In my world.
Like she never left.
She turns slightly, sensing me. “You don’t knock anymore?”
“Not when I own the door,” I murmur.
Her mouth curves. “You never owned me, Lucien.”
“Because you handed yourself into my possession even before you knew my name.”As I handed myself into yours.
The words come out quiet, dangerous. I step closer, the floor creaking beneath my boots. She doesn’t retreat, but the air between us changes, thickens with awareness and with memory.
“Tell me something,” I say. “When you slept all those years, how often did you dream me?”
Her brow furrows. “Why?”
“Because I dreamed of you,” I say softly. “Every night. Every decade. Every century. I dreamed of you. Of finding you. Of killing you. Of fucking you. Sometimes all three at once.”
She swallows, eyes shining. “Lucien…”
“Was it the same for you?”
She sways on her feet. “Yes. But the killing part was not so much a dream as a nightmare because I feared it would be another cruel compulsion I couldn’t control.”
The confession hits like lightning. I close the distance between us, my hand sliding along her jaw, forcing her to meet my eyes. “Then tell me why you wish to linger, to request for privacy when we have a war to wage.”
Her pulse jumps under my thumb.
“Because I can still feel them,” she whispers. “The coven. The ones who bound me. Their magic may be faded but it’s still potent. And the longer I’m near you, the harder they pull at me.”
“But you said they’re at their weakest,” I counter, my jaw tightening “Because I destroyed two of the seven that kept your prison sealed.”
Her eyes glint with something between gratitude and fear. “Yes. Their deaths weakened the ward, just enough for me to slip through. But it’s only a matter of time before they come for me.”
“Then let them come,” I say, voice low and certain. “Distance isn’t what you need.” I tilt her chin up, force her to meet my gaze. “It’s the opposite. You stay close. To me. My power will smother theirs.”
She shudders, shaking her head. “You don’t understand. It hurts. When I’m near you it feels like they’re clawing inside my chest. They fear you, Lucien. They always have, which makes them even more dangerous.”
“Good. Then we’ll show them just how formidable we can be. I’ve learned a few tricks in two and a half centuries,” I growl.
Her lips part, as if she’s about to argue, then she hesitates. Fear flickers in her eyes before she exhales, voice barely audible. “There’s an incantation. It lessens their hold. Not for long, but it gives me reprieve.”
I remember it then, the way her power used to bloom after she drank from me. The way her spells burned hotter, brighter, alive with my blood thrumming through her veins. My voice drops, dark silk. “You know what else strengthens you, Elara.”
Her gaze catches mine, pupils dilating, color washing high in her cheeks. “Lucien…”
“Don’t deny it. My blood always made your magic sing.” I lean in, close enough that our breaths mingle. “Especially when you took it from my throat. When you drank while you writhed on my cock.”
A tremor passes through her, desire warring with dread. Heat coils between us, the air thick enough to taste.
“Need I also remind you that I haven’t fulfilled my promise,” I murmur against her mouth, “to mark you as mine. To make sure no magic, no god, no witch could ever take you again?”
She looks up at me, torn open by fear and want, and for a heartbeat she’s the same woman who once swore she’d burn the world for us.
“Fuck privacy and fuck fighting this alone. Tell me who to destroy, Elara,” I whisper. “It’s the only way.”
Her eyes flicker with fear, maybe sorrow. “You can’t kill the past, what’s already designed and foretold, Lucien. We tried once remember?”
