I didn’t sleep.
Not even for a minute.
Lucien left the room sometime after midnight, but his presence stayed behind like a bruise on my skin. Every word he said echoed in my head over and over again.
My hands stayed wrapped around my stomach the entire night.
They moved more than usual.
Small shifts. Quiet flutters. Like they knew I was scared.
“I’m here,” I whispered into the dark. “I’m not letting anything happen to you… do you hear me?”
My voice cracked.
“I won’t let anyone take you away.”
But the truth was… I didn’t know how to keep that promise.
Morning came with the sound of the lock turning.
I sat up immediately.
Lucien walked in fully dressed with a blank expression, like nothing had happened the night before. Like he hadn’t just decided the fate of the lives growing in
