Page 283 of Let Me In

“I didn’t burn it down. Well, not yet.”

Lucian arches one brow.

I take one step closer.

“I erased it.”

He studies me.

Then nods.

Like he understands. Like he’s known, deep down, from the moment he anchored here, that this was how it would end.

He swirls the last of his drink in the glass.

Doesn’t sip it.

“She changed you,” he says.

It’s not a question.

And I don’t answer anyway.

Because he’s wrong.

She didn’t change me.

She just reminded me who I could’ve been, before him. Before blood and missions and the weight of names I was never meant to carry.

Lucian leans back in his chair. Sighs through his nose.

“So this is how it ends,” he murmurs. “One man burns a kingdom because he fell in love.”

I meet his eyes.

Flat. Calm.

“No.”

My voice is quiet.

Solid.

“It ends because you thought she was leverage.”

A pause.

I see it land.

“And she’s not.”

One more step forward.

“She’s everything.”

Lucian doesn’t move.

Doesn’t resist.

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