CHAPTER 45
Lucian stopped mid-step.
The mansion gates parted for him, the iron bars groaning open with a sluggishness that usually grated on his nerves.
Tonight, he barely noticed. His mind was an iron vault, yet even he couldn't ignore the way the air felt… thinner.
He felt nothing from the bond. It wasn't severed, nor was it strained. It was simply muted, pushed so far into the background of his consciousness that it barely registered as a flicker.
Lucian dismissed the sensation with practiced indifference. Silence, after all, was preferable to the chaotic noise of a wolfless girl's emotions.
He didn't dwell on it; in fact, he welcomed the quiet. It allowed him to be the King again.
That girl should be tucked away in Clara's cabin, shielded by his warning and his protection. Wolfless, sharp-tongued, and stubborn—yes—but she wasn't a fool. She would stay where he had left her. She would wait.
