"No," Serena finally answered, her voice barely above a whisper as she looked away from him again, unable to hold his gaze.
Lucian stilled, his entire body going rigid as the word settled between them. For a brief second, something unreadable flickered through his eyes—an emotion too fleeting to name, too sharp to ignore. Then his lips twitched into a frown.
"No?" he echoed, the word heavy and laced with an edge that made her stomach twist. But Serena didn't respond this time. She couldn't. She didn't understand why his tone had suddenly shifted, why he sounded almost... displeased, as though her answer had somehow disrupted something carefully balanced between them.
