Lucian's POV
For the first time in a very, very long time, I didn't know what to do.
I just stood there, staring at her pale, still body lying across my bed, the faintest rise and fall of her chest the only sign she was even still alive. Evelyn. The stubborn little human who had looked at me like I was both her nightmare and her savior. The girl who screamed at me, defied me, and somehow managed to crawl under my skin in ways I didn't think were possible anymore.
And now she was dying.
Because of me.
Because of my arrogance. My negligence. My damn inability to stay away.
The room was silent except for the mutterings of the doctors beside me and the pounding of my own heartbeat in my ears. I'd faced death, gods, and beasts from the deepest pits of hell, but none of them had ever made me feel this…. powerless.
I looked down at my hands, the same hands that had ripped through hundreds of warriors hours ago, and realized that I could tear the world apart, but I couldn't fix her.
