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Chapter 8

Auteur: Liora Haven
last update Dernière mise à jour: 2026-02-15 04:42:45

Lilith’s POV

Sophie’s hand didn’t just grab mine, she practically yanked me forward.

Her face was pale, her breathing uneven, but it wasn’t anger in her eyes, not suspicion, It was fear.

A real fear.

“Lilith, we need to go inside,” she whispered harshly, glancing over her shoulder as if someone might be listening. “Please move.”

My heart started pounding again, but not from Damien this time.

“What happened?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. It wasn’t steady.

Sophie swallowed, tugging me through the foyer. “He came back early. He’s… he’s not himself today.”

A chill ran right through me.

Lucian wasn’t himself?

What did that even mean?

What version of him was waiting for me now?

We reached the first staircase, and I stumbled slightly.

My thighs ached sharp, warm reminders of what Damien had done to me.

My lips still tingled like they carried his fingerprints.

My chest tightened with every step, as if my body hadn’t decided whether it should be terrified or shaking from leftover pleasure.

Sophie noticed the stumble.

Of course she did.

“Careful,” she said, sliding an arm around my waist to help me walk. Her voice softened, but the tension under it remained tight. “God, Lilith… you look like you are about to faint.”

I almost laughed. The truth was worse.

I wasn’t fainting.

I was remembering.

Damien’s hands gripping my waist.

His mouth trailing down my throat.

The way he whispered my name like he owned it.

The way I let him.

My throat went dry.

We reached the top of the stairs, and Sophie guided me toward my bedroom.

“You need to fix yourself up before he sees you,” she muttered, glancing at my face again. “You look… different.”

Different.

The word hit me hard.

She pushed the door closed behind us, then turned to me slowly… really looking at me.

“Lilith…” Sophie’s voice dipped. “Are you okay? You’re flushed, and your eyes… God, they’re bright. What happened?”

I froze.

I couldn’t answer her.

Not without lying.

Not without the truth spilling out like water.

So I looked away. “I’m fine. Just tired.”

She didn’t believe me, but she didn’t push either. She stepped behind me, brushing my hair back gently to check my neck.

Her breath caught.

My heart stopped.

“Lilith…you’re red,” she whispered. “Like someone’s mouth–”

I jerked away too fast.

“Shower,” I said, forcing my voice to stay level. “I need a shower.”

Sophie hesitated, then nodded. “Make it quick. He asked about you.”

That sent another cold wave through me.

I rushed to the bathroom and closed the door before my panic could show.

The shower barely warmed before I stepped under it.

I didn’t wash.

I scrubbed… hard.

My skin turned pink, then red, as I tried to erase Damien’s touch from everywhere he left it. My palms dragged over my neck, my chest, my thighs, everywhere he kissed, everywhere I let him.

But the more I scrubbed, the more the memories came back.

His breath at my ear.

His hands gripping my hips.

The way he sounded when he said my name.

The way I said his back.

My knees weakened under the water.

“No,” I whispered shakily. “Stop. You have to stop thinking,”

My hands pressed flat to the tile. My forehead lowered between them.

“He will know,” I breathed. “Please God… he’ll know.”

Because Lucian always knew.

The smallest lie.

The smallest change in my voice.

The smallest change in how I smelled, how I walked, how I breathed.

He could read me like a file he memorized.

I washed my hair twice, then three times, as if shampoo could erase the memory of Damien’s fingers threading through it. When I finally stepped out, the mirror was fogged white, but I refused to wipe it.

I didn’t want to see myself yet.

Not like this.

~~~

I dressed up quickly, neutral colors, nothing that drew attention from my selected clothes for the week. My hands shook as I buttoned the blouse. I used perfume sparingly; too much would raise suspicion, too little would leave Damien’s scent.

When I opened the bedroom door, the hallway was too quiet.

That wasn’t normal.

Lucien guards usually moved with heavy steps. Staff whispered and moved in and out of rooms. Lucian’s world was always a controlled kind of noise.

But today… It was a total silence.

A maid passing by kept her gaze glued to the floor.

A guard at the end of the hall stiffened when he saw me.

From somewhere behind a closed door, someone whispered my name, then went silent the moment they realized I heard.

Something was wrong.

My breath came short, and shallow.

Sophie appeared behind me again. “He’s downstairs,” she said, voice soft and tense. “Waiting for you.”

Waiting…Not pacing…. Not yelling.

Just waiting.

That alone made my skin crawl.

We reached the bottom step. Sophie didn’t follow me farther. She stayed behind, wringing her fingers.

I stepped into the living room.

Lucian sat in his armchair, legs crossed, a whiskey glass turning slowly between his fingers.

He wasn’t angry.

He wasn’t shouting.

He was calm.

Way too calm than I expected him to react.

His eyes lifted as the second mine did. He didn’t blink.

“Lilith,” he said quietly.

My stomach twisted.

He stood, slow and controlled, like a storm gathering itself.

His eyes dragged over me once.

Only once.

But it felt like being peeled open.

I tried to steady my breathing, but the silence in the room made each breath too loud.

Lucian walked toward me, his steps unhurried.

When he reached me, he lifted a hand and wiped something off my cheek with his thumb. A gesture that should have been affectionate.

It wasn’t.

“You weren’t in your room when I came back,” he said softly.

My heart dropped to my feet.

“I… I went for an early visit to the orphanage,” I answered fast

Lucian tilted his head.

“Strange,” he murmured. “You didn’t take your driver.”

Ice slid through my veins.

He stepped behind me.

I didn’t hear his footsteps, I felt the shift of air.

His breath near my neck made my knees weaken inspecting me.

“You smell… different today,” he said. His voice wasn’t low or seductive. It was suspicious.

Cold sweat formed down my spine.

I kept my eyes fixed forward, afraid they would betray everything.

Lucian circled slowly and came to stand in front of me again. His eyes were steady now, colder than before.

“Enzo told me something interesting,” he said.

I stopped breathing.

“He saw your car…”

Lucian paused just long enough for dread to pool in my stomach.

“Not heading to the orphanage.”

My blood turned to ice.

He watched the panic bloom

in my eyes, and I bet he saw it, he drank it in, he processed every second of it.

Then he leaned in slightly, voice so soft it barely touched the air.

“So tell me, Lilith…”

His eyes darkened. “who were you meeting?”

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