Page 83 of The Panther's Price

Lucien slipped away from the dais.

He didn’t go far—just far enough. Into the old courtyard beyond the pillars, where shadow blossoms bloomed in quiet defiance beneath moonlight. The garden had once been a place of war councils and whispered betrayals.

Tonight, it was still.

The stars didn’t feel like eyes for once. Just witnesses.

He didn’t hear her footsteps. He justknew.

“Lucien,” Evryn said softly behind him.

He didn’t turn. “You don’t have to explain.”

“But I want to.”

He closed his eyes. “I stood by you in battle. In shadow. In death. I followed you through flame. I will never stop protecting you.”

“I know that,” she said.

“But I can’t keep pretending I’m not breaking.”

Evryn was silent for too long.

Lucien turned slowly, pain etched across every line of him—shoulders tense, throat working hard to swallow what he couldn’t say aloud.

“Every time you look past me like I’m just your second,” he said, voice barely more than breath, “every time you speak like my heart’s not in your hand… it kills me.”

Her jaw trembled.

“I didn’t mean to?—”

He stepped in, closer than protocol should allow. Closer than someone who wasn’t her heart should dare.

“You say you’re scared of becoming her,” he said. “But, Evryn… you’ve already proved you’re nothing like Selyne.”

She flinched. And Lucien, gods help him,softened.

“You fight for peace,” he whispered. “She only ever fought for power. You give people voices. She took them. And you—you would rather cut out your own happiness than risk hurting me.”

His hand hovered near hers.

Lucien’s voice cracked. “That’s not a monster. That’s a queen worth bleeding for.”

Evryn blinked fast. Her eyes shimmered—but she held herself back.

“You don’t understand,” she whispered. “If I let myself have this—haveyou—I won’t survive losing it again. I can’t subject you to what I could become. I have no idea–”

“But I do.” He stepped even closer. Their shadows touched first. Always their shadows.

“You think I haven’t already given you everything?” he said. “You think I haven’t alreadylostyou every night you stand five feet away and call me commander instead of anything that means something?”

She looked at him then. Really looked.

His hands were curled into fists, like touching her would undo him completely.

“I love you,” he said. No hesitation. No flourish. No shields left. “I have. I still do. Iwill. Even if you send me away tomorrow.”

Evryn’s breath caught. She shook her head, barely.

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