The mansion no longer had the same silence as before. There was something broken in its foundations, something that crept through the corridors like a wounded animal: the calm before the storm, the tension that heralds the fall of an empire.
Lucian Vasiliev was not the same.
Anna could see it in his gaze: it was no longer cold, it was unstable. It was not the elegant ice of control, but an accumulated storm, desperate, frustrated. The man who had once been her protective shadow, her only refuge, now seemed made of cracks.
It all began when she stopped looking for him.
She had learned to live in his absence. To find peace in routine, to converse with the maids, to feign indifference. And Lucian, who had always dominated with gentle gestures and measured words, couldn't stand the emptiness.
One night, Anne was in the greenhouse of the mansion, watering the flowers she loved so much. It was her corner of peace, the only place where she felt she was still herself. The dim lights, the floral scents, the sound of the central fountain... All was silence.
Until Lucian entered without warning.
-Avoiding me? -he asked, his voice low, but charged with something dark.
Anne spun around, not startled. Her expression was neutral.
-I just got used to being alone.
Lucian frowned. He advanced toward her with a slow, but steady step. His eyes were unblinking, his hands clenched into fists. He looked pained. But more than that... he looked lost.
-You can't walk away from me," he said, his voice trembling. Not you.
Ana looked at him without lowering her head. Something in her was changing too.
-And why not?
-Because I chose you. I gave you everything," he whispered, stopping in front of her. Because with you... I feel alive.
Ana lowered the watering can. The water was still falling on the flowers, soaking the earth with an intensity that reflected the moment.
-Lucian, you don't love me," she said with bitter sweetness. You possess me. You need me. But you don't know how to love without destroying.
He stepped back, as if her words were a blow.
-Don't say that.
-It's the truth," he added. You built me up as your salvation, when really you were just looking for a way not to drown.
Lucian put a hand to his face. For the first time, Anne saw in him the reflection of an abandoned child. A fragility she had never believed existed.
-I don't know how to do it," he said at last, barely in a whisper. I don't know how to love you without hurting you.
Anne felt something in her chest break too. Not because she pitied him, but because, in some corner of her soul, she still wanted to believe that she could save herself.
-Then learn," she replied, "Because if you don't... you'll lose me.
Lucian stood still. He didn't try to touch her, he didn't speak again. He only watched her as she walked away through the roses, like a promise slipping through his fingers.
That night, in his office, Lucian smashed a wine glass against the wall. Not out of anger.
But out of fear.
Because for the first time, the ice prince was breaking...
And he feared he didn't know how to put his own pieces back together.