Mara
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I leaned on the cool iron railing of the balcony, staring out at the mansion grounds. A few guards strolled around below, their dark suits blending into the fading light of evening. The air smelled faintly of the garden’s roses but even that could not quiet the storm inside me.
It had been a month since everything happened. A month since I was kidnapped, since the gunshots, since the blood. A month since Lucian Vale had held me so tightly, whispering that everything would be alright, even as the world burned around us.
I should have felt safe. I should have felt protected. But fear clung to my skin, refusing to let go. Lucian was a killer. No matter how tender his touches were afterward, no matter how soft his voice got when he spoke to me, it never erased what he was capable
