"This will still be your room," Lucian said coldly but firmly as they arrived back at the packhouse. He opened the door, stepped inside, and placed Athena's bag on the bed with a deliberate heaviness as if each movement carried the weight of unspoken tension.
He turned to face her in silence. For several seconds, they locked eyes. Unwavering, unblinking, unyielding.
"I'm not going to submit. I'm done doing that," Athena declared, her voice trembling, not with fear but with rage and frustration. Her brows furrowed, and the air between them seemed to thicken.
Lucian understood that look. He had seen that fire before. The kind that burned in warriors who had bled, fought, and survived. Athena's eyes carried the flame of someone who refused to be broken.
"Don't be stubborn," Luci
