CHAPTER 456: HE IS GONE

Abrielle’s legs were sore from going to and fro tonight. Despite the exhaustion, she didn’t slow down and continued running.

Someone was here for Cedric. What did Yuki mean? Why did he speak in puzzles? Her heart was hammering against her rib cage, the hallway blurred in her eyes as she continued running..

The closer she got to the room, the more dense the air felt. She wondered how Yuki could sense the presence from far away. It felt dark and heavy. Her lungs struggled to breathe, goosebumps formed in her skin, every alarm in her body was telling her to stop and not get close to whatever was in Cedric’s room.

Was it death? She wondered. Even death didn’t feel this scary. Abrielle finally got to the heavy doors and pushed them open

As soon as it parted the heavy suffocating presence disappeared from the room

"Cedric!!!" She screamed her lungs out, her eyes falling on the bed to find him. It was empty. "Cedric?" She called out again, and a silent dread gripped her. Her heart felt heavy and slowly wrenched in pain.

Her feet ran to the bed, she was still catching her breath but she didn’t care about the exhaustion. She pulled off the sheets to confirm Cedric was truly not in the bed.

Abrielle ran all over the room searching every corner even places impossible for him to be. He wasn’t here.

"Cedric..where are you?" She asked. A heartbreaking cry escaped her lips. He was gone. He left her? She pulled the sheets that still had his subtle warmth on them and his lingering scent.

He was here a moment ago but had disappeared. Where did he go? The room’s atmosphere shifted and Yuki appeared beside her. "You were late." He mentioned, his gaze fell on the broken figure on the floor

"Why didn’t you teleport me here? You could have helped." She cried out refusing to glance at him. She only held the sheets closer.

"I didn’t even get to tell him that I also love him and it feels like we might never see each other. Like he is truly dead now." Her voice broke and Yuki’s heart finally squeezed. His fingers curled into a fist and he bowed his head.

"I can’t interfere especially when it comes to the one that was here earlier. I am sorry but a barrier was keeping me out." Yuki apologised. Abrielle didn’t even sob but the tears kept on falling.

"So he was taken away.." she stated the fact. Yuki didn’t reply which made her more certain she was right. "Do you know where?" She asked him.

He didn’t answer immediately. Her hands clutched the sheets closer. Yuki knew who took Cedric and where they went.

"Let me guess, it is something you can’t tell me, but I will have to figure it out myself." She sneered. Abrielle laughed, but it wasn’t from joy but from the pain. The type of laugh that made hearts bleed...

"I can’t tell you who or where, and even if I do, it is a place you can’t reach. It is beyond you. It isn’t your battle." His words made her feel weak and worthless.

Abrielle’s voice cracked. "Then what can you tell me, Yuki? You keep on speaking in ambiguous puzzles and it’s exhausting."

He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he sat beside her, quiet like the weight of centuries rested on his shoulders.

His gaze was on her, and she didn’t glance at him. Abrielle continued holding onto the sheets to cry.

"I knew you were of the Caephyr’s heritage from that night I saw you in that cave crying. I didn’t know much about you and was genuinely confused why you had sealed off your magic core, one of the rarest. The royal heritage. My curiosity drew me to you, and since I was stuck as a cat, it wasn’t bad having a rich owner." He started narrating.

He knew it didn’t mean anything but it was a way to get her mind off things. "I know a lot and I am also unaware of a lot of things. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what I am aware of unless I suffer the repercussions. "

She listened to him trying to piece together the clue. Even in the stage she was in, Abrielle was still searching for answers

"Is this our goodbye? Will I ever get to see him? You said it has to be me or him, meaning one of us must die." Abrielle asked, but she didn’t have high hopes of him answering her questions.

"I don’t know. I am not a seer. For him to come back, he has to survive, which is almost impossible. I think the best thing you can do is ...." Abrielle hissed, she didn’t want him to finish his statement.

"Don’t stay, I have to move on, Yuki. I don’t know how to." She answered, and her palm felt the warm sheets that had gone cold in her hands.

She should have stayed with him, but would that have changed a thing? Cedric was going to die anyway.

"You just have to learn. Aren’t you curious about how you ended up in Draconia? What happened to your real mother?" Yuki asked her and her brows furrowed.

He was right. How did the crown prince’s consort end up as a slave in Draconia?

"Where do you think I start from? I always thought of a life without Cedric but I don’t know where to start now after I have gotten the freedom I sought." She said she didn’t get any answer.

The door was pushed open, and footsteps followed. "You disappeared again," Abrielle whispered, knowing Yuki was gone.

Why did he only appear before her?

"What happened to Cedric? I felt a strong strange presence." Aurelius’s voice asked from behind her. He just got into the room, and he could sense the lingering presence of 2 beings.

One was strange and terrifying, the other was the same presence he sensed at the library. His eyes fell on Abrielle, who was seated on the floor hugging the sheets. Her shoulders were slumped and she looked lifeless.

The scene plagued him and kind of reminded him of his mother. Aurelius was holding the drawing of his mother, Abrielle, left in the garden. It was his most prized possession.

Abrielle sighed then glanced at him. Her eyes were puffy, her cheeks flushed, and her nose was running from crying. The tears were still rolling down. "He is gone, Aurelius, and I don’t know where."

Aurelius’ heart squeezed, and before he knew it, he rushed towards her and pulled her into a hug. He was squatting on the ground as he held her.

His embrace was not familiar but it still carried warmth. One that she needed now.

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