جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 13

Elena's POVI spun around on instinct.And there he was.Lucien stood a few feet from the window. He'd moved fast — the moment he was sure we were safe, he'd already retreated two steps back into the shadow, out of the direct sunlight.But it was too late.The stretch of his arm that had been exposed was charred black, the skin still giving off faint wisps of smoke. An injury like that would have been fatal for a human. But he acted as though he couldn't feel it at all.He just stared at me, his eyes red.All that control — all that composure he'd maintained for as long as I'd known him — was cracking open from the inside."Elena. Come here."His voice was barely above a whisper. There was a tremor in it that I'd never heard before.I stood still. Then I took a step back."Lucien, we're divorced."His pupils contracted.For just a fraction of a second, his expression broke.Then he stepped forward. Into the light.The smell of burning flesh hit the air immediately.His skin was being e

Elena's POVThe light outside was blinding when they brought me out.The air was cold, but it carried the lingering heat of survival. Someone draped a fire blanket over my shoulders and sat me down in a temporary triage zone. A bottle of water appeared in my hands. My fingers were still trembling.It was only then that I realized I had actually walked out of that building alive.Around me, chaos.Stretchers moving in every direction. Paramedics sorting casualties. Firefighters still pulling people from the wreckage. Somewhere, someone was crying. Someone was calling a name. Someone else just sat in silence, staring at nothing.My throat burned. Even swallowing water stung.Then my eyes drifted to one side — almost without thinking.He was there.Lucien stood in a far corner, pressed against the wall. He had wedged himself entirely into the shadows, avoiding every angle of direct sunlight. But even so, the light crept in. His skin showed clear burn damage — the stretch of his arm was ch