Chapter 5 #3
Nessen had seen to her upon her arrival, and Rhyden had shared that the vampiric doctor had taken it upon himself to study the Nova within the Rogues in his absence.
He’d casually tacked on that Nessen had deduced that there was Nova inside her.
She was only surprised it had taken him so long to figure it out.
When Rhyden had kept her and Cyrus trapped here, they’d been careful not to share anything about her lack of Stella.
Rhyden assured them all Nessen wouldn’t squeal, as he’d put it. So Rin tried to trust that her secret would stay safe.
The more who knew, the greater the chance everything would come crashing down around them all.
A few days later, Rin was moved to a plain guest room after Nessen ensured her heart was steady.
Restless, Rin tossed and turned in her bed.
She felt like they were wasting time being here. Taking steps backward. Trapped in this windowless place, far from her home.
Kit was out there. Hunting her.
Rin rolled to her back, kicking the blankets down to her feet. The room was pitch black. Sighing, she leaned up and fumbled for the lamp’s switch, clicking it on as a false yellow glow filled the room.
She stared at the shadows on the walls and swore they stared right back at her.
Then—
"Star of mine. We will meet soon."
Warm lips brushed her cheek. A gentle touch rested against her brow.
"Go to him. He needs you."
Rin gasped awake, jerking upright as she pressed a hand to her chest. Her heart was calm, but she couldn’t help but feel like it should be racing.
She must’ve fallen asleep.
The words stuck in her mind like gummy candy between her teeth. She furrowed her brow, trying to remember. The cadence of the voice, the touch against her brow—
A sudden melancholic sadness made her want to curl up and cry herself to sleep. Her cheeks were wet. She reached up and touched beneath her eye, catching a tear on her pinky.
If she fell back asleep, could she fall back into the same dream?
She had the strangest desire to seek out Lucien, even knowing he’d be sleeping right now. Ever since she’d woken up after her latest episode, she felt so… attached to him. Like she needed him in her sight at all times.
The lamplight made the shadows of her form dance playfully, and she stared at the wall to distract herself.
Suddenly, through the tricks of dim light and shadows, she saw the shape of a hand, trying to break through. The concrete cracked and split, rippling like water as the hand pressed against the wall.
Her breath stalled in her lungs.
She knew—
"My shadow," Rin whispered, rising to her knees as she crawled to the foot of the bed.
She reached for the shadow thumping against the wall. The air held a strange quality, like she was still dreaming. Maybe she was.
Her heart thundered as she stretched forward, knees leaving impressions on the edge of the bed. She nearly toppled to the floor. Just before her palm touched the hand pounding against the wall, it jerked back—away from her.
"No."
The concrete was flat. She slipped from the bed and pressed her flat palms against the wall, feeling the coolness of it. She knocked against it with her fist. Nothing. She pressed her ear to it and heard only the pitter-patter of her heart like a drumbeat echoing in the air.
Rin sighed. "I really am going crazy, aren’t I?"
She pushed away from the normal wall and brushed her sleep-tangled hair away from her face. She wouldn’t be going back to sleep now.
Rin eyed the closed door, and without thinking it through, she opened it, revealing the silent, still hall.
Her feet padded over carpet, and the ever-burning flames in the sconces cast golden light on her pale flesh as she tiptoed past. Each closed door held one of her Soulbonds.
The room to the right of hers held Auren, and the left was Cyrus’s.
Right across from her was Lucien’s room.
Carefully, Rin inched open Lucien’s door, biting down on her lower lip as she slowly turned the handle down to silence the creak.
You’d think a rich vampire like Rhyden would have enough money to update the interior of this place, but it felt like being trapped in a time centuries ago, with heavy, creaking doors and unregulated temperatures.
It was so cold inside, she wondered if it would snow.
Without any light to guide her, she left the door cracked, firelight cast in a thin strip over the dark floor as she stumbled to the bed.
A stuttered gasp made her jump.
After letting her eyes adjust, she finally saw Lucien’s sleeping body—but he wasn’t sleeping peacefully.
He lay on his back, sheets kicked to the foot of the bed, leaving his thin white shirt and flannel pants exposed. His glasses were on the bedside table, next to a small notebook and pen. His black hair fell over his forehead, his chest rising and falling roughly as he mumbled in his sleep.
Her bare feet were quiet over the floor as she moved closer, her hair slipping over her shoulder as she leaned down over him, a tiny furrow between her brows.
