The Billionaire Serpent King's Bride

Chapter 10

SELENE'S POV

Sunlight. Warm, golden, and impossibly bright, it spilled across the pillows.

I blinked, muscles coiling instinctively, bracing for the crash. The heavy, wet blanket of exhaustion that typically clamped over my lungs the moment I woke up was gone. The tremor in my hands. The taste of bile. The shadow that usually sat on my chest, making every breath a struggle.

It wasn't there.

I sat up, confused. My body felt… light. Not just rested, but renewed. The deep, bone-grinding fatigue that had been my constant companion for twenty years was gone.

My mind was clear, sharp, unclouded by the fog of trauma. A laugh bubbled up in my throat, bright, genuine, and terrifyingly foreign.

"I slept," I whispered, staring at my hands as if they belonged to a stranger. "I actually slept."

No nightmares. No serpents. No golden eyes watching from the shadows. Just darkness, and then… morning.

The realization hit me with the force of a slap. I hadn't just slept. I had slept like a child. Deep, dreamless, safe.

It was a feeling so alien it made my skin crawl. I couldn't remember the last time I woke up without the taste of fear in my mouth.

Peaceful. Safe. Loved.

The thought froze the blood in my veins.

Loved?

That's when I felt it.

A warmth against my back. Solid. Unmoving. A chest. Broad. Strong. Like a man's.

My breath hitched, freezing in my throat. The air in the room seemed to vanish, replaced by a sudden, crushing pressure in my ears. Slowly, dread curling cold in my stomach, I turned my head.

Lucien.

He was there. His back was to me, but even in sleep, his presence seemed to fill the entire space beside me. I could see the broad, hard line of his shoulders under his shirt, the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest.

One of his arms was wrapped around my waist, his hand splayed possessively over my stomach, holding me against him as if I were the only thing anchoring him to the earth. His face, usually a mask of cold indifference, was relaxed. Peaceful. He looked… human.

And in his arms, I had slept like a child. The nightmares hadn't just stopped. They had been banished. He did this.

The realization screamed in my head. His presence stopped them. He protected me.

Panic, sharp and electric, surged through my veins. I scrambled out of bed, tearing myself away from his touch as if it burned. I hit the floor hard, my back slamming against the far wall as I tried to put as much distance between us as possible.

"Lucien!" My voice cracked, loud and hysterical in the quiet room. "Lucien!"

His eyes opened almost immediately.

For a split second, they were unfocused, caught between sleep and wakefulness. Then they found me. The fog vanished, replaced by a sharp, terrifying clarity.

He sat up slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements. His gaze was steady. Unwavering.

"Selene."

The way he said my name was quiet. Steady. Almost soothing. It should have made me feel safe. Instead, it made my knees weak.

"What are you doing here?" The words tumbled out, desperate. "How did you get into my room?"

Lucien didn't answer immediately. His eyes remained on me, calm and unreadable.

"You don't have to be afraid." His voice was gentle, a stark contrast to the storm raging inside me. "Take a slow breath."

Only then did I realize I was hyperventilating. My chest rose and fell so quickly it hurt, stars dancing at the edges of my vision. I forced myself to draw in one slow breath. Then another.

The pounding in my ears gradually eased, but the fear remained, cold and hard in my gut. Lucien waited. He didn't rush me. He didn't step toward me. He didn't try to explain himself before I was ready to listen.

Only after the silence settled between us, heavy and suffocating, did he finally speak.

"You were having nightmares."

The words made me freeze.

"I heard you scream."

Fragments of the night flickered through my mind. The serpent. Its voice. Its eyes. Then… nothing. A void.

"I remember waking up…" I whispered, my voice trembling. "But…" I frowned, trying to grasp the missing pieces. "I don't remember seeing you."

"You wouldn't." His expression remained calm, though something flickered in his eyes. "You weren't fully awake."

Confusion knitted my brows together.

"I came to make sure you were alright," he continued softly.

I searched my memory desperately. There was nothing. Only darkness after the scream.

"I don't remember any of that."

"I know."

He said it so simply that it somehow eased the embarrassment threatening to consume me.

"I was going to leave."

A small crease formed between my brows. "...Going?"

He nodded once. "But every time I moved away, you reached for me." His voice remained quiet. "You held me so tightly that I couldn't leave you."

Heat rushed into my face, burning my cheeks.

"I did?"

My mouth opened, then closed again.

"I…" I couldn't find the words.

"You kept asking me not to leave."

Embarrassment flooded every inch of me, hot and humiliating.

"Oh my God…" I covered my face with my hands, wishing the floor would swallow me whole.

"I'm so sorry."

"There is nothing to apologize for." His voice remained calm, firm. "You settled down shortly afterward."

He paused. The air between us felt charged, heavy with things unsaid.

"And then," his eyes met mine, intense and dark, "you slept peacefully."

The room fell silent. I stared at him. Then slowly, the horror of it settled in.

He was right. For the first time in years, I couldn't remember another nightmare after that. No waking up every hour. No screaming. No fear. I'd simply… slept.

The realization was more terrifying than the nightmares ever were.

Lucien rose to his feet, smoothing the sleeve of his shirt. The moment of vulnerability was gone, replaced by the cold, hard mask I knew too well.

"I should leave."

He walked toward the door, his hand on the knob before he stopped. He didn't turn around.

"Get ready."

I frowned, confusion replacing the fear.

"For what?"

He looked back over his shoulder. His golden eyes held mine, cold and absolute.

"Our wedding."

The words stole the air from my lungs. The room seemed to tilt.

"It will take place today."

He spoke with the same quiet certainty he used to discuss the weather, not the destruction of my life.

"Everything has already been arranged."

Before I could gather my thoughts, before I could scream or cry or fight, he opened the door.

"I'll see you downstairs."

The door closed softly behind him.

I remained exactly where I was, sitting on the floor, shaking. The silence of the room pressed in on me, heavier than before.

Today.

I was going to become Mrs. Drakon.

And there was nothing in this world, no nightmare or monster, that terrified me more than that.