Maryelle’s POV
Sleep pressed down on me like velvet, heavy and consuming. I had expected the usual drift into quiet dreams, the kind where the edges blur and dissolve, but tonight was different. The air inside the dream felt charged, alive, as though someone else had stepped into the silence with me.
I turned, and he was there.
Lucian.
His presence was undeniable, tall and magnetic, his eyes burning with something that made my pulse quicken. I should have recoiled, should have screamed, but instead I froze, caught between fear and a strange, dangerous curiosity.
“Maryelle,” he said, his voice low, velvet threaded with commands I was drawn to. His lips grazed my ear and I shivered, my body reacting before my mind could catch up.
“This is just a dream. I’m not cheating on Phan
