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
“I’ve made my decision,” he continued. With bated breath, I waited for him to continue, to share with me what he decided. Instead, he turned more fully toward the door. “If you will excuse me,” he said and stepped out of my office. Lucian’s POV My head was a mess, and no matter what I did, I
Lucian’s POV With no way of knowing what this rejection could mean for Aria, I wanted to believe that she had finally come to her senses and would at last be returning home. Perhaps she realized once and for all how silly this desire for a divorce truly was. The thoughts pleased me more than I wou
Lucian’s POV She called me Lucian. That was the first thought to run through my mind as Aria opened the door for me at Cathy’s house. The second? Why did her face fall so much when she saw it was me, and not Jasper? It was as if the bright light inside of her had been snuffed out. Did I truly pro
Aria’s POV I stood in stunned silence, my mouth falling open, looking at Lucian, trying to understand what he was saying. While not a divorce, a mutual rejection would end our mating bond. Lucian’s mark on my neck would fade and we’d be free to bond with others instead. For him to suggest such a
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