Lucien dressed quickly.
That decision was made less out of virtue than survival.
The little world around them was quiet, beautiful, and far too good at making everything feel soft and inevitable.
In a place like this, with no one else present and no duties immediately pressing at the edge of the moment, indulgence could become dangerously easy.
Lucien was not blind to that.
It was not that he did not want more.
That was, in fact, the problem.
So he put his clothes back on with the grim focus of a man retreating from a battlefield he had very much enjoyed and therefore could not be trusted near for too long.
Behind him, Seraphine watched with visible dissatisfaction.
Then, after one long look that did absolutely nothing to help his restraint, she began dressing too.
Lucien made the mistake of glancing at her halfway through.
Then immediately looked away.
Then failed and looked again.
