The city had a different rhythm at night.
Lights flickered like stars caught in steel, and the streets hummed with quiet danger. Seraphina walked slowly, heels clicking against the pavement, as if the sound could anchor her racing thoughts. Her mind refused to rest.
Lucien had been distant since the contract amendment conversation. Not absent, but guarded, like a man carefully measuring his own emotions. And for the first time, Seraphina realized she was beginning to care—not just about surviving in his world, but about what she might lose if she let herself.
She paused outside a small café, lights spilling warmth into the cold January air. She wanted to be alone, yet somewhere deep inside, she longed for him. For the dangerous comfort of his presence.
Her phone buzzed. A message from
