The three of them stood in silence, the weight of Sethis's question still lingering in the air. Mae's heart thudded in her chest, uncertain whether it was from the sudden shift in the conversation or from Lucien's nearness. Sethis's gaze lingered on her for a moment longer, unreadable, then a sly smile tugged at his lips. He winked at her, a flicker of mischief in his eyes that did not quite hide the ache behind it, and with a casual turn he walked away, leaving them in the quiet that suddenly felt too heavy.
Mae exhaled slowly, only then realizing how tightly she had been holding her breath. Her eyes darted towards Lucien, but he did not move at first. He simply watched her, his silence more potent than words. She felt his presence coil around her like smoke, dark and magnetic, impossible to escape.
When he finally stepped closer, Mae's body reacted before her mind did, heat rushing through her veins at the way his gaze locked on hers. His hand lifted, slowly and deliberately, brushing against her cheek as if testing whether she would pull away. She did not. Lucien leaned in, his lips brushing the edge of her jaw, and Mae shivered at the searing trail he left behind. The surrounding air grew charged again, the world narrowing until it was only him and the weight of what burned between them. His hands found her waist, pulling her flush against him, and her breath caught at the raw hunger in the way he held her.
"Every time they walk away," Lucien murmured against her skin, his voice low and edged with something dangerous. "You come back to me." Mae's fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, grounding herself in the storm of him, her pulse racing. "Because I cannot stay away," she whispered, the admission trembling in her throat, yet true.
Lucien's lips crashed against hers then, not tentatively this time, but with a force that made her knees weaken. The kiss was rough and desperate, filled with everything he had not said, everything he refused to hold back any longer. And Mae, caught in the fire of him, could do nothing but give in.
Lucien's kiss slowed, his forehead pressing against hers, his breath ragged as he studied her face. Mae's hands trembled against his chest, not from fear but from the weight of what was pressing at the edges of her mind. She could not keep it inside anymore.
"I want you," she whispered, her voice breaking with truth. "But it is not just you."
Lucien's eyes narrowed, his grip on her waist tightening. He pulled back just enough to see her more clearly, his expression unreadable, carved from shadow. "Say it," he murmured, though his voice was thick with restraint. Mae swallowed hard, forcing the words out. "I want all of you. Not Kaine. But Ashar. Riven. Sethis. You. I can feel the connections, threads binding me to each of you, but with you…" Her voice faltered, her fingers curling tighter into him. "With you, it feels different. Natural. Like it was always meant to be."
Something flickered in his eyes then, the barest crack in his control, a glimpse of something raw and unguarded. He searched her face, as if testing her words for lies, but Mae held his gaze, refusing to back down.
"The future they showed me," she continued, her chest tightening. "It felt incomplete. As if something was being kept from me. As if pieces were missing. I cannot believe it ends with only Ashar and Riven. I can feel it in my bones. There is more. There has to be."
Lucien's silence stretched, heavy and suffocating. His hand trailed up her side, stopping just beneath her ribs, his touch searing even through the tension. "You think you can belong to all of us," he said at last, his tone low, measured.
Mae nodded, her throat tight, but her voice steady. "Not think. Know. I am not meant to choose one. I am meant to bind us together. All of us." Her eyes softened, her lips parting as she leaned closer. "But you, Lucien, you are the one I cannot deny."
Her words hung between them like a spark on the edge of a flame, daring him to strike. Lucien's eyes darkened at her words, the restraint that had always held him together beginning to unravel. His hand slid higher, tracing the line of her ribs before settling over her heart, feeling the rapid beat beneath his palm. "You know what this means," he whispered, his lips brushing the shell of her ear, his voice like smoke. "If you take me like this, there is no undoing it. The chains will seal, and you will carry me with you always." Mae shivered, her breath catching as she tilted her face toward his. "Then let them seal. I am not afraid."
His mouth claimed hers before she could speak again, fierce and consuming, a storm breaking against her lips. Mae melted into it, her hands sliding up into his hair, pulling him closer until there was no space left between them. His kiss was not gentle this time. It was hungry, desperate, a vow forged in fire.
Lucien's hands moved over her body with reverence and possession, memorizing every curve, every line, as though she were something sacred. Mae arched into him, her body aching for more, the pull between them thrumming like a live wire. She could feel his power pressing against hers, intertwining, sparking as though the air itself wanted to catch flame.
When his lips trailed down her throat, each kiss seared into her skin like a brand, her pulse fluttered wildly. She gasped, clutching at him as his touch grew firmer, more insistent. The heat coiled low inside her, building with each breath, each brush of his hands, until she could barely think past the sensation.
"Lucien," she whispered, his name a plea and a surrender all at once.
He pulled back only long enough to look at her, his forehead pressed towards hers, his eyes glowing faintly with the same violet light that streaked across his skin. "You are mine," he said, his voice ragged, "and I am yours. From this moment, the chains bind us."
As their bodies aligned, the sensation was more than physical. It was power, it was eternity, it was the pull of two forces meant to collide. Mae cried out softly as it crashed through her, a tide of heat and light that left her clinging to him, her fingers digging into his back. Their movements fell into a rhythm both desperate and deliberate, each moment sealing something deeper, heavier, unbreakable.
She felt it when the chains locked, an invisible tether threading between their souls, glowing hot as it fused them together. Power surged through her veins, not just her own but his, intertwining, amplifying. Every kiss, every touch, carried it forward, burning their bond into existence with each shared breath. Lucien's voice was low against her skin, reverent and raw. "Do you feel it, Mae? The chains? They are no longer mine alone. They are ours."
Mae's body trembled as the power pulsed through her, a rhythm that matched her heartbeat, matched his. She had never felt so complete, so alive, so utterly consumed. She clung to him as the sensations crested, wave after wave, leaving her undone, reshaped, bound to him in a way no force in the universe could sever.
When the release came, it was like the universe itself exhaled. Fire and light swept through her, filling every corner of her being, echoing in the glowing lines that laced both their bodies. Lucien's arms tightened around her, holding her steady as his own power cracked open into her, surrendering as completely as she had.
The chains are sealed.
They collapsed together, breathless, trembling, wrapped in each other as though the world beyond no longer existed. Mae buried her face against his chest, listening to the thrum of his heartbeat beneath her ear, feeling the bond humming between them like a song that had always been waiting.
Lucien pressed a kiss to her temple, his voice a whisper, rough and certain. "There is no undoing us now." And Mae, with every ounce of certainty she had left, whispered back, "Good."