Chapter 20 — A Warning in Red
The morning after the storm was too quiet.The sky had cleared, but the house felt... unsettled. Like it was holding its breath.
She hadn't seen Lucien since he left the library. And even though she told herself it didn't matter, every part of her strained to hear his footsteps and to feel his presence.He'd come so close to kissing her and then he didn't because he was careful and in control.He didn't want to lose himself but something between them had changed, like a dam cracking beneath pressure and she didn't know how much longer it would hold.
A knock at her door startled her.She opened it to find Enzo, one of Lucien's personal men,always dressed like a bodyguard, always quiet.He handed her a small envelope with no name or seal just red wax and white paper."Where did this come from?" she asked.Enzo's jaw tightened. "It was left at the gate. No signature. Only meant for you."
That was a lie the letter wasn't for her but a message, one meant to rattle Lucien.
She stepped back into her room and opened it,inside was a photo of her from behind. Taken in the garden the day Lucien was gone and scrawled in blood-red ink across the back:
"Even a lion bleeds when the lamb is gutted."
When Lucien came back ,he found her standing by the windows, pale-faced, clutching something in her hands.He didn't need to ask.l because Enzo had already told him.Lucien didn't speak.He simply took the photo from her fingers and read the words.
His jaw locked and eyes darkened.Aria watched him carefully trying to read him like she had the last few weeks but this wasn't the Lucien she knew,he was colder and sharper.The version of him whispered about behind closed doors.He folded the photo with surgical precision and then he looked at her and said, "From now on, you don't go anywhere without a shadow,not the library,not the terrace and not even the damn hallway."Aria frowned. "You think they're watching me?"Lucien didn't blink. "I know they are.""And if I don't want a shadow?"His voice lowered."Then I'll follow you myself."
The tension in the room crackled, but it wasn't like before.This wasn't slow-burning intimacy but a storm reloading itself.She moved closer to him, searching his face."Why would they threaten me?"Lucien looked down at her and for a moment, something flickered in his eyes ,fear, guilt, protectiveness."All my enemies know I don't have weaknesses," he said.
"But they think… you might be one."Her breath caught.He wasn't saying it as a warning,he was admitting it.She didn't know what to say to that,didn't know what it meant.So she reached for the words she could say."You didn't sleep last night, did you?"Lucien shook his head once."You didn't either."They stood in silence again, close enough that she could feel the heat of him and then she whispered:"What happens next?"Lucien stepped in,his hand reached for her waist not possessive this time, but grounding and soft.
"I will find out who left the letter," he said. "And I will gut them but until then I won't leave your side."
Aria didn't talk, she felt assured and safe
Later that night, Aria found herself on the couch in Lucien's private lounge. A fire burned low. Rain had returned, softer this time.
Lucien handed her tea. He didn't sit beside her , he stood behind the armrest, like he was guarding the room.She looked up at him."You don't have to watch me every second," she said gently.
Lucien's eyes didn't soften."Yes," he said. "I do."