✦ Chapter 49 ✦
Lucien's eyes opened slowly, not with the sharp awareness of a soldier rising to battle, but with the quiet heaviness of a man waking from a dream he did not wish to leave. The ceiling above him was washed in pale morning light, soft gold spilling through tall windows and painting faint patterns across the silk drapery. For a moment, he lay still, suspended between memory and reality.
Then he felt it.
A gentle weight rested against his chest, warm and steady, rising and falling with the rhythm of sleep.
He lowered his gaze.
A sea of white hair was spread across him like spilled moonlight, soft strands cascading over his shoulder and across the dark fabric of his night robes. Beneath that silken veil lay a fragile, beautiful figure curled against him as though seeking shelter even in dreams. Elian's cheek rested just over Lucien's heart, his small hands loosely fisted in the folds of fabric, as if afraid that even in sleep something might take this warmth away.
