The northern wall was now long behind Lucian and Amira. Neither spoke for a while, the weight of the border crossing still lingering.
"So," Lucian said dryly, "if you had come alone, what exactly was your plan to get through the gate without papers?"
Amira tilted her head, crimson eyes glinting playfully from beneath her hood. "Oh, I had a plan."
Lucian arched a brow. "Which was?"
"Smile innocently." She grinned, flashing her white teeth. "Maybe shed a tear or two. Works more often than you think."
Lucian's frown deepened. "That's not a plan."
"Life is a gamble," she sang, nudging her horse over until their knees brushed. And then, quietly, mostly to herself "Besides. It worked on you, didn't it?"
He shot her a sharp look. "What was that?"
She only giggled and urged her horse ahead.
The road dipped into a muggy valley where an abandoned town sprawl across the floor. Houses leaned drunkenly against one another, windows boarded, roofs caved in.
"You sure this is the right way?" Lucian asked.
"Only one way to find out," she said smartly.
Lucian slowed his horse, scanning the empty streets. "Stay close."
"Oh? How close?" Amira teased, though her eyes darted between the hollow houses.
They passed doors creaking on rusted hinges, shutters tapping softly though no wind stirred.
At the far end of town, Lucian stiffened. A prickle ran down his neck. Eyes were on him. He turned his head slightly, sweeping alleys and broken rooftops. Nothing moved. Whoever watched them chose not to.
They kept moving, putting the town far behind them.
With Roka still a ways away, they stopped at the edge of the woods. Lucian tethered the horses and built a small fire. Amira dropped onto her blanket with a dramatic sigh.
"Finally! My legs are about to fall off." She glanced at him through the firelight, lips curving. "You know," her mischievous thoughts circled in her eyes. "You could always offer me a massage."
Lucian shot her a flat look. "All you did was ride a horse." But his gaze lingered too long on her.
Amira blushed faintly, leaning on her elbow, chin in her palm. "Or I could give you one," she said jokingly, though a trace of heat lingered in her tone.
Lucian cleared his throat, unsure of himself as his cheeks became slightly red.
Amira bit her lip at his reaction, wanting to tease him further, but before she could speak Lucian responded.
"…If you insist." He tugged his shirt over his head and sat with his back to her, the firelight cutting across old scars.
Amira froze, mouth slightly open. "Uh, ah." She tried speaking but nothing came out.
"I- I might be too rough?" she said softly, watching the steady rise and fall of his back.
"It's fine," Lucian said quietly. "I don't know what it's supposed to feel like either. But… your hands look soft enough."
Her face burned. Slowly, she placed her hands on him, hesitant at first, then firmer, tracing every muscle and running her fingers along his scars.
Lucian exhaled, his shoulders loosening under her touch. Amira crinkled her nose, caught between embarrassment and fascination. The warmth of him, the solidity beneath her hands, it was overwhelming.
She ran her hands over the burn on his side. "This is new," she said.
"Ran into some trouble after we split up. It's nothing," Lucian told her.
She slid a little closer, knees brushing his sides. A teasing thought entered her mind as she slid her hands down his sides toward the front of his body.
Before she could go further, Lucian suddenly caught her ankles and pulled her against him.
"Wha, what are you doing?" she gasped.
"Your legs. You said they were sore, right?"
He kneaded her calves and thighs, working down to her feet. Amira melted against him and every indigent thought she had left her mind with a helpless sigh, cheek pressed to his back, both hands resting on his shoulders. Wanting to resist but helpless against his big hands.
Lucian's thoughts had begun to come apart. She was pressed against his bare back from shoulder to hip and he could feel every part of that, and his neck was going hot as she pressed her ample chest into him more and more. He had no framework for any of it.
He stopped before he found out what came next.
Standing abruptly, he tugged his shirt on. "Thank you. That was… nice."
Amira blinked, pulled from her trance, and began twirling her thumbs. "Y-yeah. Mine too."
Lucian sat back at the fire, staring into the flames. Amira hugged her knees, still feeling the phantom of his touch. Wanting it back.
"Back to brooding already?" she teased softly.
Lucian rolled his eyes. "Go to sleep." His voice was unusually gentle.
Her smile softened. "Goodnight then, brooding man." She curled up, eyes closing, a faint smile lingering.
***
A few hours passed, Lucians eyes were heavy as he danced on the edge of sleep.
Then the crack of a branch snapped him wide awake.
Figures danced from the undergrowth as they darted from just outside the light of the fire.
Lucian moved first. He charged into the dark.
The sound of a jaw cracking silently echoed along with a log snapping in the fire. His boot smashed another's ribs. The sound of daggers whistled. He caught a hand, twisted, and broke the wrist before slamming the man into the dirt. By the time the firelight steadied, half a dozen men lay sprawled and groaning unconsciously.
Amira never stirred.
