Y/N- Your name

It was a normal day at the shop.

People were in and out, buying this and that, the usual. The only difference was that Asra was away, gone off on one of his adventures, but it's not as though he was left for good. He should be back tonight at some point.

The last customer had left about an hour before, and the sky had already fallen until it was dark with brightly lit stars multiplying rapidly across the view. And, with a content sigh, I had started to close up. I took a step out through the main door, heading straight outside to blow out the candle lamp, but I was easily distracted when I caught a glimpse of a tall figure walking down the street. Familiar, so very familiar. My eyes squinted in hopes of concentrating enough that I could tell who they truly were. Is that? They look just like-no! It cant be.

Julian?

I quickly blew out the steady burning wick, making sure to lock the small cage that held it, and ducked back into the shop. My hands shook as I slammed the door shut, and turned the bolt. It's been months since I last saw him, I reminded myself, he left with no warning. However, I suppose that there's no reason to hold such a petty grudge, for overly long, especially since it was the outcome of the whole 'masquerade murder' scenario. But, still, he could have at least said goodbye. He was my best friend, after all. I did deserve a proper farewell.

A giggle-like scoff slipped past my lips. "I'm being irrational," I spoke aloud. "That could be any plague doctor out there at this time of night, it's not the strangest I've seen before."

Slowly, I sunk to the ground with my back against the door, and I waited to hear the footsteps walk past the shop. But, I didn't hear them. Instead, I heard them cease right in front of the shop entrance. I held my breath and listened closely.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Hesitantly moving away from the door, I stood up on weak knees. "Who is it?" I asked, calling out to whoever it was that had stopped in front of the door.

There was nothing but pure silence. The thought of hearing something that didn't exist had crossed my mind, so I took a cautious look through the tiny peep hole. There was not a single doubt of who it was, no matter how tired and worn he looked. It was indeed Julian. I swung the door open, letting it bang against the wall. I gazed up at Julian, astonished that he was actually here and worried about the condition he came in, his face sickly pale. Julian stared directly at me, and once our eyes met his expression softened drastically.

"Y/N..." Julian whispered sweetly, his voice deep and quiet.

"Julian, why are you here?" I questioned him with a frown, confusion scrunching my eyebrows together.

"I finally came back. There's some things that I need to face. And, there's no ignoring it, I missed you and Pasha so much," Julian admitted.

"You missed me?" I scoffed angrily, rolling my eyes at the pitiful confession. "Really? You. Julian. Missed. Me? Funny, 'cause I remember you running off without giving a single 'goodbye'! No letter. Not even a message through Portia!"

"Y/N, please, I'm sorry. Can we please talk inside?" Julian asked desperately, nudging towards the inside of the toasty shop, the cold air from the outside was unfortunately trailing in behind him.

Letting out a long sigh, I moved out of his way, and left the door frame empty. Julian scurried in, and I quickly shut the door after him. Twisting my body back around, I was face to face with him at last with my arms crossed over my chest, leaving little to no space for an excuse. I gave him a glare.

"Y/N, I really am sorry. I intended to come and say goodbye to you before leaving, honest. Everything had just happened so quick and we didn't know if it would be safe," Julian trailed off at the end, leaving time for me to imagine exactly what he was remembering.

"Julian, you didn't even tell Portia to say goodbye for you. And, that hurt, okay? It hurt. We were so close, and when you left all of a sudden, it felt like you had just dropped me off out of nowhere. And, yes, I understand that you had no time to waste, but still," I casted my eyes downward, the heavy sadness taking over my features in the form of a frown and a watering gaze.

"I didn't want to make you this upset, Y/N, trust me. I hate seeing you like this, darling, you know that" Julian comforted and tried to place the side of his thumb under my chin, assuming that he was going to tilt my head up.

"Julian, why are you even back?" I snapped, and avoided his touch by shaking my head bitterly.

"I need to know if it was really me who killed him," Julian answered instantly.

"You don't know if it was you who killed him?" I asked. Unbelievable.

"I really don't, Y/N," Julian said sincerely.

I let out yet another sigh and relaxed my arms, they fell at my sides.

"Do you need a place to stay tonight?" I glanced up at him, waiting for an answer.

"I mean, I can go if I have to, but I wouldn't mind spending some more time with you," Julian said, slowly getting back into his cocky self, with that signature smirk of his.

How could I possibly say no? I was still a little upset at Julian, but I had missed him so much more.

