Chapter 147
(Author POV)
He sat on the edge of his bed, his vision blurred by the tears he had refused to wipe away. For several moments, he simply stared at the floor, lost in the weight of everything he had failed to prevent.
Then he heard something.
Tap. Tap.
Lucien frowned and slowly lifted his head.
For a moment, he wondered if grief had finally begun playing tricks on him.
Then it came again.
Tap. Tap.
His gaze shifted toward the balcony.
Someone was standing outside.
Lucien stared through the glass, squinting as he tried to make out the figure through his tear-blurred vision. He wiped hurriedly at his eyes and looked again.
The figure outside raised a hand and waved.
His breath caught.
Lucien rose so quickly from the bed that he nearly stumbled, then stood completely still, staring at the balcony with his mouth slightly open and his brows drawn tightly together.
Dark, wavy hair moved gently in the evening breeze.
A familiar face looked back at him through the glass, and even from that distance, he knew those doe-shaped eyes.
No.
His mind was playing tricks on him.
It had to be.
He had spent days thinking about her, grieving her, wishing desperately that the news he'd received had been a lie. Perhaps his grief had finally pushed him far enough that he was seeing what he wanted to see.
The figure knocked impatiently against the glass and pointed toward the balcony door.
Lucien didn't move.
She frowned.
Then she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at him with an expression that clearly said, What the actual hell are you doing? Open the door.
His heart stopped.
"Cassiane...?"
The name barely left his lips.
She mouthed something he couldn't hear before pointing at the door again, this time with considerably more impatience.
Lucien's heart began pounding so hard that he could hear it in his ears.
He took one hesitant step forward.
Then another.
She was still there.
She was moving.
She was actually moving.
Lucien swallowed hard as he stopped only a few feet from the glass. His hand slowly rose toward the doorknob, trembling so badly that he had to steady it with his other hand.
What if she disappeared?
What if he opened the door and there was nothing there?
He stared at her face, searching desperately for some flaw, some sign that this was nothing more than his mind giving him the one thing he wanted most.
But she was still standing there, impatiently gesturing for him to open the door.
And that expression...
Even now, apparently standing on a balcony in the middle of a kingdom surrounded by an enemy army, Cassiane somehow looked annoyed with him.
A breathless laugh almost escaped him.
Of course she did.
Only Cassiane could apparently return from the dead and still look irritated because someone was taking too long to open a door.
His fingers finally closed around the handle.
He hesitated one last time.
Then he opened it.
Cold evening air rushed into the room.
Cassiane stepped inside quickly, glancing over her shoulder before shutting the door behind her.
"Man, that was risky. What are you doing cooped up in-"
She stopped.
Lucien was staring at her.
He hadn't moved.
He couldn't.
His eyes travelled slowly over her face as though he were trying to convince himself that every detail was real. His gaze moved to her shoulders, her hands, her chest, following the rise and fall of her breathing as if he needed physical proof that she was standing there alive.
Cassiane's expression softened.
"Lucien?"
He didn't answer.
She took a cautious step toward him.
"Are you all right?"
Still nothing.
She waved a hand in front of his face before snapping her fingers lightly near his cheek.
"Luce?"
His eyes filled with tears.
Cassiane froze.
"Luce..." she said softly, her voice losing its teasing edge. "Are you crying, buddy?"
Something in his expression broke.
It finally seemed to register that she was standing right in front of him.
She was alive.
Not a memory.
Not a hallucination.
Not a ghost.
Cassiane.
His lips parted, but for several seconds, no sound came.
"You're..."
His voice broke.
He swallowed hard and tried again.
"You're alive."
Cassiane gave him a small, almost confused smile.
"Last time I checked, yeah."
That was all it took.
Lucien crossed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms.
Cassiane gasped softly at the force of the embrace, caught completely off guard. For a second, she simply stood there, her arms hanging awkwardly at her sides as she tried to understand what was happening.
Then she felt his shoulders shaking.
"You're here," he whispered against her shoulder, his voice breaking. "You're really here."
His grip tightened around her as though he were afraid that if he loosened it even for a moment, she would disappear.
"I thought I lost you."
A broken breath escaped him.
"Thank you, Cass. Gods... thank you."
Cassiane's expression crumpled.
She slowly wrapped her arms around him, holding him just as tightly as tears threatened to gather in her own eyes.
"Yeah," she murmured, resting her cheek against his hair. "Apparently, death and I had a scheduling conflict."
A broken laugh escaped him, caught somewhere between a sob and a breath of relief.
Cassiane rubbed his back.
"There, there. I'm still alive. You can stop crying now."
"I can't."
She sighed softly.
"Fine. Cry, then."
His arms tightened around her.
Cassiane closed her eyes and held him, allowing him to finally release the grief he had been carrying for days.
"Dude," she murmured after a moment, her voice gentler now, "if you're going to ruin my dramatic entrance by crying all over me, you could at least give me a minute to catch my breath."
Lucien laughed again, although the sound was still broken by tears.
He didn't let go.
Neither did she.
For a while, they simply stood there, holding on to each other as though neither of them quite trusted that this moment was real.
Cassiane had spent the last few days believing she had lost everything.
Lucien had spent those same days believing he had lost her.
And now, somehow, against every expectation, she was standing in his arms.
Alive.
Safe.
Here.
Cassiane tightened her embrace.
"Come on, Lucien," she whispered. "I'm here."
And for the first time in days, the room no longer felt like a place where everything had been lost.
It felt like the beginning of something again.