The silence following the declaration was thick. Marrok stood in the doorway, his face twisted in dread. He was waiting for an order, but the two men in the center of the office were locked in a different kind of war.
Adrian stood by the desk. His chest heaved. His skin felt too tight. The world had shifted in the last sixty seconds. It wasn't just the kiss. It was the way his brain was suddenly processing the room.
He could hear things he shouldn't. He heard the rapid, double-thrum of Marrok's heart in the hallway. Most of all, he felt Lucian. The Director's presence was no longer just a shadow in the room. It was like gravity. It was a physical weight pulling at Adrian's bones, begging him to move closer.
Adrian took steps backwards.
He moved away till his back hit the cold glass of the window, and he stayed there, putting as much distance as possible between himself and Lucian.
