Aria’s POV At the hospital, with my mask firmly in place again, I walked with Silas down to the first floor to see him off. We’d talked for a few hours after our conversation about Lucian, speaking about memories of the past as well as some of our more recent medical achievements. Now, unfortuna
Lucian’s POV An ice cold feeling started within me, where my heart was, and stretched outwards along my limbs to the very tips of my fingers and the base of my toes. Aria and Matt used to date. Sick to my stomach, I couldn’t stand the sight of the picture anymore. I tucked it away in my pocket
Matt, especially, deserved better than the quarter of my heart I could maybe offer him. So distracted by my thoughts, I shampooed my hair twice and totally forgot the conditioner. By the time I stepped out of the shower, I had no idea if I was actually clean at all. Sighing, I toweled myself off
Sheila’s POV “Also on hand to give an interview was Dr. A’s mentor, Silas, the current president of the World Healer Association,” the news anchor on the screen said. Sheila hated everything about her. Her hair was overdone and her lipstick wasn’t bright enough. In fact, all of her makeup looked
Lucian’s POV Seeing Aria with Matt triggered a rage that burned inside of me. How many hours did I spend waiting at this door to speak to Aria, and now Matt just happened to cross paths with her first? That frustration, added to the knowledge that these two used to date, had me nearly lose my co
Aria’s POV My words stunned Lucian speechless. He stared at me wordlessly for several long moments, his mouth tightly shut. A muscle at the corner of his jaw ticked. “You…” he began, then stopped himself short. He tried twice more. “Aria… How…” Each time, he abruptly quieted. I had said what I
Aria’s POV The phone continued to ring. Being alone in the house meant there was no one else around to answer it. It had to be me. I had to face the consequences of what I’d done. “This is what you want,” I reminded myself, my heart pounding against my ribcage. Standing, I walked into the hallwa
Aria’s POV In a panic, I immediately swiveled back around, facing away from Lucian and the door. Grabbing my mask, I re-covered my face with shaking hands. Had Lucian seen me? Did he know I was Aria under this mask? My heart hammered in my chest, and my breathing was short in shallow in my pan
Aria’s POVWe all waited with bated breath to see how Harold would handle the medicine. Perhaps I had been too late in providing it? The heart monitor was still beating too quickly. Harold was moaning in pain. The nearby Healers seemed ready to help him along with his passing. Piper and I physically
Aria’s POVAt the hospital, Lucian gave me a final squeeze. “Please help him,” he said.“I’ll do my best,” I promised. Then, breaking away from him, leaving him with Julia in the waiting room, I rushed to the emergency room to see what was going on.Fortunately, one of the nurses lent me a hair-tie
“But the food hasn’t arrived yet,” he said.I couldn’t wait. Feeling like I was going to pass out, I needed out of here.I pushed my chair back and stood. “I’m sorry,” I said.Turning, I hurried away from the table, from the dining room, from the restaurant. I threw the door open and ran outside.Wh
Aria’s POVSilas’s words haunted me long after the phone conversation, and that, combined with my discussion with Cathy and Piper convinced me to at least hear Lucian out. Because of this, when he called me to talk, and asked me to go out on a date with him, I decided to say yes.Now, after dressing
Aria’s POVHow was it, even after all this time, after all this distance, after all the hurt that sat piled up between us – I still so easily fell back into Lucian’s web.I wanted to be stronger, to be harder, and keep up the walls with him, yet every time we’d been around each other, he seemed to s
Aria’s POVMaybe I shouldn’t have been surprised that Lucian finally pieced this together, but the reality of it still hit me like a ton of bricks. I don’t know why I thought he would never find out. There was no reason he wouldn’t, especially with Jasper and Lucian’s own parents already in on the s
Lucian’s POV“It’s not possible,” I said.Mom pressed her lips hard together before asking me slowly, “Are you sure? The boy especially looks just like you.”“A coincidence,” I said. It had to be.Because if it wasn’t, that meant that the night of pleasure I had shared with Aria a few months before
Lucian’s POVI knocked on my parents’ door and hugged my mom after she answered. She squeezed me somewhat tighter than usual.“One of my friends told me she saw you working at the hospital,” Mom said as she led me inside.“I’ve been helping Aria,” I told her. “Her friend Cathy was very sick, and Ari
Aria’s POVI hated to break up the scene, wanting Lucian and the kids to spend as much time together as possible, so I watched from a distance for a while, before tracking down one of the nurses to discuss Cathy’s condition.I checked on her a few separate times before deciding that she was healthy