Chapter VI
VI
LUCIAN
I’m made entirely of hellfire by the time I get to my cottage.
“I proposed to her yesterday, and she said yes.”
“You fucking fool. There’s nothing you can do now.”
It can’t be true.
He must have been saying that to get a rise out of me.
No, he wasn’t. It doesn’t even make sense. I try to fool myself. Silas Peregrine-Ashford IV loves to bluff—but about something like that? Something so easily verifiable? I don’t want to believe it’s true, but my heart sinks as I push the door open.
Before I left, I told Eden she could stay here as long as she liked.
As long as it took for her to manage her grief about losing Vivienne.
As long as it took for her to have that hard conversation with Silas.
Now, she needs to leave.
When I enter the room, she’s in the kitchen—trying to cook, it looks like? I’m not sure what made her sure she could do that. I doubt she’s cooked a day in her life. Her back is turned to me but my traitorous cock still stiffens in my pants.
She is wearing one of my sweaters, it’s big enough that it looks like a dress on her. One of her shoulders peaks out from the neckline. Her hair is wild and thick, sticking up at all angles. When she hears me enter, she turns around with a bright smile on her face.
Then it drops.
“Lucian, are you alright?” she says, rushing over to me.
Look at her, acting like she doesn’t know what she’s done. “Don’t touch me, Eden.”
She freezes just a few steps away from me.
“What are you talking about?” Confusion is all over her face as she looks over me. I’m certain I have bruises on my face and blood on my shirt. It’s not mine, though. “You look like you’ve been in a fight.”
The rage bursts like a dam.
“Yeah, I was in a fight with your fucking fiancé.” I toss one of the vases from off the mantle above the fireplace to the floor. She flinches as it shatters, just like my fucking heart. I feel terrible, but the rage... “I let myself trust you, Eden.”
Her eyes widen, brimming with tears.
I’m not falling for that again.
“I had to say yes, Lucian,” she blubbers. “And that was all before I talked to you last night. If we had spoken before—”
“But we did talk before, Eden!” I shout.
I’m absolutely shaking with rage, anxiety, sadness—every fucking emotion.
“You came here, you let me fuck you, and you knew you were engaged,” I hiss.
“I know you don’t think very highly of me but I don’t fuck people in relationships.
Fucking you last night was a moment of weakness, but I explained it away in my mind because I thought you were done with him.
” I run a hand roughly through my hair. She keeps trying to interject but I refuse to let her get a word in.
“All this time, I thought he was abusing you because you didn’t have much choice.
I thought you were helpless. I thought you were confused.
I figured I could help you because…” The words are caught in my throat.
And I don’t think she deserves to hear them.
“I feel the same way—”
“No you don’t!” I boom. She flinches. I don’t like being this way.
This is not who I am. I need time to process my anger, and she can’t be there when I do.
“I’m not going to be your dirty little secret while you marry that sociopath.
” I do my best to keep my tone measured.
“I’m going to sit here, and you’re going to go into that room, change your clothes and leave. ”
“But Lucian…”
I give her a glare. “Eden, just leave. Please.”
She stands there for longer than I’d like. Long enough that I start to reconsider my decision. Last night, she came apart in my hands. It was better than anything I could’ve imagined, anything I’d ever experienced.
And it wasn’t even about the sex. It was how it felt like we were two pieces of the same whole.
Talking to her lights up my soul—like she’s cracked open a part of me that lets light in for the first time.
There’s nothing I want more than to be able to make her happy, to give her the life she deserves, to protect her.
But I can’t protect someone who doesn’t want to be protected.
Maybe I could be her dirty little secret—if only to keep her safe.
The thought surprises me but I push it out of my head quickly. That would only put her in more danger in the long run. I don’t want to be hidden, either. When Eden realizes that I am unyielding, she mopes to the bedroom. I put my head in my bruised and bloody hands.
I’m so angry.
I’m fucking tired of this place, of this bullshit, of these games, of everything.
If Eden wants to marry Silas, then she can. I’m just going to make sure she knows exactly who she’s marrying—and what the consequences will be. I’ve played nice with everyone here for too long. They’ve forgotten who I am.
It’s time I take things into my own hands.
I’m Lucian Augustine-Beaumont.
And when I’m done, Augustine Diocesan Academy will be nothing but ashes.