Chapter 97 All Destroyed In An Instant
Briar's POV
The hot spring pool was tucked into a natural hollow behind the estate, surrounded by smooth river stones and bordered by low bamboo screens that blocked the wind without obstructing the view of the night sky. Steam rose in lazy spirals from the surface of the water, and the air was thick with the mineral scent of the spring and the faint sweetness of night-blooming jasmine.
I had changed into a simple black one-piece swimsuit, wrapping one of the estate's thick cotton robes around myself before making my way down the stone steps into the pool. The water was almost too hot at first, the heat biting into my skin, but after a moment my body adjusted, and I let myself sink deeper, the tension in my shoulders slowly beginning to ease.
My phone was sitting on the flat stone ledge at the edge of the pool, and I leaned back against the smooth rock wall, closing my eyes and letting my head tip back until the water lapped at my collarbones. The exhaustion I had been holding at bay all day finally caught up with me, and I felt my thoughts start to blur at the edges, my breathing slowing into something deeper and more rhythmic.
I didn't mean to doze off, but the warmth and the darkness made it impossible to stay fully alert, and at some point my grip on consciousness slipped just enough that I didn't notice when my body started to slide lower in the water, my shoulder dipping beneath the surface.
The phone slipped from the ledge with a soft splash, hitting the water and sinking immediately, and I jerked upright with a curse, blinking hard and reaching for it on instinct. My fingers closed around the case, and I pulled it up, water streaming from the edges, the screen completely black and unresponsive.
I stared at it for a moment, then let out a long breath and set the ruined phone back on the stone platform, pushing it away from the edge this time. I would deal with it in the morning.
I leaned back against the wall again, closing my eyes, and this time I made a conscious effort to stay awake, to keep my body upright and my head above water.
I wasn't sure how much time passed before I felt hands on my shoulders, warm and solid, pulling me upright before I could slip again.
"Don't fall asleep here," Lucian's voice said, low and rough against my ear. "You'll slide under."
I didn't open my eyes, just reached up and caught his wrist on instinct, my fingers closing around the wet fabric of his sleeve, and then I yanked hard, using his own weight against him to pull him forward and down into the pool.
There was a sharp splash, water surging up around us both, and I finally opened my eyes to find Lucian surfacing beside me, his hair plastered to his forehead and his white bathrobe clinging to his shoulders and chest, completely soaked through.
He blinked water out of his eyes, his expression caught somewhere between surprise and exasperation, and I felt a grin tug at the corners of my mouth. "Oops."
He straightened, pushing his hair back from his face with one hand, and the movement made the robe cling even more tightly to his torso. "You're lucky I wasn't holding my phone," he said, his tone dry.
"You're lucky I'm in a good mood," I countered, and then I reached for the belt of his robe, my fingers catching the knot. "Take this off before it drags you under."
His hand closed over mine, stilling my movements, and when I looked up his expression had shifted into something darker, more deliberate. "Do it yourself," he said.
I hesitated, my pulse kicking up in a way that had nothing to do with the heat of the water, and I felt my face flush. "You're wearing something underneath, right?"
His mouth curved into a faint smile, and he leaned in closer, his voice dropping into something low and teasing. "No."
My breath caught, and for a moment I just stared at him, and then he pulled the robe open with one hand, revealing the black swim trunks beneath.
Relief and annoyance surged through me in equal measure, and I shoved at his shoulder. "You're an ass."
"And you're easy to bait," he said, shrugging out of the robe and tossing it toward the edge of the pool.
I turned away, crossing my arms over my chest and staring determinedly at the far edge of the pool, but I could feel his gaze on me, warm and steady.
"The wind's picking up," he said after a moment. "It's going to rain soon. You should go back inside."
"I'm fine," I said, not looking at him.
"Briar."
"I said I'm fine."
There was a pause, and then he was beside me again, close enough that I could feel the heat of his body even through the water. "You're stubborn," he said, and there was something almost affectionate in his voice.
I reached for the small bowl of blackberry juice ice cubes that one of the staff members had left on the ledge earlier, fishing one out and popping it into my mouth. The cold was sharp and immediate, cutting through the heat, and I closed my eyes and let it melt slowly on my tongue.
