Chapter 25 — A Moment That Couldn't Be Taken Back
It started with silence,not the sharp, heavy kind that pressed between them in the early days but a soft, quiet stillness,the kind that asked nothing or femanded nothing.
Lucien had left the study door open tonight. A quiet invitation and she took it.They didn't speak for a long time.
He sat by the fire, a book open in one hand, though he wasn't reading. She sat across from him in one of the deep leather chairs, legs folded, her hands wrapped around a cup of tea she hadn't touched.She watched the flames dance and flicker across his features.He was beautiful like this ,not because of power or sharp suits or lethal charm but because he was still,present and more dangerous than ever because of it.
"How old were you when you stopped trusting people?" she asked softly.
Lucien didn't move, but his eyes flicked to her.
"I was ten," she said, before he could answer. "My mother left, lying there on a cold ground covered with sand and then followed a burial. My father stopped looking at me like I was a child, and started seeing me as something to use."
Lucien set the book aside."He replaced me," she continued, her voice calm but raw. "Let Isla have the freedom, the softness, the future I was born for and when it came time to marry you... he offered her and then changed his mind because Isla's mother didn't want her daughter to suffer under the hands of a cold, dangerous and self centered man."
Lucien was still watching her,he didn't interrupt or ask questions,he was just listening.
Aria took a shaky breath. "And you? When did you stop expecting kindness?"
Lucien stood slowly and walked toward the window. He didn't answer right away.
"When I realized my father would rather raise a soldier than a son."
The words hit the air like broken glass.
Lucien kept his back to her, his hands clenched behind him. "He taught me how to dismantle a gun before he taught me how to ride a bike,told me love was a liability and said a good wife was one who knew when to disappear."
He turned slowly.
Aria stood too, heart pounding.Their eyes locked.The room felt different,not smaller, but more contained like it held only them.
"I'm not Isla," she whispered.
Lucien stepped closer. "I know."
"I'm not soft or easy."
"I never wanted easy."Lucien said with yet another step and now only inches separated them.
"I wasn't supposed to be your wife," she said. "I tricked you. Lied to your family."
Lucien reached for her face.His fingers hovered at her jaw, then tucked her hair behind her ear."You could've burned the world to the ground," he murmured. "And I would've still wanted you and my parents haven't known yet."
Her breath caught.Their foreheads touched and then they kissed.It wasn't violent or rushed but slow ,searching, the kind of kiss that unfolded like a truth. The kind that answered every question they'd been too afraid to ask.
Lucien kissed her like he was finally allowed to want, sucking her lips and Aria kissed him like she finally believed she was wanted.
Their hands tangled, their bodies closing the last sliver of space and when they finally pulled apart, they didn't speak.They just stood there,breathing the same air knowing nothing would be the same again.