Fegan had a crooked grin as he stared down at Lotus who was frantically trying to fend off the puppets on her.
Her horror-stricken face turned to the golden statute which lifted its leg, ready to stomp her to the ground.
"Fegan I need your help in removing this pendant, just like you had done yours!" Lotus screamed at the top of her lungs as she prepared to be crushed.
Her hands were over her head and then came silence. She dropped her hands and stared at the suspended foot over her.
The statue maintained its position and glared at her but froze at the command of Fegan.
Leaning on the window sill by placing his elbows on them, he stared out and steepled his fingers in front of his face. He cast a demeaning look on her.
"How the hell do you think I would believe that bullshit?" He snapped, feeling triggered just by her presence in his place.
Until he knew how she had found out, he had just set out to scare the shit out of her and still show her how superior he was in the field when he worked for the organization.
"That's funny, then how would you explain sparing me to explain myself?" Lotus retorted with a grin.
She immediately gulped when the golden foot only lowered slowly and then stopped just a few inches away from the top of her head when she stood upright.
As she looked around, she could see the number of puppets caving in on her from all around her and were four times the ones she had encountered.
'You lucky bastard, is this how you were able to escape years ago?' She glared and had to close her eyes so she could calm her thoughts and properly think.
Lotus let out a burst of nervous laughter and eased her tense muscles, she had wanted to take a step forward to test out her theory when she was held by her dress on four sides by a pair of puppets on each side.
Her teeth clenched as she realized if she made any uncalled move, that foot was going to come crashing in on her–Fegan meant it.
"The elixir is gone..." She blurted out.
She had been the one who had provided the rare ingredients for the incomplete elixir.
Although she had held a grudge towards the organization for interfering with her research on some new plants, she feared with the elixir gone, she and her rare plants might be a target of their master.
She had been one of the very few who knew about the plants and had met Fegan at the time when she was in the search of some of the rare plants. He was the one who had shown her a meadow where some of the flowers needed could be found.
They had gotten along well and had inadvertently spilled the truth about what she needed the flowers and herbs for, given that she was the only one who could rightly fuse the necessary ingredients.
After Fegan had fled, he had burned down the meadow in hopes of never allowing anyone to use its petals for the wrong purpose.
"Please, help me." She reached out her hands to him, in hopes of appealing to reason.
Fegan snorted at her explanation, and mocked, "who would dare steal from the high and mighty organization?"
Lotus fiddled with her fingers and shook her head, that wasn't as important as her role in all of this. "If they can't find the elixir, they would pressurize me to make another and... and I just can't."
Fegan raised a brow at her attempt on making him feel sentimental.
"Ah! I see, you realized I burned down that breeding ground for your little hand pickers!" He laughed out at her helplessness.
Lotus' lips were sealed shut as she tried to think of a way to convince him that she was sincere, even though her silly attempt at getting on his nerves fell out at the beginning.
'You just had to speak in such a manner, huh?' She scolded herself in her mind and shook her head.
"If they know that I couldn't find such ingredients, I would be forced to wander around until I do find it somewhere else or be killed, but..."
"... it can't be found anywhere other than that meadow." Fegan completed with a smirk, he wasn't just pleased with the turn of events but delighted.
"It's about time Lyra's plan works on him!" Fegan snickered in his thoughts.
Although he had never seen the master as he wasn't a core member like the rest, he had worked well with a few of them to know all about the inner workings of the organization.
He had heard from Gaviel how their leader would occasionally visit where the elixir was placed, only when he was at his lowest would he hold onto the jar for a few seconds to delay his imminent doom and had been doing so for several years.
Lotus shook her head, "you... you connived with that scheming witch?!"
"Call it whatever you want to, but I'm glad I did." He rolled his eyes and scoffed at her. There was no way he was explaining his decisions to her, not while he still had issues trusting her.
"It's a pity someone else took the fall for my golden statute placed in the academy." He continued with a sigh.
Suddenly his mood got dark as he stared down at her like she was an insect.
"You still haven't given a plausible reason on how you were able to track me and break through my barrier." He reminded with a hiss.
Lotus flinched and tucked behind her ear a loose strand of hair.
"You were the one who led me here, in case you might have forgotten, I could never forget the scent on you. And it turns out you planned the very rare plant that gives off that." She replied with a grin, pleased with her comeback.
Fegan gasped at the little slip and wondered if she had told anyone about this discovery.
As if understanding his worry, she continued, "don't worry, I had searched for you, for years, it's quite hard to sniff out a plant's sent especially if comes from a place that's guarded."
She looked around, avoiding the puppets up in her view, and took a big smell of the air. He lived the life she wanted–peacefully with nature.
"You want to know how I had been able to get through your barrier?" She wiggled her brows at him.
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