Chapter 77 – A Quiet Fire
Rina
The air smelled like lavender and rain when I stepped out of the boutique.
Hale Atelier had been alive all day orders, clients, scents, laughter but my mind hadn't been there entirely. Not today.
Every time I smiled at a customer or discussed a new perfume blend with Elena, a corner of my heart was somewhere else in the estate, in his world, where the walls carried the faint scent of him and the silence had started feeling like home.
Lucian Dreven.
I didn't even know when his name stopped feeling foreign on my tongue. It used to sound intimidating, sharp now it felt warm. Familiar. Like something I could say softly in the dark.
By the time I got home, dusk had settled that beautiful hour when the sun melted into the horizon and the house glowed faintly with golden light. The twins were already in their nightgowns, giggling as one of the maids braided their hair.