Or so it seemed. Behind her lashes, her crimson eyes were barely open. She watched silently, waiting to see what was going to happen.
Lucian dragged them deeper into the woods and searched them.
All of them had a tattoo he'd seen before, a red snake on the wrists, except the youngest one.
It belonged to a group of murderers he had a run in with during the holy war. They would steal food from convoys meant for the soldiers and abduct the people driving the carriages, torturing them beyond recognition for sport. He thought he got rid of them back then, clearly not.
When they woke, he questioned them coldly.
"Who sent you?"
No answer.
"How did you find us?"
Silence.
"Our horses are practically bare, clearly you're not highway robbers…"
Still nothing.
Lucians eyes narrowed as a sickening theory crossed his mind. "Amira…" Lucian said quietly. "You were after the woman traveling with me, weren't you?"
They all snickered.
A low chuckle slipped through their teeth, an obscene, hungry sound, as though Lucian had spoken aloud a fantasy they'd been savoring.
But still no answer from anyone.
Lucian's voice dropped to a growl. "Fine. Then you don't need tongues to stay silent."
He forcibly opened the first's mouth and tore out his tongue. The man screamed out in pain, causing the others to flinch and the young boy to whimper.
"Does anyone feel like talking now?"
No one said a thing.
Lucian crouched down in front of the next in line, looking at him for a long second.
"You?"
The man spit at his boot.
"Alright then."
He released his Soulflame and pulled their heads off like uprooting a carrot, one by one.
The forest filled with wet, ragged sounds. Blood splattered on the wet ground. Only one was left, a thin, shaking boy, barely older than fifteen.
"Why?" Lucian demanded, blood dripping from his fingers.
The boy stammered. "We, we were just brigands. Hunting the mass of groups leaving the Atheria kingdom." He started spilling his guts. "They just took their things and let them live if they didn't fight back. But i'm just an observer, I swear!"
"You're traveling pretty light. Do you take the stuff you steal back to a camp somewhere?" Lucian asked.
The boy hesitated. "Ye-yes," he said finally. "But you should leave while you can. When the boss finds out about this, he's gonna send the rest of our group to hunt you down!"
"Your group?"
"The other guys were full fledged members of the Flesh gang. They run most of No Man's Land and are the main authority in these parts," the boy answered quickly.
"Why didn't anyone else speak? If you're just a bunch of brigands, isn't your life more valuable to you?"
"You don't know what the boss will do to them if they did. You haven't seen what he's capable of, so you wouldn't understand…" the boy said with a dark look on his face consumed with fear.
Lucian leaned close, his Soulflame seaped out flaring like smoke. His voice rasped like iron dragged across stone. "Run. Tell your boss if he comes near us again, I'll burn down everything he owns. Without mercy."
The boy wet himself and bolted into the night.
Lucian crouched at the riverbank. His reflection stared back, hands painted red. He plunged them into the water, scrubbing until the stain was gone.
'I figured something like this was gonna happen. But this soon…'
He returned to camp. Amira lay still, her breathing even.
Lucian muttered, "Amazing how she can sleep through all that noise." He scoffed and kept watch until dawn.
The next day, the road carried them to Roka.
Lucian blinked in disbelief. Fields stretched wide, green and orderly. Humans, demons, and Beastman worked side by side. Cat eared humanoids laughing with baskets their tails flicking playfully, ox-men pulling plows, demons guiding irrigation channels with practiced ease.
Each demon's sideways infinity mark, the one they all get at birth, was shown proudly and not covered up. Pointing and laughing with the rest of the people as if they were never enemies.
The town bustled. Children ran barefoot in the dirt, waving to strangers. Men from all species were talking at intersections along the road.
Human children were hanging off a giant rhino like beastman, treating him like climbing entertainment.
Amira lowered her hood and her silver hair cascaded down her back. It captivated Lucian for a moment as it gleamed under the sun.
Lucian stared.
'How peaceful.'
A cow-eared woman with a generous personality and a basket of berries called out to them. "Hiya! I've never seen you guys before. Y'all new around here?"
"Yes. We're looking for a demon woman. Her name's Layla. Do you know her?" Amira asked.
The woman laughed and pointed up the hill. "That way. Careful though, she's always got quite the temper after drinking. And she was out all night last night."
At the hill's crest stood a shabby house worn from time and neglect. Grass grew three feet tall around the sides, and the door looked like it had been rotting for years.
Amira knocked.
The door creaked open. A blonde woman with crimson eyes and tousled hair appeared, curves outlined by her underwear but her frame was firm, like that of a warrior. Her voice was sharp and rude, and she stunk of booze.
"What do you wa-"
Then her gaze landed on Amira. Her expression broke into joy. She threw her arms around her.
"My lady! I'm so glad you've finally come back to me!"
Lucian froze, his eyes shot away from her careless exposure and found the horizon.
'My lady?'