Lux didn't move.
He couldn't have, even if he'd wanted to.
The smile lingered—soft, unguarded, impossibly natural. Not the polite curve Geltry wore when doing her job. Not the measured expression Vincent used when he was testing someone. This was something else entirely, and Lux's mind failed to categorize it.
His thoughts scattered.
His chest felt… tight. Not painful. Not like exhaustion. Just full, as if something unfamiliar had lodged itself beneath his ribs and refused to leave.
He realized—dimly—that he was staring.
Too long. Far too long.
"Are you alright?"
Her voice cut through the haze.
Lux flinched like he'd been struck.
The sound of it—gentle, smooth, carrying an effortless warmth—snapped him back into himself so abruptly he nearly stumbled. It wasn't loud. It wasn't sharp. It was calm in a way that felt practiced, like water settling after a stone had been dropped into it.
"I— I—"
His mouth opened.
Nothing coherent came out.
He tried again, words tripping over each other before they ever reached his tongue. His brain raced to assemble something—anything—that didn't make him sound like a complete idiot, but every thought collided with the next and collapsed.
She watched him with open amusement, her head tilting just a fraction. A soft sound escaped her.
A chuckle.
Not mocking. Not unkind. Just… entertained.
Lux felt heat rush to his face so fast it was almost dizzying.
"I— I'm sorry— I didn't mean— I mean I did but not like— I was just—"
That was as far as he got.
His survival instincts—honed by years of knowing when to run—finally kicked in.
Lux turned on his heel and bolted.
He didn't look back. Didn't think. Didn't even register the shock of his own movement. His legs simply went, carrying him away from the canopy, away from the garden, away from the woman whose laughter followed him like a fading echo.
"Cute," she said lightly.
He heard it anyway.
Lux didn't stop running until his lungs burned and his heart hammered so hard it felt like it might punch its way out of his chest.
He skidded to a halt in the shadow of a stone colonnade, hands braced against his knees as he bent forward, gasping for air. His breath came fast and uneven, fogging in front of his face.
"What… was that…" he muttered.
His cheeks were still on fire.
He pressed a hand to his chest, half-expecting it to be racing out of control—but it wasn't. It was fast, yes, but for a completely different reason than he became used to.
Lux straightened slowly.
The estate stretched out around him in quiet grandeur—long outdoor corridors, sculpted stonework, towering walls that framed the open sky. It took him a second to orient himself.
Then it hit him.
He wasn't near the garden anymore.
Not even close.
Lux turned in a slow circle, eyes widening as recognition set in. The main mansion rose before him, massive and imposing, its central spire cutting into the pale sky. The symmetry. The scale. The unmistakable heart of the Achrion estate.
His stomach dropped.
"No way…"
The garden was on the opposite side.
He remembered the walk. Sure he'd wandered. Taken wrong turns. Stopped to stare at things he'd never seen before. But it had taken him nearly three hours to reach it at a leisurely pace.
Lux looked back the way he'd come.
Then down at his legs.
Then back again.
"I ran…" he whispered.
A laugh bubbled up before he could stop it—sharp, disbelieving, edged with exhilaration.
He stood there, frozen between shock and realization, replaying the moment in his mind. The heat in his chest. The way his body had felt light. The absence of strain, of resistance. Not an explosion of power. Not leakage.
Flow.
Controlled. Internal. Directed.
His breath slowed as understanding dawned.
"It wasn't leaking out…" Lux said quietly. "It stayed… inside."
His hands trembled—not from fear, but excitement.
That meant—
He straightened fully now, posture snapping into place as the implications settled in. His body hadn't been pushed beyond its limits. It had been supported. Reinforced. Enhanced in a way that felt… right.
He hadn't forced anything. It had responded.
Lux's lips parted into a grin so wide it almost hurt. Stars might as well have been burning behind his eyes.
"I did it," he breathed.
Not perfectly. Not cleanly. But enough.
Enough to change everything.
The embarrassment from earlier faded, replaced by a buzzing energy that spread through his limbs, making him want to move again just to feel it. He took a cautious step forward, then another—testing, grounding himself.
The sensation was gone now, receded back into stillness, but the memory of it lingered like warmth after a fire had burned down.
Lux let out a slow breath.
Then, inevitably, his mind drifted back.
Silver hair. That smile. The sound of her voice.His face heated all over again.
"You idiot…" he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
He wasn't sure what had come over him back there. Fear? Awe? Something else entirely? Whatever it was, it had knocked him completely off balance—and somehow pushed him forward at the same time.
Lux glanced once more toward the distant direction of the garden.
He turned toward the mansion, heart lighter than it had been all day, steps purposeful despite the lingering confusion twisting pleasantly in his chest.
Whatever that moment had been—It wasn't a setback.
And tomorrow, when he faced Caelis again, Lux already knew exactly what he was going to try.