"Still…"
Lucien started to speak, then stopped. For a moment, he genuinely thought his ears had betrayed him—that he had misheard, imagined words that were never spoken. But as the silence stretched and Aries' gaze remained steady, realization dawned on him. He hadn't misheard anything.
Aries had enjoyed the kiss.
Just as much as he had.
Perhaps even more.
A slow, almost incredulous smile curved across Lucien's lips. He reached out at last, his fingers brushing against Aries' hand before fully closing around it, warm and deliberate, as though grounding himself in the reality of the moment.
"Are you being sincere," Lucien asked quietly, studying his face, "or are you saying this because you don't want to get on a prince's bad side?"
Aries didn't pull away. Instead, he met Lucien's gaze head-on.
"I know people do that to you often," he replied calmly. "They flatter you, agree with you, pretend for safety. But trust me, I'm not trying to placate you. I'm telling the truth."
