Her hands clenched at her sides.
“You can’t just leave me here every time something happens.”
Lucien slid the magazine into the pistol with a sharp click before finally lifting his gaze to her.
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
Sera let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “Unbelievable.”
She began pacing across the office, agitation radiating off her in waves.
“You gave me a dagger,” she snapped. “You made Ronan teach me how to shoot. You let me kill a man in your interrogation chamber!”
Lucien leaned back against the desk, watching her carefully.
“And yet somehow I’m still expected to sit here like some decoration onyourbookshelf while you go out and play king of the underworld?”
“Seraphina.”
“No!” she shot back immediately. “Don’t you fucking dare Seraphina me.”
She stopped pacing and turned to face him again. “I am not a thing you keep locked away.”
Lucien pushed off the desk slowly. “Sera”
“I’m coming with you,” she said again, more forcefully this time.
Lucien took a step toward her. “No.”
She stepped forward too, refusing to give ground.
“I’m not asking.”
Something in Lucien’s expression changed and the room seemed to tighten around them.
“You think this is a game?” he asked quietly.
Sera scoffed. “I think you’re treating me like I’m fragile.”
Another step. Now they were only a few feet apart.
“You think I can’t handle it?” she continued, voice rising. “After everything I’ve already seen? After everything I’ve already done?”
Lucien’s eyes darkened. “That’s not the point.”
“Then what is the point?” Her voice cracked slightly now, anger mixing with something deeper. “Because from where I’m standing, it just looks like you don’t trust me.”
Lucien moved faster than she expected. One second she was standing there. The next his hand had closed around her wrist, pulling her toward him.
Sera gasped softly as her back hit the edge of the desk. Lucien’s other hand braced against the wood beside her. Caging her in.
“Trust you?” he repeated quietly.
His voice had dropped into something low and dangerous. “You walked into my lower chamber and executed a man without hesitation.”
Sera’s breathing had quickened. “Exactly.”
Lucien leaned closer. “I trust you to be dangerous.” His gaze burned into hers. “But I will not throw you into a battlefield just to prove a point.”
