Lucian’s POV
I could barely sleep the entire night.
Every time I closed my eyes I saw Elara’s face — flushed, lips swollen from our kiss, eyes wide with surprise and want. Then the memory of her words would crash in. She had been mated to Darius first. He had rejected her. Liora had tried to have her killed. The anger in my chest refused to settle, twisting and burning until the first light of dawn crept through the windows.
I woke up feeling tired, the kind of bone-deep exhaustion that no amount of rest could fix. I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since the day Darius walked into my palace unannounced. I dragged myself out of bed, washed up quickly with cold water to shock my system awake, and headed straight to my study.
The moment I sat down, one of the head servants knocked and ent
