EVE POV –
He did come back.
Of course he did.
Lucius always comes back.
Annoyingly.
Reliably.
Infuriatingly… reassuringly.
And the moment he strolled into the clearing like he hadn't left me spiraling into an emotional implosion, everything just… went back to normal. Or our version of normal. Which is mostly bickering, insults, and the occasional eye‑contact so intense it feels illegal.
Except now we also had stolen glances.
The kind where he looks at me when he thinks I'm not looking.
And I look at him when he's definitely noticing.
And then we both pretend we're not doing it.
Very healthy dynamic.
He'd look at me.I'd look at him.We'd look away like two idiots caught staring at each other in a high school hallway.
Not that I cared.Not that it mattered.Not that my stomach did Olympic‑level flips every time he accidentally met my eyes.
Anyway.
He brought food.A lot of food.
He tossed basically an entire feast at the dragons—who by now were my full‑time shadows.