When I opened my eyes again, Lucian was watching me, his gaze fixed on my mouth, and then he leaned in, his hand coming up to cup the back of my neck, and he kissed me.
The ice cube was still on my tongue, and the contrast between the cold and the heat of his mouth made me gasp, my lips parting on instinct, and he took advantage of it immediately, his tongue sliding against mine and stealing the ice cube.
I felt it pass between us, melting faster now, and then it was gone, dissolved completely, and all that was left was the taste of blackberries and the heat of his mouth moving against mine.
He pressed me back against the wall of the pool, his body crowding mine, and I felt the hard edge of a stone ridge dig into my lower back, sharp enough to make me wince and pull away with a soft hiss of pain.
He stopped immediately, his hands shifting to my waist, and then he turned me slightly, his palm sliding around to press against my lower back, his fingers kneading gently at the spot where the stone had dug in. "Sorry," he murmured. "Did I hurt you?"
"I'm fine," I said, but my voice came out breathless.
"You always say that," he said, and then he pulled back just enough to look at me, his expression shifting into something more teasing. "You know, you have a lot of courage at the start, but the moment things get serious, you back down."
I felt my face heat, and I shoved at his chest. "I'm not backing down."
"Sure," he said, his tone light, mocking.
I let out a long breath, my shoulders sagging slightly. "Fine. Let's go back."
His expression softened, and he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the space between my eyebrows, his lips lingering there for a moment. "Good girl," he murmured, and then he lifted me out of the water in one smooth motion, carrying me up the steps and out of the pool.
He set me down on the stone platform long enough to grab one of the thick towels from the nearby bench, and then he wrapped it around me carefully, tucking the edges in at my shoulders and making sure it covered me completely before he picked me up again, cradling me against his chest.
"I can walk," I protested, but my voice was muffled against his shoulder.
"I know," he said. "But I'm not letting you."
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Julian's POV
I had been standing in the shadow of the trees at the edge of the hot spring area for the past twenty minutes, the bouquet of ninety-nine red roses still clutched in my hands, the petals soft and faintly damp from the humidity in the air.
I had arrived just in time to see Lucian pull Briar upright in the water, his hands on her shoulders, his voice low and careful, and I had frozen in place, my breath catching in my throat, because the intimacy of it was so casual, so natural, that it felt like a physical blow.
And then Briar had grabbed his wrist and yanked him into the pool, and I had watched as he surfaced beside her, watched as she grinned at him with an expression I had never seen her direct at me, something open and playful and completely unguarded.
I should have left then. I should have turned around and walked back down the path, but I couldn't seem to make my legs move, couldn't seem to tear my gaze away from the two of them, and so I stayed, rooted in place, as the scene unfolded in front of me.
I watched as he kissed her with the kind of easy confidence that made it clear this wasn't the first time, that they had done this before, that whatever was between them was already established, already real.
And then he lifted her out of the water and wrapped her in a towel with a gentleness that made my chest ache, and he carried her back toward the main house, her head resting against his shoulder, her arms looped loosely around his neck.
They disappeared down the path, and I stood there in the dark, my hands shaking, the roses slipping from my grip and falling to the ground in a scatter of red petals that looked black in the shadows.
I pulled out my phone and dialed James, my voice coming out flat and cold when he answered. "Get people up here."
"Yes, sir," James said immediately, and I hung up without another word.
I stared down at the roses at my feet, at the petals crushed beneath my shoes, and suddenly I understood what Leah had meant when she said I was in the way.
The memory of that night at Hemlock Hall came back with brutal clarity—the glimpse of a figure beside Briar, the way their hands had been intertwined, fingers laced together. I had convinced myself I was seeing things, that the shadows and the distance had played tricks on my eyes.
But it hadn't been a trick. It had been real. They had been together that early.
And that night when Briar had told me she was happy because of me, she had been lying.
I thought of all the times she had deceived me recently, all the careful evasions and half-truths, and I felt something inside me collapse like an avalanche, cold and suffocating.
All those tentative reaches I had made, all the clumsy attempts at closeness, all the rare flickers of anticipation and hope I had allowed myself to feel after so many years—it was all destroyed in an instant, and I was falling back into that frozen wasteland.