Sweat matted his hair to his temples.
"Vesperin, don’t look. Don’t look."
"Lucien?" she whispered, gently touching his shoulder.
Lucien sucked in a sharp breath, eyes shooting open as he sat up quickly. "Vesperin!"
Wildly, he lashed out until he realized Rin was right before him, her hands on his shoulder as she soothed him.
"Lucien, Lucien, it’s okay. Look at me. It’s okay." Rin touched his hand and directed his face to hers. "It’s okay. It was just a bad dream."
His breaths were ragged. She’d never seen him so out of sorts before. She was used to him being so calm and collected.
It was like seeing a parent cry—something a child should never experience.
Her fingers spanned out on his cheek as she beheld his beautifully haunted green eyes. His eyes were unfocused—from his lack of glasses or trouble waking fully, she wasn’t sure.
"Breathe with me, Lucien. After me. Watch.
" Rin took a deep, steadying breath. Lucien coughed as he tried to mimic her.
So she grabbed his hand, feeling the sweat on his palm as she placed his hand on her diaphragm.
"Feel it. Breathe deep." She breathed, again and again, watching him follow, until his heart calmed and their breathing synced and his eyes sharpened.
She nodded softly. "Okay?"
Lucien’s hand fell from her chest, and she didn’t have time to mourn the loss of his touch before his arms enveloped her and he crushed her to him. Her knees knocked against his hip as she was pulled into his embrace.
"Vesperin, my sweet girl." Lucien’s voice was thick with sleep. The mattress shifted as he moved to sit against the headboard, pulling her with him. He reached with one arm to click on the small lamp on the table, casting them both in yellow light. "Are you okay?"
The bulb flickered once, then twice, before settling into a muted, half-burnt glow.
She huffed, pulling back slightly until she could meet his eyes. He stared at her with a strong possession, the likes of which she’d never seen from him before.
"You were the one who just had a panic attack, and you’re asking me if I’m okay?"
"Why are you up? It’s the middle of the night." His green eyes flicked to his phone, resting on the table. He tapped the screen, and the clock read 4 AM.
"I couldn’t sleep. I had a bad dream too, I guess."
"Do you want to talk about it? It can help ease the lingering feeling of unrest." Even off-duty, he remained quietly clinical with her.
She reached up and brushed her finger over the sweat-curled ends of his black hair. "Do you?" she challenged. Lucien remained silent, so Rin sighed. "Thought so…"
Lucien raked his pale, long fingers through his hair, making the ends of it stand up.
On anyone else, it would look chaotic, but on him, it just looked endearing.
"It was just a bad dream. A nightmare," he corrected.
"It was nothing. Just the stress of everything getting to me, manifesting in my subconscious. I’ll get over it. "
His words were clipped, and even though he held her nearly in his lap, she still felt a strange distance between them. "Is… everything okay?"
Lucien hummed, absently rubbing his thumb over her hip. She wore lavender fleece pajamas; she felt like she had to be bundled up constantly in this frigid dungeon.
He made a low, distressed groan, and Rin pulled back in earnest, searching his eyes.
"Lucien?"
His teeth dug into his lower lip. Disheveled like this, he was so attractive—she knew not many got the chance to see him so laid back and ruffled.
"We said no more secrets and… Fuck, this is hard."
Rin blanched. She rarely heard him curse. Slowly, she let her fingers span out along the line of his jaw, feeling the smooth, shaven skin there. "Hey, look at me. It’s just you and me. No one else. You can tell me anything."
She wasn’t sure what it was, but she felt so…
connected to him. More than she ever remembered feeling.
Even after he’d pieced her back together when Kit—died.
She had fallen into Lucien’s safe, comforting embrace.
Still, she’d never felt so tethered to someone else.
Like she could feel his breath, echoed by her own.
It was strange, peculiar, yet she didn’t want these feelings to go away.
She’d woken up alone and disoriented, and somehow knew Lucien needed her. And he had.
Rin shifted, curling into his side—and she waited patiently for him, because for so long, he’d been the one to wait for her.
His thumb continued to smooth over her side, shifting up the soft fleece of her pajama top, until he touched her bare skin.
Her cheek fell against his chest, and she felt her lids become weighed down by exhaustion.
She was halfway asleep when he finally spoke, his voice rumbling through her; she felt it in her very bones.