The warmth in the drawing room died the second the words left Ivy's mouth.
Lucien's expression darkened instantly, the faint, tender glint in his golden eyes vanished behind a wall of something cold and impenetrable. His jaw clenched tightly and he seemed to shut down almost immediately.
He didn't yell like Richard would when he was guilty, and he didn't offer a dramatic defense or attempt to explain away the shadow of his past. He simply looked down at her, and his voice dropped an octave.
"You're reading far too much into it, Ivy," he said, his tone entirely devoid of heat. "It is just a piano."
He suddenly seemed like the alpha king she used to know before all this, the alpha king who had coldly rejected her in front of everyone.
Without waiting for her response, he tur
