Surrendered To The Lord Of Sin-Chapter 30: A wrong feeling

Lucrezia walked to the cold. It wasn’t the gentle stormy chill she’d grown up with, but a cold that crawled beneath skin and bone, seeping into her blood like poison.

It’d been half an hour since they left the carnage, and they’d been walking nonstop to a destination she knew absolutely nothing about. Her feet were numb from the cold, and her body ached so badly her muscles hurt, but the self-determination on parting the bluster back there was greater than her pain. Lucrezia couldn’t understand the reason she was sent away, but it left her worried for him.

Why would he send her away when he needed every help he could get? She thought. Lucrezia hadn’t gotten the opportunity to take a proper look at the commotion when the brown-haired man helped her out of the carriage, and towards the forest. Her sense of urgency spiraled faster than his well-being, sending a wave of guilt crushing through her entire body. It struck her in waves now, crashing hard each time she imagined him fighting alone.

How bad it would’ve been to send his Commander, the most skilled fighter he had, with her instead of him at his side where he needed it most? The thought of him trying to protect her quelled the edge of her rage at the creature by an inch, letting warmth into her chest. Yet beneath that warmth, concern pooled heavy and thick.

Thankfully, they were at a place where the growls of beasts, clashes of swords, and the stench of magic were absent in the air. This part of the forest was eerily calm and quiet, but also unusually wrong. Everything felt wrong, and she didn’t know if it was instinct or fear. Nonetheless, she kept a good distance away and kept moving.

Snowflakes descended from the sky, painting the woods ethereal. The warmth from her boots caused the pain in her feet to subdue a bit. At least she’d managed to persuade Edhira to swap the heels for matching boots which was an advantage that was proving its worth.

For a while, they ventured deeper into the woods, following unknown alleys that twisted between the trees. Each turn seemed to lead them farther from the familiar and deeper into the forest’s quiet, waiting heart. Occasionally, Lucrezia cast a glance behind, hoping to catch the faintest glimpse of her husband. But with every bend, twist, and turn, the idea of him catching up felt more and more impossible.

She glanced at the brown-haired man leading her. He hadn’t spoken a single word since they fled the scene. Instead, he kept her moving as though assured she wouldn’t attempt to run or question him. She didn’t know where that confidence came from. She didn’t know why he hadn’t told her where they were headed and didn’t know why they hadn’t stopped once—not even to catch their breath.

Lucrezia didn’t know where the latter came from, but her gut told her something wasn’t right somewhere. Not with him, with the forest, and definitely not with any of this, and the thought made her sick. Each unanswered question clawed at her the more she pondered. Why keep walking like this? Why hasn’t he said a word about their destination? But most importantly, how was her husband supposed to find her if they kept vanishing deeper into this maze?

The wrongness was no longer a whisper in the air. It was a pulse beneath her skin, ripping through her veins, and a shaky sigh escaped her lips.

She didn’t like this feeling.

Her feet felt sore from walking nonstop, gradually becoming unbearable for her. Deciding to lessen the tension and uncertainty lingering in the air, Lucrezia wet her lips, steadied her breath, and finally opened her mouth to speak.

After a while, "W-Where are we going?" Her voice was hoarse and painfully sour to the ears as cold mist escaped her lips when she asked.

Her eyes glistened from the harsh weather, and she rubbed her fingers together. She’d mistakenly forgotten her gloves somewhere in the carriage. The numbness of her fingers caused her to feel feverish, but she endured it.

At her question, he stiffened—not dramatically, but enough she noticed the subtle tightening of his shoulders as his boots slowed for a single step, then resumed their relentless pace.

It took him exactly five seconds to reply, "Somewhere safe, Milady."

Lucrezia’s stomach coiled in unease. There was something about his voice that was different from the one she recognized. Instead of the warm reassuring one, this held danger and some sort of tone that made her heart skitter in panic.

She didn’t know why, but the somewhere safe didn’t feel any less reassuring. A part of her felt the hostility emanating from him and the safety he promised. There was no shelter in his words, but the quiet warning of something unknown, and the unease in her stomach coiled tighter.

Lucrezia swallowed hard and forced her boots to keep moving. But after only a few steps, her breath caught in a tight trembling manner. Something inside her cracked open with a quiet instinct that made her pause mid-step.

He seemed to notice immediately as his stride slowed, and then stopped. He turned halfway, with a calm, unreadable face in the falling snow. If she hadn’t felt the shift deep in her marrow earlier, she might have believed it, but the doubt kept crawling against her skin, tighter and tighter she could hardly breathe at the thought of being kidnapped.

"Are you alright, Milady?" he asked. The unease twisted again, but he stood calm and patient, with his gloved hands relaxed at his sides. Everything looked right yet felt wrong.

Her lips parted on a shaky breath, and she forced a nod. "I’m—I’m fine," She lied, forcing herself to maintain her weight against her weakened knees. "May I ask... why my husband isn’t here? Why didn’t he come with us?" She picked up her pace and they started moving.

He didn’t seem to hesitate like before when he answered, "He instructed me to take you away," It came smoothly and defined, leaving no single trace of doubt. She couldn’t spot the faintest glimmer of suspicion in them, and for a moment, she wondered what she was doing. "His exact words,"

Their footsteps left a crunch in the snow, and footprints behind. It was the only sound in the eerily silent woods, and the chill crept into her skin once more.

Lucrezia’s heart clenched. Something curled her chest for a fleeting moment, before returning to normal. Confused, "But... why? Why didn’t he come with us?"

A brief pause — subtle, almost too subtle, ensued between them when she asked. He kept his gaze fixed ahead, though delivering every answer in a smooth almost rehearsed way. "For your safety," he said. "He wanted you far from the fight."

