Sin in His Shadow” Book One

Chapter 10: Like Blood in the Water

Lucien had never understood how quiet could feel so loud.

The Velenza estate sat like a sleeping giant on the hills of Virello. Crimson-tinted windows reflected the storm clouds above, and inside, everything felt muffled—like the walls were listening. Watching.

Zarek hadn’t spoken to him since the argument two nights ago.

Since Lucien had screamed that he wasn’t some porcelain secret to be tucked away behind silk curtains and guarded doors.

But the silence that followed was worse than the shouting.

Lucien stood at the edge of the rose garden now, rain misting against his skin. The roses here were red—too red. Like they had been watered in blood. He thought of the black one Zarek had left on his pillow that first night, and for a second, he hated it.

Hated what it meant.

> "You're not a prisoner," came Zarek’s voice behind him.

Lucien didn’t turn. "Then why does it feel like a cage?"

Zarek’s footsteps crunched closer. Slower than usual. Hesitant, even. That was rare.

> “Because you don’t understand what you walked into.”

Lucien finally turned to face him. “Then explain. Don’t protect me with silence and call it love.”

That word.

It hung between them like a knife. Zarek flinched—but only slightly. Enough for Lucien to see it.

“You don’t know what love costs here,” Zarek muttered. “It’s not poetry and pianos. It’s bullets and betrayal. It’s knowing everyone you care about will either leave, bleed, or betray you.”

Lucien took a step forward. “Then teach me.”

Zarek’s hand clenched. “You don’t belong in this world.”

“Maybe not,” Lucien whispered. “But I belong with you.”

And that broke something.

Zarek moved. In one breath, he was pulling Lucien to him, lips crashing down in a kiss that was more war than warmth. A promise and a warning, all in one.

They didn’t speak again that night.

But their bodies did. And it wasn’t gentle. It was desperate. Like they were drowning in everything they couldn’t say and trying to breathe through skin.

Later, when Lucien lay naked beneath Zarek’s silk sheets, chest heaving, he whispered, “I’m not afraid of your world.”

Zarek didn’t answer with words. He pressed his mouth to Lucien’s neck, then his heart, then lower—marking him like territory.

Like surrender.

But outside, in the storm-dark night, a shadow watched the window from the trees.

And in its hands… was a gun.