“Lucien?” Evelyn said as the name slipped out of her lips in disbelief the moment she saw him. Her brows knit together, confusion overtaking the exhaustion on her face. “You… why are you here?”
Lucien froze at her tone.
The question should have been simple. Instead, it struck him like a blow, hearing her sound like she did not want to see him at all.
She looked thinner and paler. Her eyes were rimmed red with shadows carved beneath them like she had not slept in days. She looked restless, but she was still his Evelyn, unmistakably so.
His chest tightened painfully.
Before reason could catch up with emotion, his body moved by instinct. He crossed the room in long strides and pulled her into his arms, holding her as if letting go might cause her to vanish again.
For a heartbeat, the wo
