-Lucien Draven:
Training changed after that.
Not immediately. Not in some dramatic, life-altering way.
But it changed.
It was in the way Aurelia looked at me now—like I wasn't just a student she had to shape into something useful, but someone worth seeing. It was in the way her hand lingered on mine when she corrected my grip, the way she didn't snap at me as often when I fumbled.
And it was in the way she kissed me again.
Not every day.
Not even every week.
But when I did something right—when I pushed past my limits, when I landed a perfect strike, when I surprised even myself—she would reward me.
Sometimes it was a touch. A lingering brush of her fingers against my jaw, a smirk in her golden eyes.
Other times, it was more.
A kiss.
Soft, firm, heat curling between us like a slow-burning flame.
I had never felt anything like it before.
And gods, I was getting addicted to it.
—•—
"Again."
I gritted my teeth and lunged, sword cutting through the air in a sharp arc.
