Chapter 78 No one asked you

Chapter 78 No one asked you
Sera's Pov

The message came at almost immediately.

“If you're seeing this. Do not show anyone. Come alone by dawn. No warriors, just you. Or Marcus doesn't come back at all.”

I read it twice. "We need to rest. Everyone get a few hours. We'll regroup at first light."

Maera looked at me with the eyes of someone who had trained me long enough to know exactly what my face did when I was lying.

But she didn't say anything. I decided to leave at two in the morning.

I moved quietly, which was something months of training had made second nature. Past the guards, through the east corridor, out the back of camp where the trees started immediately and the dark was complete. I had my gear and nothing else. They wanted me, fine. But I'd be damned to let my father pass through another round of torment for my sake.

The forest was cold and absolutely still and I walked for twenty minutes before I heard the first footstep that wasn't mine.
I stopped.

Then Damien stepped out from between the trees to my left. He had his hands loose at his sides and the expression of someone who had made a decision and fully intended to stand behind it regardless of consequences.

"You followed me?”

Damien stepped out from between the trees and said nothing. He didn't have the decency to look apologetic either, which made it significantly worse.

"I gave very clear instructions, I was supposed to come alone."

"You did come alone," he said. "I came separately. Those are two different things."

"That is the worst argument anyone has ever made to me.” I stared at him. "Damien. They will kill him if I don't show up by myself. That was the condition.”

"I'm not backup," he said. "I'm a coincidence."

"You are infuriating," I said. "You are genuinely, deeply—"

"Sera."

That voice came from my right. I closed my eyes for exactly two seconds. Then I turned.

Caden stood ten feet away between two trees with his arms crossed.

“I am coming with you,”