Ashley

The moment I stepped back into the hall, everything hit me at once again—the noise, the lights, the stares. Before I could even take another step, Lucien was already there. His arm wrapped around my waist like we were something real, something affectionate. I stiffened immediately.

He leaned slightly closer. “Are you alright? You look flushed and pale.” His voice was gentle. It didn’t match the man I had just watched ignore me completely while flirting with another woman. There was something unsettling about how easily he switched.

“I’m fine,” I said, pulling my expression into something colder. “You can go back to entertaining your mistresses.”

Instead of letting...