At first, Lucien said nothing. He just remained there, staring into my eyes and clenching his jaw in a way I had never seen him do before. It took me a time to find my words that seemed stuck under the weight of his stare because the quiet between us was heavy, charged, and I knew he was waiting.
I eventually murmured, scarcely raising my voice above a whisper, "Alec asked me to leave." The words hung in the air between us, weighty, even painful. "He said he could offer me freedom from all of this and protect me."
Although Lucien's face remained the same, I could see the glint of pain in his eyes and the way his hands clinched at his sides. "Corrigan, what did you tell him?" The gap between us seemed like a canyon, and his voice sounded icy and remote.
I said, my voice cracking a little, "I told him I needed time to think." "I didn't... I didn't respond to him.
