Lucian couldn't describe the feeling. There simply weren't words in any language he knew to capture the whirlwind stirring in his chest. All he could do was stare.
Those eyes—those brown eyes—were open again. Glimmering faintly despite the exhaustion shadowing them. Life had returned to them, and for Lucian Draven, that felt like the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him.
He found himself frozen, not in fear or shock, but in a trance so profound he was barely aware of anything else. His breath stalled in his chest. Every other thought slipped away. His world narrowed, tunneled, until all he could see was Serena. Awake, breathing, and alive.
She blinked slowly, her lashes fluttering like the wings of a butterfly still recovering from the cocoon. Then suddenly, she coughed.
