Julian's POV
I abruptly opened my hand and shoved her away.
Lucy slumped against the wall, her body sliding down until she hit the floor in a heap of silk and trembling limbs. "Ouch!" The wheezing gasp left her mouth, her lungs greedily pulling in the air I had just denied her. She clutched her throat with both hands, her chest heaving violently as she coughed.
I moved over her, my shadow swallowing her whole, watching as she tried to regain enough composure to even look at me, then lowered over her.
"I could have killed you today," my voice dropped to a lethal register. I saw how she flinched. "…and my father would not have saved you. His influence ends where my patience does."
Lucy looked up at me, her eyes bloodshot and streaming with tears of pure terror. She tried to speak, but all that came out was a broken, raspy croak. She was shaking so hard that I could hear her teeth chattering. This was how it should have always been.
