My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 441

Lyra

I knelt on the floorboards, phone forgotten at my ear. The room spun slowly, caught in a snare of brandy and shock.

Ten weeks. Ten godsdamned weeks. Not a word from her, not one. Mother had said it and I had not wanted to believe it and here it was anyway. She had forgotten us. She had gone north and she had forgotten us.

No. No, I wanted this. I needed it. I needed to hear her voice.

I opened my mouth to speak and nothing came out. The sounds hitched in my throat like a rough pull on a rope, strangling me silent. I wanted to say too many things at once and could not say any of them.

"I'm so sorry," Sera said on the other end of the line, her voice faint and wavering. "I've missed you so much."

I choked on it. Ten weeks, and that was all I got.

Nadia's face swam into focus. Her brows knitted and she reached for me. I jerked away, trying to breathe.

I opened my mouth again and still no words came.

I opened my mouth, and a single word tumbled out. "Sera."

Nadia was up and stumbling toward me before I could clench my jaw shut. "Sera? Is that Sera?" She reached for the phone, fingers grasping.

"Wait." I jerked my arm away, hunching down over it.

Nadia huffed, her breath hot on the back of my neck as she fumbled for the phone. "Sera? She's really... I need..." She could not get the words straight. I understood that.

I twisted away from her, shielding it between my shoulder and my ear. A part of me, the part that always gave in, wanted to hand it over. Let Nadia talk to her. Be rid of it.

"I'm talking to her." I gritted my teeth, fighting for clarity through the haze. "She just called. Let me talk to her."

Nadia stopped grasping and blinked at me. Her voice dropped. "Have you heard from her? All this time?"

I managed a shake of the head.

"Then let me talk to her." She reached again, more insistent. "She's important to me, Lyra. You know she is."

I shook my head, stubborn. "Let me finish." I was struggling to form thoughts, much less words.

"Lyra." Nadia gripped my shoulder hard. "Give me the phone."

I wrenched away from her and nearly went over sideways.

The fight drained out of me. A single thought had taken root, and with it a strange stillness. I stopped pulling away from her.

I had kept it because of Nadia. That was what my father had said. If Sera ever found out about Blackwater, he would kill her. He had made me look at her that day while he said it, made me see her face. I had been so frightened. And then it had been so long and he had not done it, and I had started to hope. To think he might have been lying.

But this was what he meant. This was the price. And she was on the floor in front of me with her hand out for the phone, drunk and grinning and asking to talk to my sister.

Nadia stopped grabbing. She frowned down at me. "Lyra?" Her voice went small. "What's wrong?"

I did not answer.

Odile was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching us. She had not moved and she had not said anything. I noticed her there and could not think why it mattered.

"I'm okay," I said finally, my voice small and rough. "I'm fine." I swallowed. "Hello."

There was a silence I filled with my own breathing. Then Sera spoke, and her voice was bright in my ear. "Lyra. I'm so sorry it's been this long."

I nodded, which was pointless. "I know," I said. "It's not your fault."

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