#op apprentice

“It has to be here somewhere.”

Lyra pulled another book down from the shelf and laid it down with several miscellaneous items already spread out on the counter. Huffing a stray strand of white hair out of her face, she paused a moment to wrack her brain for any more ideas about where that thing could be hiding. She tapped a slender finger against the leather binding, thinking.

Something moved in the corner of her eye and then let out its own frustrated sigh. Lyra turned to Lucio who was standing, or floating truthfully, near the window, the soft sunlight that poured in filtered softly through his incorporeal form. Her golden eyes softened in understanding at his impatience.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s around here somewhere,” she placated before turning back to the shelves. She pulled out more books and boxes, empty satchels, satchels that smelled and definitely needed to be emptied, and other things she didn’t recognize, but assumed Asra had brought back from his many travels. She was so consumed in her quest, for that thing, that she didn’t register the presence that had come to hover over her shoulder.

Lyra let out an excited sigh at discovering it. “Oh—!”

“What are you getting at anyway?”

Surprised by his proximity, Lyra jumped, banging her hand on the shelf and dropping the item she had found. It fell from her hand and bounced onto the ground with a metallic clinking noise before rolling away under the counter. She turned to Lucio now with a questioning look, but before she could ask what he meant, he continued.

“There’s no point to any of this.” Lucio’s shoulders. “None of those plebes even want me to come back. And you’re only here because you have to be …” His voice trailed off as he turned back to the window, bottom lip jutting out in a melancholy pout.

Lyra’s brow furrowed as she watched his back. Before meeting the Count, she had always had an internalized image of an imposing and grandiose man, someone who did not know the meaning of the word fear. But since she had discovered his ghost in his abandoned chambers and bound him to herself, she had grown to know him now as a man unsure of his place in the world and desperate to make his own way. That desperation was now giving way to desolation as they struggled to figure out what exactly they were doing.

“Lucio, what do you mean? About me only being here because I have to?”

He gave a derisive chuckle. “You bound yourself to me and now I can only go so far away from you. Why else would you be here? Why else would you want to hang around with—“ His voice caught in his throat.

The silence hung thick between them as Lyra thought about what to say. Something glittered on the ground, and thankful for the sudden distraction, she bent down to pick it up and slip the golden ring over her finger. In doing so, she almost missed what he said next.

“With a monster? I’m a monster.”

Lyra shook her head and strode toward him. He was staring down at his hands, flexing his golden fingers in horrid fascination. She took his hands in hers, squeezing his fingers in urgency. He gasped at the realization that they could touch now, completely, with no ethereal chill, and he felt as real under her fingertips as all of the trinkets that she had sorted through that day.

Still shaking her head, she finally answered him in a soft, yet matter-of-fact voice.

“You’re not a monster. Not to me.”

Lucio looked down at her, again surprised, this time by her words. Her eyes never wavered from his as she stared up at him, mouth set in a determined purse. Studying her for another moment, he let out a relieved laugh and returned the grip on his hands. A smile threatened the corner of his lips.