Chapter 28: Where Fire Meets Flesh
The night hadn’t cooled.
Even as the storm rolled over the castle, thunder shaking the towers and rain blurring the moonlight, heat coiled beneath my skin. Not the kind that came from magic or fear. But the kind only he could ignite.
Lucien.
He stood in front of the fire in his private chambers, his back to me. Shirtless. Still damp from a shower, strands of silver hair curling against his bare shoulders. His skin gleamed in the firelight, pale and marked only by faint scars stories I didn’t yet know, but longed to trace with my hands.
He knew I was there.
He always knew.
“I thought you might come,” he said, voice rough, low, and intimate.
“I couldn’t sleep.” I closed the door behind me. My feet moved without instruction, carrying me closer. My si
