LUCIUS' POV
Immediately upon hearing it, I believed him. Ariadne was capable of it, and now that it was mentioned, the look she had given Dusk the previous night seemed to carry an intent of murder.
In anger, I stormed out of the study, but halted. "Thank you for saying it even without my permission. Tell Ethan I said thanks too, although I'm sure it wasn't for my sake," I said, and left the study.
I walked as fast as I could to the garden first, but didn't find anyone...
Then, I went to the training grounds and met Marcus training the men. "Have you seen Dusk?" I asked him, and he shook his head.
"No, I haven't seen her. Is something the problem?" He asked with concern.
"What about Ariadne?" I asked.
"No, Alpha. I haven't seen her either," he said, and I ran my hands through my hair.
"If you see any of them, be sure to inform me. Make sure you find me," I said and left in a hurry.
As I walked, I bumped into a lady, and she fell. I stopped to help and saw it was Dalia. She immediately stood up and bowed to me.
"Where's Dusk?" I asked her, and she looked confused.
"Dusk? I'm afraid I saw her last this morning in the kitchen," she said, and that must have been around the time Dusk brought me food in bed.
"What about Ariadne?" I asked.
"Oh, she told me she was going for a horseback ride," she said, and I was so anxious that I grabbed her shoulders, which made her scared.
"Horseback ride. Where?" I asked her.
"In the woods, closer to the people," she said, and I left her in a hurry.
I went to the horse stalls, took a horse, and climbed atop it. I rode quickly because there was no telling what was happening at that moment. As I rode into the woods, I watched for every sign of them, and after a while, I spotted Dusk and Seline talking as the horses walked slowly.
I took a breath and relaxed, only to spot Ariadne a few feet behind them with an arrow trained at Dusk. However, my heart thumped loudly as I saw it was a silver arrow. She really wanted to kill Dusk.
I rode my horse as fast as I could, and when I got closer, I was about to shout to stop Ariadne, but she had let the arrow fly. I brought my horse to a stop, ran with all the speed I possessed, and climbed a tree branch. I jumped, knocking Dusk, and I felt the horrible pain of the silver piercing through my shoulder. I fell to the floor, and the arrow shaft broke.
My shoulder burned, and I heard Seline scream. Unfortunately, the pain was so intense that my eyes were closing. I held it in so Dusk wouldn't panic, and the last thing I heard was her scream.
**~
DUSK'S POV**
"What do you mean four days!?" Seline asked him, but he left us. We tried to go in, but he had locked the door. Shortly, Marcus and his men came in, and we followed them in.
"He's not healing," the Physician said to Marcus.
"Take her away," Marcus said to two of the guards, and they dragged Ariadne away.
"Wait! Let me see him! Let me go!" Ariadne fought, but they paid her no attention.
"Please, we don't want you to see this," the Physicians said, and the guards tried to take us out gently.
I burned with blind anger and went to the Physicians' store, which was on the right. I searched the potions, medicines, and... I saw what I needed. I took it and walked past Seline, who tried to stop me.
I went to the dungeon where they had already locked Ariadne up. "Open it," I said to the guards, and they questioned themselves, but seeing the look on my face, they opened it.
Ariadne didn't even bother looking up. She sobbed quietly, and I stood over her, and opened my bottle. With one swift move, I grabbed her hair, tilting her neck upwards as her mouth opened in a scream. I poured half the contents of my bottle down her throat, and before she could spit it out, she had swallowed it.
Then I dropped the bottle. "You deserve it. You poisoned someone, you get poisoned too," I said, and her eyes bulged. She took the bottle with shaky hands, and as she read the name, she screamed and started to cry.
She went on her knees and held my dress. "Dusk... Dusk... you're not like me, you can't do this!"
"I also have a sad past and would do anything to keep the happiness I have right now. I won't let anyone, not even you, take it from me. You tried to kill me? You get what you wanted right now," I said, kicking her off and leaving her cell.
The doors were locked and she began to beg. Her eyeballs became red, and blood started to drop out of her nose and mouth. She screamed.
"Kill me! Dusk, kill me! I beg of you!!" She screamed and continued to scream in pain.
"No, I won't kill you. You'll die that way, slowly and painfully," I said, and left the dungeon angrily.
I ran back to the Physicians' quarters and found them with Seline outside. They were about to explain to her but hesitated when they saw me.
"Speak," I said, and didn't know I could have a voice as dangerous as that.
"He's not healing. Silver in our blood is very fatal. It's poison itself, but in his case, it was coated with a rare poison. We don't even have it in our stock, nor do we have the antidote," they said.
"So what?" I asked, and they looked at each other.
"We'll need a new concoction," they said, and it was like a bombshell.
I pushed them aside and went in to see Lucius, locking the door behind me. He was on the bed sleeping, but his face looked so pale. I went to his bedside, knelt, and the tears came pouring down.
The tears I had held back for so long. He had been true to his words, protecting me even till the very end. He had sacrificed himself.
My sobs turned into a loud wail, and I cried uncontrollably. So many times I had told myself I hated him, that I couldn't forgive him because he had made my life hell when all I wanted was comfort. But as my tears dropped heavily onto his face, I realized what I had failed to notice...
That I loved him.