✦ Chapter 22✦
Winter-rose pheromones saturated the room, thick and invasive, as though the air itself had been replaced by scent alone. Elian gasped softly as it seeped into him, flooding his lungs, clinging to his skin, sinking through every open pore until breathing felt like drowning. His eyes flew open, chest rising too fast, heart already racing before his mind could catch up.
The familiar ceiling swam into view.
The same room he had slept in for weeks greeted him in silence, unchanged and indifferent. A frown creased his brow as he turned his head, gaze drifting to the large window beside the bed.
Moonlight spilled through it in pale ribbons, washing over the wooden floor until the polished boards gleamed like silver beneath the night sky. It was beautiful in a distant, lonely way—too still, too quiet.
"Lucien…"
The name slipped from his lips like a prayer he hadn't meant to speak.