"Well, then you can have Asra's room for the night," I pointed towards the hall, where Asra's bedroom had stayed with no occupants.

Julian's face heated up to an intense cherry red as soon as Asra's name was spoken. An insane blush had forcibly creeped it's way up his neck and painted his pale face completely.

"Uh-Uh, yeah, sure," Julian replied nervously, scratching at the back of his neck. "He won't be back tonight, right?"

"He could be. But, truthfully, all he'll do is just kick you to the couch if he comes back," I assured him, shrugging the question off, and growing a new question of my own.

Julian still looked slightly uncomfortable, and you didn't need to he his best friend to know it, he was practically shaking in his boots. So, I offered another option.

"If you have a problem with it, then you could just stay in my room and I'll crash in Asra's," I suggested, not caring about where I sleep. My bed. Asra's bed. Who cares.

"No, no! It's fine! I'm fine! I'll just stay in there. I don't want to take you from your own room, I would feel too bad," Julian laughed it off, lighting up the shop with his smile that I had gone so long without.

"Okay," I dragged the word out, watching him with a strange look. "Well, I'm going to bed now anyways. I'm sorry that we couldn't talk much, but I had a bit of a long day, and I can't even imagine what you had to do to get back here. But, how about we catch up over breakfast tomorrow?"

"That sounds absolutely lovely, darling. I'll let you get some sleep now, have a good night," Julian spoke lightly, sweetly. Everything felt right again, and I took that extra step forward to wrap my arms around him in a caring hug. He seemed surprised, nearly fell backwards even, but he quickly returned it with the same affection.

"Thank you for coming back, Julian. I've missed you a lot," I said sincerely, patting his back before pulling away from him.

At the end of our conversation, I headed towards my bedroom, still amazed that Julian was currently in the shop. After so long of not seeing him. Part of me was terrified that when I woke up, he would be gone. Although, at the same time, I had never went to sleep so fast. Maybe it was excitement, or maybe it was fear that I was imagining the whole thing. I slept soundly the rest of the night, something that hadn't happened in a very long time.

The next morning, I had met up with Portia at her cottage, who was equally surprised to have gotten a visit from Julian.

"Portia, I never thought I would see him again!" I exclaimed happily, sipping on a cup of beautifully made herbal tea that was given to me as soon as I stepped through the door, almost as though she was expecting me.

Portia chuckled and nodded her head in agreement, her wild red curls bouncing. Portia replied, "I never thought I'd see Ilya again either, but here he is."

"Have you noticed that he's been acting off, though?" I asked, leaning over the table as I continued, "It might be because of how I greeted him, especially after so long. And, honestly, I could have been a little more sensitive, but you know what, Portia? I was really mad at him, and I could have acted way colder than I did."

"I have actually, it's weird. I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet." Portia continued, not paying attention to my rambling at the end, until a spark of recognition flashed across her face.

"Wait! You freaked on him, didn't you?" I kept silent, embarrassment flushing my cheeks, which was all she needed. "You did! But, about what?"

"It was barely anything, maybe like five seconds worth for a snarky comment. But, all it was is that I was upset that he never said goodbye before leaving. The more I think about it, now that he's back, I feel like he honestly just didn't have the time, or he wasn't in the right mindset to even think of me." I sunk deeper into the seat, and added, "I feel like I was wrong to even act that way."

Portia looked away, guilt taking over her features as she let out a long sigh, so loud that it nearly shattered the cups in our hands. "Y/N, there is something that you should know."

"What is it, Portia?" I asked, concerned at the change in attitude. She went from carefree to troubled in seconds, literally.

"The night when everything went down, I was with Julian while he was escaping. Before he left I asked if he wanted me to tell you something, anything, and he said no. He had nothing to say except that he no longer wanted anything to do with you," Portia told me, casting her gaze all over the room, without sparing a glance at me.

I was instantly taken back as the feeling of being shoved in the gut hit me. Julian really said that? I wanted to deny it. Shake my head. Claim Portia as a liar, even though I knew she wasn't. Before I could get a single word out, there was an echoing knock at the front door. Portia looked at me.

"Are you okay for company?" She whispers to me.

I nodded, of course I can handle it. It's probably just Nadia anyways, so there was no reason for me to say no. Better to be shocked and with people, than upset and alone. Portia called out, her tone friendly and chirpy as always, "Come in!"

The door opened and none other than Julian himself came sauntering in, a confident smile tugging at his lips. Anger flooded my body at the mere sight of him.

