Everything unsaid between us.
1191 Words
Anara.
The moon was high.
The castle had long gone still, the only sounds heard were distant wind and the faint humming of wards hidden deep within the stone. But I couldn't sleep.
Too much noise in my head.
Too many feelings crawling beneath my skin.
I paced the length of my room, arms folded tight, my body tense. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Evelyn’s bruised face. Lucien’s cold glare. The shadows that had choked the air from their throat just days ago.
I hated how empty the silence felt without him. Hated that I noticed.
“You look like your feet are trying to drill holes into the floor.”
I froze.
Lucien stood just beside the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, dressed in black-on-black. Silent as a phantom. The moonlight sliced across his sharp cheekbones, making him look carved from shadow and fire.
“I locked that door,” i muttered.
“Do I really need a door to come in?”
His voice was smooth — a little too smooth.
I turned away. “So you’re just breaking into my space now?”
“If I wanted to break in,” he said, voice dropping as he stepped further inside, “you wouldn’t have heard me at all.”
I spun, arms folding tighter.
“What do you want, Lucien?”
He didn’t answer at first. Just looked at me, gaze flickering down — not with hunger, but something slower. Something unreadable.
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
“You’ve been disappearing,” I shot back. “I guess we’re both consistent.”
He stepped closer, a flash of heat in his expression.
“I’ve been giving you space, Anara. You nearly died. You sealed the bond. You ran from me.”
“I didn’t run—”
“You escaped,” he corrected. “Same thing.”
I clenched my jaw. “So what, you’re here to punish me?”
“Punish you? That can mean different things”he said with a smirk
“don't”
“No? ” he said and I just rolled my eyes, then his voice dropped again. “I’m here because I couldn’t stay away.”
Silence.
Heavy. Electric.
The kind that filled all the air between two people and left none for breathing.
“You always twist things,” I muttered, turning towards the window. “You think you know everything. You think you own everything.”
“Not everything,” he said from behind me.
“But I know what’s mine.”
I turned to face him — and didn’t realize how close he was until my chest nearly brushed his, my heart racing a little too fast. I looked up sharply, but he didn’t move back.
His breath was warm. His scent was ash, darkness, and something so familiar it made my head spin.
“You don’t get to say that,” I said, voice soft and sharp all at once.
“Not when you’re the one who keeps vanishing.”
Lucien’s eyes searched mine. “You don’t understand what this bond is doing to me.”
“Then tell me.”
Another pause.
“I feel everything,” he murmured. “When you're angry. When you're scared. When you're hurting. It coils under my skin like it’s my own blood boiling.”
He reached up, brushed a strand of my hair away from my cheek — slow, almost reverent.
I didn’t flinch. But I felt my stomach twist.
“And when I couldn’t feel you after you ran…”
He exhaled, almost like it hurt.
“I thought I’d go mad.”
My lips parted, but no sound came out.
Because I felt it too — the tension, the burning need to step back but not wanting to.
“You make me feel things I don’t understand,” I whispered. “Things I didn’t ask for.”
His fingers lingered near my jaw. “That's not my fault little witch, you unsealed me,”he teased. I hit his chest softly
The room pulsed around us.
Our bond was quiet but alive — a thread drawn tight between our hearts, almost glowing in the dark.
His other hand brushed my waist, slow and tentative like even he didn’t trust himself.
“Don’t disappear on me again,” he said, barely above a whisper. “Even if you’re angry. Don’t vanish.”
“I won’t,”I said.
“You also vanished” I added, his lips curled into a slight smile
“I won't vanish again”
“Unless you tell me to.”
I didn’t say anything again.
I just stood there — close enough to feel the heat of his skin, the weight of his stare, and the terrifying calm in my own chest.
Maybe it wasn’t calm at all.
Maybe it was the beginning of something I couldn’t name yet.
Lucien’s hand dropped away slowly.
He stepped back, gaze unreadable again — that guarded look I was really starting to hate.
“I should go,” he said quietly. “Before I cross a line.”
I hesitated, my fingers curling into the edge of the blanket wrapped around me . My heart thudded — loud enough I was sure he could hear it.
“Don’t,” the words flew out before I could stop myself.
He froze.
“Just…” my voice lowered, fragile but sure,
“Stay. I haven’t been able to sleep.”
Lucien stared at me, as if trying to read between my words — to make sure he wasn’t imagining it. That I really wanted him there. I was also confused.
“letting the big bad monster stay with you? Are you sure about that little witch?”
“I'm not scared of you lucien”
And when I didn't take it back, something in him… softened. Like the tension he wore like armor cracked, just slightly.
He moved slowly, deliberately — sitting at the edge of the bed. Silent. Still.
I lay down, pulling the sheets up, my back pressing against the pillow. But my eyes didn’t close. Not yet.
Lucien leaned forward — and reached out.
His fingers brushed my cheek.
A featherlight touch. Barely anything.
But it set my skin on fire.
My breath caught, lashes fluttering, my entire body suddenly alert under his gentle hand. My pulse thundered in my throat, and I hated how much I leaned into it — how just that small graze made my chest tighten.
He didn’t pull away immediately.
He let the moment stretch, eyes locked on mine.
“Sleep,” he said, voice low — almost like a command. But softer. For once.
I swallowed, then slowly closed my eyes — not because I was tired, but because I couldn't bear to keep looking at him like that.
And somehow… my mind quieted.
My body relaxed.
And before long, my breathing evened out.
Lucien didn’t move.
He just sat there.
Watching her like she was both the most dangerous thing he’d ever touched — and the one thing he couldn’t let go of.
- Writer
