Lucien blinked the sleep from his eyes and rolled onto his side, grabbing his phone from the nightstand out of habit. The screen remained black.
"Dead," he muttered, tossing it back onto the table with a grunt.
He didn't think much of it as he plugged the charger in and set the phone aside. Morning light streamed lazily through the window. Despite the chaos of the night before, there was a fragile stillness that settled over the estate.
It felt like a rare moment of peace.
And yet, even with that illusion… his gut wouldn't quite relax.
He washed up, tugged on a clean shirt, and ran his hands through damp hair before heading out into the hall.
His footsteps were silent as he moved through the corridors, past the guards stationed near the upper wing. His eyes paused briefly on Emerald's door.
He didn't knock.
She'd had enough to deal with. After everything she'd done for him: risking her life, exposing traitors, enduring loss, she deserved one quiet morning.
