#Chapter 32: The Scandal

(Violet’s POV) I didn’t realize I had been waiting for someone to move until I felt him beside me. Lucian didn’t speak. He simply offered me his hand, which I took needing to be balanced in this moment. My head was swimming as he simply stepped into the space next to mine, not like he was claiming it—but like it had always belonged to him. When I rose, he matched my pace without hesitation—neither ahead nor behind, but beside me. No announcement was made. No guards flanked us. But the gallery parted as we walked, part instinct, part deference. As if the stone itself understood what had shifted in the room. At the threshold, beneath the tall arch carved with crests I no longer bowed to, he spoke—low, close, quiet enough that only I would hear. “You walked in alone.” I turned, only slightly. “And?” “You won’t walk out that way.” He didn’t say it to boast or be possessive, it was simply the truth. A truth offered without demand as I snaked my arm through his. With every step