That should have comforted her but it didn’t. His answers were... perfect. Too perfect. As if he were pulling them from her own fears, and shaping them into something believable but they left a cold hollowness in her chest, like frost carving its way into her bones.

Lucrezia wanted to believe she was only overreacting, but the deeper they got and the silence that stretched longer than necessary, the more uncomfortable she became. Taking a deep breath to stabilize the rate of her heartbeat, she quickened her pace until she walked beside him rather than behind.

If something was definitely wrong somewhere, she needed something to confirm. As much as she wanted to ignore the feeling, her body reacted differently, which was more than enough sign to take precaution. She trusted her gut more than ever, and the feeling of... wrongness didn’t quite feel like something to be overlooked. She’d lived long enough to trust her instinct, and now wasn’t going to change that.

Lucrezia stared at him through the snow melting her lashes. There was absolutely nothing strange about his features—he was beautiful, but something about his beauty wasn’t right. At that point, Lucrezia tried to remember the color of those eyes and the ones she recalled earlier. Was it brown or black?

Something in her gut clawed and twisted in warning, but there was one more question. One he should know... one he would know if he were truly himself and not someone that made everything seem wrong.

Lucrezia wet her lips and opened her mouth to ask again. "You brought a message earlier today," Lies, but she kept her expression straightforward and continued. "The one from the envoy. What was it about?"

It happened yesterday, but Lucrezia altered it, making it seem it happened today. But that was the closest she could think of belonging to a man she’d met twice since her arrival at Dreadwyn.

Her pulse skittered wildly against her chest as she waited for his response. Lucrezia didn’t know what exactly she was expecting, but a part of her wanted to extricate her doubt.

He froze just for a second. It was barely noticeable but she saw it, and he turned with his armor coated in snow. His expression was calm, too calm it could deceive her, as she stared into those black orbs.

Lucrezia swore she’d seen him with the brown ones, and her pulse raced. His eyes flickered with the faintest pulse of something hollow behind them, and she forced a lump down her throat.

Then he said with quiet confidence, holding her heart... before shattering it into a million pieces. "It was about supplies arriving late from the eastern outposts," he responded with a confidence that sent shivers down her spine as her heart dropped straight to the frozen ground.

The breath left her lungs in a sharp, stinging gasp. She stared at him — really stared — and the snow suddenly felt louder, the forest darker, and the silence heavier. The strong feeling of something being wrong grew more intense, shedding every bit of hope that had been harbored.

Out of reflex, Lucrezia stepped back with cold rushing into her bones like water flooding a sinking ship. Something was wrong. Terrifyingly, unmistakably wrong, and the man in front of her wasn’t the one who had pulled her from the carriage.

Oh gods...

Her heart raced wildly against her ribs she thought it might crack. The pressure and realization of everything weighed heavily on her shoulders, almost knocking her out of consciousness. Her fear instantly caused her mind to glitch, and all she could think of was her husband. Lucrezia couldn’t help but think if he was searching for her. She blamed herself for ignoring the danger in the air and throwing herself into another. Could this be happening because she forgot to take her tonic?

Run, Lucrezia. Run!

Finally, her thoughts began to function, causing her feet to move away from their paralysis. However, he seemed to notice the movement and took a step forward.

Lucrezia’s heart pounded wildly she forgot how to breathe. Not only was she vulnerable, but she was also at greater advantage. He wielded a sword and strength unmatched by hers, while she had nothing. Although her small figure also had a huge role to play in case she attempted to escape, she wondered how long she’d be able to keep up.

She lacked knowledge of the woods, as much as she did of a dagger, but at that point, Lucrezia didn’t care. All she wanted was to buy enough time for a distraction until her husband found her.

She couldn’t understand why she’d faith he was searching for her, but the thought oddly made her feel encouraged. And if he didn’t, she would fend and protect herself. She should. However, all her life had always been a ruckus of danger. It suddenly reminded her of her nightmare, running away from the creatures after her in the empty woods, and her heart dropped.

I-It can’t be... she trembled in thought. It’s... It’s not possible.

"Are you alright, Milady?"

Lucrezia wanted the ground to open and swallow her whole. The pretense was becoming too much for her to handle and she forced a swallow, her nerves rattling under her skin.

"Take me back," she finally said, hoping to the gods her voice didn’t sound desperate.

Something dark flickered in his eyes for a fleeting moment that she missed, but the sharpness in the air didn’t go past her eyes.

His face remained eerily calm, carved from cold stone as he did not blink. Not once, or even to feign confusion, and kept those eyes fixed on hers.

"We’re almost there, Milady. He awaits you," he simply said.

He?

The lie pressed the air from her lungs and a chill flooded down her spine. She had lived around liars her whole life — her father, her stepmother, stepsisters, and the nobles with faces painted in pretend grace, to the extent she knew the shape of dishonesty.

But this... this wasn’t a lie. It was something worse, like a truth spoken with someone else’s tongue.

Her chest tightened until breathing burned. Lucrezia takes small steps back. If she wanted to escape, she needed enough leverage could get.

Something rustled far off like a low vibration pulsing beneath the earth like breath beneath snow, causing her head to snap behind. Her heart thrummed with force that almost cracked her ribs, until her eyes returned, meeting those pitch-black ones directly in front of her.

A strangled gasp tore out of her throat as she stumbled a step backward, and her breath fogged violently in the cold. Her pulse skittered along her thoughts scattering like startled birds, until something else caught her gaze.

In his right hand was a dagger curling loosely at his side. Lucrezia’s breath froze as realization sank deep and cruel into her. It wasn’t any ordinary dagger but the same silvered blade that had pierced her chest in her nightmares.