Lucian’s POV
The dining hall had emptied an hour ago.
I remained at the head of the table, my fingers wrapped loosely around a glass I had not touched since the servants cleared the plates.
The fire had burned lower. The manor had settled into its midmorning quiet.
I was not thinking about Avery. That was what I told myself.
The map spread across the table in front of me was irrelevant. I couldn't see it. I kept it there because the sound of paper beneath my fingers grounded me. Something to touch when the room felt too large.
The world suddenly tilted. It wasn't a physical shift but a psychic one. A jagged, icy spike of agony pierced through the center of my chest, so violent that it felt as though my ribs were being forced apart by a cold iron bar.
I gasped, my hand flying to m
