AI The door to the flat on Brick Lane swung open. Aurora stood in the doorway, keys jangling from her hand. Her wavy black hair was mussed, flopping in her bright blue eyes. At the age of 25, she had a youthful energy about her, enhanced by the pivot from studying Pre-Law at Cardiff University to day work as a delivery person for a Chinese restaurant in London.
"Eva?" Aurora called out, stepping inside the cramped one-bedroom flat. She scanned the room, noticing the extensive clutter of books and scrolls scattered across every surface. A card table was tucked in the corner near the wall, littered with loose paper and a half-empty cup of tea.
Aurora's childhood friend and current roommate, Eva, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a figure emerged from the bedroom, tall and slender with sharply angled features. Ametrine sensation feels itchy in her skin.
Platinum blonde hair fell across one eye, and heterochromatic eyes — one amber, one black — locked onto her.
"Lucien," Aurora said, stunned . She felt the full weight of history between them. Their last encounter , years ago, had ended messy and raw. Painful words exchanged that couldn't be taken back.
Lucien's charcoal gray suit fit like a second skin, and a faint hint of vetiver cologne reached her, familiar and intoxicating. He leaned on an ivory-handled cane, a smirk playing at his lips.
"What brings you here, Rory? You could have knocked," he said, his voice raspier than she remembered.
Aurora crossed her arms, feeling exposed and vulnerable. "Eva let me have a spare key. I didn't realize I'd run into you here."
"Eva couldn't resist giving me the creeps," he said, shaking his head .
"Creeps?"
"The cat. She named it Ptolemy after some dead philosopher."
"Don't tell me he's scared of you now," Aurora said with a chuckle, relaxing at the memory.
"Not a fan of demons, apparently. Can't blame him really , I'm stunning."
"How long are you in town for, Lucien?" Aurora asked.
He shrugged one shoulder. "Couple of months. A job."
"Of course. The mysterious international fixer," Aurora said. "Still speaking seven languages and flitting between dimensions, I presume?"
Lucien let out a soft laugh, a warm sound that carried a faint accent. "Four, but who's counting? Does it bother you, my work?"
"I don't know," Aurora said quietly. "That's not what bothers me."
Lucien watched her, his black and amber eyes intense and unknowable. "I got the sense our last chat left a bad taste in your mouth."
"A bad taste?" Indignation flared through her, banked down by a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. "You broke my heart, Lucien. We were happy, were we not? I loved you, and you streed me like yesterday's mmcarb."
"You were 19," Lucien said, his jaw tightening . "I was 27. Too old for tumbling, for dancing , for joking. Too tired, and so weary of life."
"How naive of you to think I wasn't either," Aurora protested.
"You didn't know yourself. You didn't need to go chasing famous and sexy. It only looked that way when you ran back to your rich and famous gaming party with your own socks"- "...eval."
"You didn't push me to say anything more than an apartment-mate think."
"That's who - you wish you're just a foot out of college. You didn't push me to say anything more than an apartment-mate think."
"That's who - you didn't actually believe you'd actually thought about huhu mentorship?"
"It wasn't a mentorship," Aurora said, feeling heat flood her cheeks. "Not that kind."
Lucien strode over to her, the span of the room disappearing in a few steps. He stood close, and even after all these years, she felt the heat of his body.
"Another bad decision in a string of many," he said, his voice low . "I should have stayed the night, woken up next to you in the morning, plotting to convince you to get drunk with me to skip even more classes. Conceptualize face-to-face-chat; You needed a break, Rory. Not another curse."
Aurora didn't know what to say. Tears pricked her eyes, but she blinked them away. She'd cried enough over Lucien.
"I needed you," she whispered. "But you weren't there. So I threw myself into work, buried myself in any distraction I could find. I'm not that girl anymore, Lucien. I know what I want."
"And what is it you think you want, ma belle?" Lucien murmured, leaning closer. His breath warmed her lips.
Aurora's heart hammered in her chest . Familiar need swelled, along with painful longing. She ignored everything he said. "I still miss you. Every day. Even after all this time."
Lucien's eyes flared, a flash of something fierce and hungry in their depths . Then he closed the distance, his lips claiming hers in a kiss that tasted of alchemy. Liquid fire burned through her veins, setting every nerve alive.
She clenched her fingers in his crisp black button-down, drawing him impossibly closer. Lucien's hands slid into her hair, tilting her head as he deepened the kiss. He nipped at her lower lip, drawing it into his mouth and soothing it with his tongue before delving inside, tasting and teasing.
Aurora lost herself in him, in the strength of his arms around her, the press of his lips, the heat of need unspoken between them. She wanted to crawl inside his skin. Wanted to lose every sharp memory and replace it with touch.
They separated only for her to draw her shirt up, toss it to the ground. Lucien made quick work of his own shirt, revealing the lean, chiseled planes of his chest. Stars shone along his spine, an array of constellations she remembered tracing with her fingers.
Aurora's breath caught when his gaze raked over her, taking in her curves. The panties she wore clung to her figure like a film of light, and gradually he lowered his head. Hot breath ghosted across her navel, and she shivered.
"Lucien, please," Aurora whispered.
He gazed up at her, eyes glittering with malice. "Please what, ma chérie? Please what?"
His lips brushed her belly, her ribs. He darted his tongue in her navel, tugging at her waistband before drawing them down her legs. Aurora stepped out of them, then reached for his belt, freeing him from his trousers.
He snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him. Auroraspotted the plush carpet of the living room in a haze of darkness and skin. She gasped as Lucien rolled them over. He slid her body forward, the blunt head of his cock nudging her entrance as she dulled in.
He filled her in one slow, powerful thrust. Aurora gasped, arching her back as he stretched her tight channel. His fingers long and lithe, his amber, black eyes betrayed lust and something hotter, searing through her with every deep, rolling thrust. Lucien pressed swift, hard, moving them on with her thrust, stealing the breath from her lips, making it feel like a drug slipping from her skin into his.
Aurora wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him deeper. Leaning down, Lucien captured her lips in a searing kiss, swallowing her moans. His fingers sank into the meat of her thighs, nails leaving light marks. His thrusts grew harder, more urgent, driving into her sweet spot with pinpoint accuracy.
Pleasure coiled tighter and tighter, a building pressure that threatened to shatter her. Aurora teetered on the brink, trembling on the edge.
Lucien released her lips, his amber eye smoldering with lust. "Come for me, Rory. I want to feel you come apart in my arms."
Those words pushed her over. Aurora fragmented into a thousand pieces, convulsing in ecstasy. Lucien followed a moment later, lunging his tongue deep inside her one final time before pulling out, shedding his climax across her stomach in thick, pearly ropes.
They collapsed onto the cushions, gasping for air. Lucien dragged a hand over his face before pulling Aurora close, tucking her head under his chin. She inhaled the scent of him - sweat, sex, and vetiver cologne.
"I didn't expect you to be scared," Aurora murmured, tracing abstract patterns across his bare chest.
Lucien's fingers threaded through her hair, tugging gently . "Sometimes I forget I don't need to be. I don't know how to let anyone in, Rory. But I know I never should've left."
Aurora rolled over, straddling his hips. "So don't." She leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "Don't leave me, Lucien. Stay with me, always."
Lucien's arms encircled her waist, holding tight. "No más, mi bella. No mercy."
Aurora smiled against his mouth. Ten days could be a lifetime.