Daylight

Chapter 29

Lucien stared at the spot they'd vanished from for a moment before opening the patio door and stepping outside into the garden. Elain stood and turned at the sound of the door opening.

"I know, I know, you said your birthday wasn't a big deal," she rushed to say, "but—"

Lucien cut her off as he wrapped his hand around her wrist and snatched into another tight embrace. He buried his face in her hair and held her tightly.

"I don't know if you will ever understand how much that meant to me," he said, his voice muffled from her hair. "I could live a thousand lifetimes and never deserve you."

He let out a ragged breath as he released her.

"Lucien," she implored. Gods, he loved the way his name sounded on her voice. "You don't think well enough of yourself. You are remarkable."

He shook his head gently.

Elain took his hand and led him to the tiny little stone bench in the corner of the garden. He sat down beside her, and she tucked one foot underneath her so she was facing him.

"I don't think I've ever told you this, but I should have long before now," she said firmly. "I am grateful every day that I met you. When I was lost in an endless sea of darkness and gloom, I yearned for the sunlight. I didn't know it then, but you were that light. I just didn't realize it at the time. You helped bring me back. You saw me when no one else did."

She put her hand against the left side of his face, her thumb softly brushing over his scar before she wove her fingers through his hair. Lucien leaned into her touch. It was somehow both soothing and electrifying at the same time. He couldn't believe he wasn't dreaming—things like this didn't happen to him.

"And I know," she was saying, "I still have a long way to go in terms of figuring myself out and all of that, but I want you here with me while I do."

Tell her. He should tell her now. He'd wanted to wait until she'd made up her mind fully, didn't want her to feel pressured into making a choice just because of how he felt. But his mother said that sometimes, they just want to hear it. If he didn't tell her now...

"Elain, I—"

"I think I know," she murmured as she leaned closer into him.

Lucien's heart was slamming wildly against his rib cage. He wasn't sure what a heart attack felt like, but he suspected this wasn't far off from it. She was so close. Much too close. He couldn't breathe when she was this close.

"Happy birthday, Lucien," she whispered, her mouth not even an inch from his. Her hand was still on the side of his face. And then she kissed him.

It was such a light, brief kiss he wasn't sure it had even happened. She'd drawn back, giving him the physical space and time to process, as if he'd needed it. He'd been imagining what her kiss would taste like for longer than he could even remember now.

But then she leaned forward again, her mouth slightly parted as if she were asking him an unspoken question. A timid test of the waters. And Lucien answered her by diving headfirst.

He lifted her chin with his fingers and brought her mouth to his. He kissed her tenderly at first, bringing one of his hands around to the back of her head and weaving his fingers through her hair. She let out a tiny sigh against his mouth as his fingers tugged through her hair. That sigh was his undoing and he instantly forgot everything that wasn't her lips colliding with his.

Her arm wrapped around to his back and she gripped a handful of his shirt into her fist. Oh, gods, he could die from this. He could die a happy male in this moment. She could ask anything of him, anything in this world or the next, and he would do it. She could ask him to teach Bryaxis how to tap dance and he would march willingly into that crushing darkness. He was wholly and completely hers.