"How are my two favourite girls today?" Julian greeted us happily, almost as though he was the luckiest guy in the world. Oh, I'll show him luck alright, I thought with a scowl. He moved closer and revealed two bouquets of flowers that he pulled out from behind his back, "I thought I'd bring you two each a gift."

Portia looked uncertain for a minute, but soon she got up and accepted the flowers, grinning widely at him. She spoke, "Thank you, Ilya, they are so lovely."

Julian noticed how I hadn't gotten up, and walked forward with the bouquet of extremely pretty flowers held out to me, but I was stubborn, so I stayed still in my seat and didn't bother to accept them. As soon as he recognized the way my face twisted with betrayal, his face fell. Portia coughed awkwardly into the tense atmosphere, and broke the silence, "I'm going to step outside to water the plants. I'll be a bit."

Then, she rushed outside.

"Y/N, what's wrong?" Julian asked, bending down to get a closer look at me while setting the flowers on the table.

"Julian, why would you tell Portia that you want nothing to do with me?" I brought up harshly, curling my lip up at him in disgust. "Did you mean it?"

Julian examined my face for clues, and if he had taken another second to realize, then I would have got up and left. No remorse, well, maybe a little. Then, finally, he realized.

"Y/N, no, no, no. You don't understand. I was trying to keep you safe!" Julian exclaimed, grabbing my hands between his own.

"Keep me safe? What on earth are you talking about?" I tried to pull my hands away from him, but he was much stronger than me, and wasn't going to let go that easy.

"Y/N, if you had any association with me at all, then the palace would have continuously pestered you about my whereabouts," Julian explained, pleading me to listen to him.

"Julian, what thinking process do you use? Like seriously? You couldn't tell Portia to at least say a goodbye because you had to keep me safe? Safe from questioning? Julian, are you on something?" I demanded, frustrated to the point where I was about to pull out my own hair. "Do you really think that I would have cared?"

"Please, Y/N, I'm being serious. This is the truth. When you're on the run for murder, not to mention one you don't even know if you committed, you don't really think very throughly," Julian admitted, exasperated.

I stopped to think, and took some deep, relaxing breaths. Quickly, I leaned into him, and rested my head on his shoulder. Julian had already taken a seat next to me, and still had not let go of my hands. I squeezed his hands.

"You promise that you didn't actually want me away from you and you were actually just trying to keep me safe?" I asked. I held my head up high.

He turned in his seat and looked me in my eyes. "Y/N, I care about you very much, and could never imagine not talking to you, or never seeing you again. You are the light of my life, and I would sell my soul to keep you safe. I'm just not so good at making decisions under pressure," Julian told me sincerely, showing off his contagious smile.

"Julian, don't leave again, okay? Let me and Portia help you to fix things. I want you in my life permanently, not just whenever it's safe for you to come back," I whispered to him.

"I promise that I'll stay on one condition," Julian promised.

"Oh? What condition?" His smile grew at my innocent voice, not ready for what he was about to say.

Julian's sweet smile turned into a smirk, and a nervous knot formed in my stomach, one that went along with the growing butterflies. Am I going to have to murder someone? Rob someone? The possibilities are endless.

"Let me take you on a date."

For the second time today, I'm taken aback. My jaw dropped at his words, and I was almost about to ask him to repeat himself. A date? "You want to take me on a date?" The words slipped past my lips, "Me?"

"Have for a long time now, but I think now is the best time for it," Julian said, looking up at me with no fear in his captivating grey eyes. He already knew my answer before I did.

"Well, Julian, I guess we're going on a date," I accepted.

Julian did a little celebration of moving back in his chair, letting out a breath of relief. Maybe he was a little nervous afterall. And then, he picked up the flowers from off of the table, and he handed them to me like a true gentleman.

"Well, M'lady, I guess I'd better get going. Because, I have an amazing date to plan with the woman of my dreams." Julian pecked my blushing cheek before running out the door, leaving before I could say something about the trick he had pulled. I looked down at my almost empty cup, but from the corner of my eye, I saw Portia eyeing me suspiciously in the doorway.

"A date, huh?" She teased.

"A date," I confirmed, grinning at her with a smile wider than the Cheshire cat's.

I cannot wait for this date.

AHHHH I'm so happy to finally have this book up!!!! I've been wanting to do something with The Arcana for awhile cause it's amazing!! This book is great for getting my writers block out so I can also work on my other book more:). Anyways please enjoy and if you have requests please see the request page.

Shout out to rottencranberry for being my amazing editor!