LUCAS’S POV
I stared down at her hand wrapped around my wrist. She had such a small hand, and delicate fingers that somehow held me frozen in place as effectively as iron chains.
Her face was tilted up toward mine, those hazel eyes wide with a questioning look. And it was vulnerable in a way that made something in my chest constrict painfully.
I’d heard about Julian’s arrival from one of the palace guards. Heard that he’d requested to see Liora in the blue tea room. Every instinct I possessed had screamed danger, and I’d found myself storming through the corridors before I’d consciously decided to move.
I shouldn’t have come. Shouldn’t have interfered.
But the image of that bastard’s hands on her throat had ignited something violent and primal in me that I couldn’t control.
“As the A
