“What if I say you can be cured?”
Her eyes widened, disbelief flashing across her face before it twisted into something far sharper. Her hands clenched into trembling fists, her nails digging into her palms as anger surged like wildfire through her chest.
“What did you just say?” she hissed, her voice low and trembling with barely restrained fury.
Luca raised a brow, seemingly unfazed by the sudden shift in her demeanor. “I said—”
“I heard what you said!” she snapped, her voice rising. Her amber eyes blazed with a mix of fury and pain as she glared at him, her body trembling. “How dare you say something like that?”
He opened his mouth, but she cut him off, her voice trembling as years of bitterness and heartbreak poured out.
“Do you have any idea what you’re saying?!” she shouted. “Do you know how many people have come to me with promises like that? How many liars have claimed they could cure me?”
Her chest heaved as her anger boiled over, every word laced with the weight of her past. “They gave me hope—hope that maybe, just maybe, this time would be different. That I wouldn’t have to live like this anymore.”
She laughed bitterly, the sound sharp and filled with venom. “And every single time, it was a lie. A joke! They took my hope and crushed it like it was nothing. Do you know what that does to someone?!”
Luca’s expression remained calm, but his eyes flickered with something deeper—an emotion he didn’t let fully surface.
“I hate them,” Aeliana spat, her voice cracking as her emotions spilled over. “I hate all of them. And now, you’re sitting here, saying the same thing—just throwing it out there like it’s nothing!”
She took a step closer to him, her fists trembling at her sides. “Do you think I’m some kind of fool? That I’d fall for something like that again?”
The cavern was silent except for her ragged breathing, the firelight flickering across her furious expression.
Luca met her gaze steadily, his calm demeanor never wavering. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, steady, and strangely gentle.
“No,” he said simply. “I don’t think you’re a fool. And I’m not here to lie to you.”
Her breath hitched, her anger faltering for a moment as his words settled over her.
“Then why say it?” she whispered, her voice trembling with a mix of anger and desperation.
Luca tilted his head slightly, his expression softening. “Because I’m not them. And because I think you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
Aeliana’s fists tightened, her chest heaving as she stared at him, her emotions warring within her. She didn’t know whether to scream, cry, or collapse.
Aeliana’s amber eyes narrowed, her chest tightening as Luca’s words settled over her. The softness in his tone, the calmness in his expression—it felt like a trap, a cruel mockery meant to break her down further. Enjoy exclusive adventures from My Virtual Library Empire
“You’re mocking me,” she said, her voice trembling with fury. “You’re trying to make me angry. You’re just… trying to humiliate me.”
Luca shook his head, his dark eyes steady. “I’m not mocking you,” he said quietly. “And I don’t lie.”
Her fists clenched tighter, her nails digging into her palms as her emotions swirled into a storm. “If you really want to be cured,” he continued, his voice low but resolute, “you will.”
“Liar,” she spat, her voice sharp and full of venom.
“I don’t lie,” Luca repeated, his tone unwavering.
“No,” she said, shaking her head as her anger boiled over. “No, you’re lying! You’re just lying!”
“I’m not,” he said simply, his expression calm despite the storm of her emotions raging before him.
“Why?!” she shouted, the desperation in her voice rising with every word. “Why should I trust you? Why? I don’t even know you! I just met you! How can you stand there and claim that you can cure me?!”
Without realizing it, Aeliana had crossed the distance between them. Her trembling finger jabbed toward his face, the anger pouring out of her in waves. It was a gesture she hadn’t made in years—something from a time when she had been confident, outspoken, unafraid to stand her ground.
Luca didn’t flinch. He simply raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, his expression unchanging. “You’re right,” he said calmly, his voice even. “On all of it.”
Aeliana blinked, startled by his response.
“You don’t know me,” Luca continued, his tone steady and measured. “You just met me. And yes, you’ve been watching me since yesterday, but that doesn’t change anything. Everything you’ve said is valid.”
He lowered his hands slowly, his gaze holding hers. “You have no reason to trust me. None at all.”
Her chest heaved, her finger still trembling as it hovered near his face. “Then why say it?” she whispered, her voice cracking with the weight of her emotions.
“Because,” Luca said, his smirk softening into something gentler, “it’s the truth. Whether you trust me or not, it doesn’t change that.”
The silence between them was deafening, broken only by the crackling of the fire. Aeliana stared at him, her mind a whirlwind of disbelief, anger, and something she couldn’t quite name.
His calm, unwavering confidence in his words struck a chord in her, forcing her to question whether he really was just mocking her—or if, somehow, he truly believed what he was saying.
Her hand dropped to her side, her shoulders slumping as her anger began to waver. But the doubt still lingered, clawing at the edges of her thoughts.
“I don’t… understand you,” she murmured, her voice barely audible.
“And you don’t have to,” Luca replied, his tone light but sincere. “Not yet, anyway. But maybe you can start by understanding that not everyone is here to hurt you.”
The words hung in the air, their weight settling over her as she struggled to process the man standing before her. For the first time in years, she felt the faintest flicker of something she thought she had lost long ago. A fragile, fleeting thing.
Hope.
Aeliana’s fingers trembled as her hand fell back to her side. The spark of hope that flickered in her chest felt like a fragile ember, faint but undeniable. Yet, as quickly as it came, fear surged to snuff it out.
Hope was terrifying.
Because she knew what it felt like to cling to it—to let it wrap around her, lift her, promise her that things could change—only for it to shatter and leave her in a darker place than before.
Her chest tightened, her amber eyes flicking back to Luca’s steady gaze. He stood there, unyielding, his presence both infuriating and strangely grounding.
“It’s scary,” she murmured, her voice so soft it barely carried over the crackling fire.
“What is?” Luca asked, his tone light but lacking its usual teasing edge.
“Hope,” she admitted, her voice trembling. “It’s… terrifying. Because I know how it feels when it’s crushed. When it disappears and leaves nothing but emptiness.”
Luca watched her carefully, his dark eyes never leaving hers. Slowly, deliberately, he raised his hand, reaching out.
Aeliana stiffened as his fingers brushed against hers—light, tentative, like he was testing the weight of the moment. His touch was warm, steady, in stark contrast to the icy fear twisting inside her.
“How about this?” he said, his voice calm and steady. “Until we leave this place, I’ll escort you. Stick by your side. And along the way…”
His fingers shifted slightly, gently brushing her pointed index finger, before he straightened.
“You can decide whether you want to trust me or not.”
Aeliana’s breath hitched, her hand trembling at her side as she stared at him.
His words hung between them, soft but firm, like a rope extended across a chasm she wasn’t sure she could cross.
She wanted to retort, to reject the offer, to push him away and keep the walls she had built around herself intact. But the faint flicker of warmth in his gaze—the same warmth that had defied every expectation she had of him—made her hesitate.
“And if I don’t?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Luca smirked, though it was softer this time, less a shield and more a gentle curve of his lips. “Then you don’t,” he said simply. “But at least you’ll know you had the choice.”
Her chest tightened again, the weight of his words pressing against the fragile walls she had spent years building. For a moment, she felt like she was teetering on the edge of something unknown, something dangerous.
And yet…
“Fine,” she said quietly, the word barely audible as her gaze dropped to the fire. “But don’t think this means I trust you.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Luca replied, his smirk widening just enough to remind her of his infuriating confidence.
But as she glanced back at him, the faintest trace of a smile flickered across her lips—so faint it barely existed, but it was there.
And for the first time in years, the terrifying ember of hope remained, fragile but unbroken.