The table was set with soft candlelight, and crystals reflected the flames over the white linen. In decanters, wine looked like liquid rubies.
The restaurant smells like roasted rosemary, citrus, and a little bit of smoke nothing too strong, just enough to cover up the tension in the air. Selene sat down in the chair across from Dorian.
The midnight-blue silk of her dress hugged every curve.
Her hair was loosely pinned back, with a few strands brushing her neck. Tonight, she smells different like ambergris and a hint of jasmine that was getting stronger.
She wanted him to see Dorian looked like he belonged here, with his tailored suit, crisp cufflinks, and the faint smell of cedar and leather. At first, he didn't smile.
He looked at her across the table in a way that made her feel like he was asking questions she didn't want to answer.
"You said you weren't hungry," she said in a low voice. He poured wine into her glass without shaking.
"Not until now." She touched the glass, and her fingers were close but not quite touching. The coldness of crystal.
She watched his hands, which were strong and steady, and her heart raced. She leaned in and looked at his face as she said, "These candles are my favourite shade of amber." He smiled then, slowly and slightly, and his eyes lit up.
"I remembered." That word I remembered hurt. She turned her head.
The waiter set down a plate of seared scallops with a citrus glaze and microgreens on top. Steam curled up and mixed with the smoke from the candles. She saw him look at her hand as she reached for a scallop with a thin fork.
"Tell me something real," she said, her voice rough over the sound of forks and knives.
"Not about the maths, not the smell but about you." He looked at her for a moment, the light from the candle dancing over his cheekbones, and then he raised his glass.
He said, "To truth." She said the toast again: "To truth." They had drinks.
The wine was dark red with a lot of tannins and sharpness. It burned softly, like a confession. He put his glass down.
He leaned in and said, "I don't often share this.
"My dad was very picky about smells. He thought it could show weakness so I learnt early on that you should never let the world see you bleed.
She took a breath and thought about the man he had described. Cold, demanding, and protective.
"Did it teach you not to trust?" she asked. Something, maybe pain, flashed across his face.
"Yes." The break got longer. Selene then touched his hand, but only at the wrist. Her fingers were light, almost by accident. He didn't let go.
She whispered, "I know what people say about me." "That I sold an illusion." That I bottled up my obsession.
He slowly and carefully brushed her skin with his thumb.
"Maybe you did." The words were heavy. She laughed so hard that she raised her shoulders.
"Maybe I wanted to." He moved and leaned forward. The space between them got smaller. "And now?" he asked her heart raced.
She wanted to get away without anyone knowing. Go but she didn't.
She looked him in the eyes. "Now... I want to know why you came to me in the first place. The silence was broken by the distant laughter of the waiter, the rustling of other customers, and the soft hum of music, which was there but not very loud.
Dorian kept looking at her. "Because you're not scared to turn pain into something beautiful." Her throat closed up and she took a drink.
"And I want to know why you set the studio on fire." His jaw got tight.
"I didn't." She got angry at the word. "Then why did I find your vial in the wreckage?" Why did the smell you made me think was mine change into something else?
He reached across the table, his hand hovering in the air.
Her phone buzzed just as she was going to take it. She looked down at a picture, no words, no name, and her chest was tight.
Selene is in the picture by myself at midnight with a smile on her face and her hair down, she had a crowd behind her.
But there was a figure behind her, in the shadows. Recognizable shape...Lucien's body. Just a glimpse, a ghost of him her breath stopped.
Dorian looked where she was looking. "What is it?" She shook, and her lips opened. "That picture." He leaned forward, a mix of worry and anger on his face.
"Who sent it?" She looked up, her eyes wide open. She was too hurt and confused to lie.
"I don't know." He looked around the restaurant. The cutlery shone in the candlelight. People laughed, and the music played.
She felt like the walls were listening and she was exposed.
He spoke more softly. "You don't have to deal with it alone, no matter who sent it." She was about to say something when the doorbell rang and cut through them like a knife.
Someone came in and her breathing stopped.
Dorian's fingers turned white as he tightened his grip on the stem of his wine glass. A woman walked through the door of the restaurant and not just any woman. In white, tall, and thin.
Selene saw the same woman from the Marrins & Vale Foundation a few weeks ago. The one in a faded picture is wearing Selene's old custom scent.
That perfume, the one she saw in the gallery. The woman stopped, she looked right at Selene. They both recognized each other right away. She smiled, slowly, and with a knowing look like a confession.
Selene's heart stopped. "Her!" she whispered.
Dorian looked where she was looking his eyes darted to the woman. The chandelier's warm light shone on her cheekbone, and the way she held herself made the room quiet.
She walked to a table in the back, selene felt a rush of fear and anger.
She didn't think there would be an ambush tonight.
Dorian got up. "Stay here." Selene's heart raced. She said "No!" but he was already moving. The waitress was surprised when she dropped a menu on their table.
The candlelight moved around on the tablecloth. The woman in white came to a halt. Dorian and she locked eyes from across the room.
Then she waved her hand in a quick, casual way. Selene's breath stopped. This isn't a coincidence. Dorian stomped through the restaurant, his polished shoes making a loud noise on the marble floor.
Selene stood with a glass of wine in her hand, and the wine spilled onto her wrist. She looked, wanting to go after him but too scared and needy to move. He got to the woman right as she was leaving.
"Hold on!" he yelled, she stopped. Changed. And from behind her, a voice....Lucien's voice, deep and calm whispered,
"Beautiful tonight, Selene." Selene turned all the way around. She lost a lot of blood. She watched as Lucien stepped out of the shadows, alive and walking towards the table where she and Dorian had eaten an hour before.
Lucien is now walking towards her, making things dangerously real and mixing shock and desire.