Run: 2026-02-19-01KHSYYZFVBA5W7T94YB8CW2J5

The scent of curry wafted up from the restaurant below as Aurora opened the door. Her breath caught. Lucien stood in the dim hallway, his platinum hair gleaming under the flickering fluorescent light. His charcoal suit was pristine as ever, but dark circles shadowed his eyes. "What are you doing here?" The words came out sharper than she intended. "Bonsoir, Aurora." His heterochromatic eyes fixed on her face. "May I come in?" She hesitated, one hand gripping the doorframe. The last time she'd seen him, he'd vanished without explanation after that night at Silas' bar. Three months of silence. "Eva's not here." "I came to see you." He leaned on his ivory-handled cane. "I heard you've been asking questions about the Avaros realm." Aurora's jaw tightened. Of course he'd heard - Lucien's web of informants stretched across London's supernatural underground. She stepped aside, letting him enter the cramped flat. Ptolemy the tabby cat arched his back and hissed from his perch atop a stack of ancient texts. Lucien paid him no mind, scanning the chaos of papers and scrolls covering every surface. "Your research is thorough." He picked up a weathered scroll. "Though some of these sources are... unreliable." "I wouldn't need to research if you'd given me answers yourself." Aurora snatched the scroll from his hand. "You disappeared. No explanation, no goodbye." His amber eye seemed to glow in the dim light. "I had my reasons." "You always do." She crossed her arms. "Why now? Why show up at Eva's flat in the middle of the night?" "Because you're in danger." He set his cane against the wall. "The questions you're asking - they've drawn attention. The wrong kind." "From your father's realm?" The words hung between them. Lucien's shoulders tensed. "Among others." He moved closer, and Aurora caught the familiar scent of his cologne - sandalwood and something otherworldly. "You need to stop digging." "Or what?" She lifted her chin. "More demons will come after me? I handled the last ones." "Barely." His voice roughened. "If I hadn't-" "If you hadn't what? Saved me? Is that why you left? To protect me?" The hurt she'd buried for months bubbled to the surface. "I never asked for your protection." "Non." He caught her wrist - her left one, his thumb brushing over the crescent scar. "But you have it all the same." Aurora's pulse jumped beneath his touch. "Let go." "Make me." The challenge in his mismatched eyes sparked memories of other nights, other touches. She jerked away. "You don't get to do this. You don't get to waltz back into my life with warnings and half-truths." "Aurora." Her name was a plea on his lips. "There are things you don't understand." "Then help me understand." She gestured at the research surrounding them. "I'm not stopping. Whatever's coming - whatever you're afraid of - I need to know." Lucien ran a hand through his slicked-back hair, disturbing its perfect arrangement. "You've always been too stubborn for your own good." "And you've always been too cryptic for yours." A ghost of a smile touched his lips. "Perhaps we're both right." He retrieved his cane. "I'll tell you what you want to know. But not here. Meet me tomorrow at sunset." "Where?" "You know where." He moved to the door, pausing with his hand on the knob. "Be careful who you trust, ma chérie. Even the walls have ears in this city." Aurora watched him disappear into the hallway, her heart pounding against her ribs. The familiar mix of frustration and attraction left her restless. Tomorrow at sunset. The same place where everything had started - and ended - three months ago. Ptolemy jumped down from his perch and wound around her ankles, purring. She scratched behind his ears, her mind already racing with possibilities. "What am I getting myself into?" she murmured. The cat just blinked at her with knowing yellow eyes.