shown Sera.

"It might be one of the nobles working under a false name, or one of the lackeys."

"We'd outlawed slave labor together, hadn't we?"

Sera asks Lucien, concerned. Lucien was quick to nod, telling her all she needed to know. Someone having the courage to do something like this under Lucien's nose was bad.

"Could they be slaves?"

"Perhaps. I'll order a full investigation of the area. The area outside the East Gate is owned by Records Minister Cromwell. He might be a rat" Lucien steps out of the bath, exposing Sera to the full glory of his beautiful body as he towels off to dry with rough swipes, and then lifts Sera out of the bath like a child. Water sloughs off her body, spilling back into the soapy bath water. Her body was already sparkling clean from when he'd washed her while she was asleep.

Softly sweeping a white towel over her body, Lucien was unable to resist kissing a few red marks on her breasts and stomach as he worked his way around her body. Once Sera was dry, Lucien stands up to his full height, towering over her.

"Do you want to come with me? We're going to go hunt."

"Good. I'll come with you." Sera knew exactly what Lucien was talking about. They weren't hunting animals tonight. It's the beasts wearing human flesh, the ones that oppress their people in Lucien's name, in the name of Thornmere. Direct violence was more Lucien's style. Though she didn't always agree with his methods, something like slavery had to be nipped in the bud, quickly before it spread.

"You'll need a healer if things get ugly"

Lucien pauses, but then nods. Soft and sweet Sera had a backbone to her when the times got rough. If she made up her mind to do something, she would do it. Like the way she'd chosen to leave him.

And Sera was a good healer in her own right. She would be an asset to his men, and be in a safe area surrounded by knights.