Ep11: Not Welcome

Amara kept her head down.

Every step through the Blackwood manor felt like walking across a minefield, one step away from exploding. She hadn't told Lucian about what she overheard—about Theo and the others.

What was she supposed to say?

Hey, your second-in-command hates me and wants me gone?

She avoided eye contact. Ate her meals quickly. Spent her time reading in corners and quietly mapping out the exits of every room she entered.

Counting her days in this town.

She didn't want to be here.

But something in her said she needed to be.

Even if no one else wanted her around.

Lucian noticed the shift.

The girl who once questioned his every move had gone… quiet.

Too quiet.

She would pass him in the hallway and didn't look up. No smart remark. No spark. Just a quickened pace and eyes on the floor.

And for some weird reason… it bothered him.

Humans didn't belong here—especially not loud, stubborn ones who wore city girl perfume and asked questions no one wanted to answer, He would say to convince himself that everything was ok.

So why did it feel wrong to see her go quiet and afraid?

That night, he found her outside under the porch light, curled into a blanket like a ghost of herself.

He didn't mean to say anything. But the words left him anyway.

You shouldn't be out here alone.

Amara jumped at the sound of his voice. She tried to ignore him, but he saw the tension in her hands, the way she clutched her phone like it was a lifeline.

I couldn't sleep, she mumbled.

Lucian leaned on the post, arms crossed. Is someone bothering you?

She hesitated. No. Just… can't breathe inside.

He didn't reply.

Not because he didn't have anything to say.

But because he understood exactly what she meant.

And that unsettled him more than anything.