STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

out at the city. Lucien followed, stepping up beside her.

She pulled her cigarette tin from her pocket as she leaned against the railing. She slid one out and lit it with a flick of her lighter.

She glanced at Lucien and held the tin out to him, her tone casual. “You want one? ”

Lucien raised an eyebrow, pulling his own cigarette from a crumpled pack. “Already ahead of you.”

Lyra smirked, nodding as she tucked the tin back into her pocket. “Figures.”

Lucien lit his cigarette, the tip growing brighter as he inhaled. The act was familiar, a small tether to himself in the chaos of the last few days.

They stood in silence, the smoke coiling between them and vanishing with the breeze into the night air.

Lucien leaned against the railing beside her, studying the city below. "You always come up here?”

Lyra exhaled a thin stream of smoke from her nose, her gaze fixed on the lower districts. “Not always. Just when I need to think. Or forget.”

“And tonight?”

“A little of both.”

Lucien watched her. She looked invincible in so many ways – fierce and unyielding – but here, in the quiet, she seemed almost fragile. She carries so much. Maybe too much.

He inhaled deeply, letting the smoke sit in his lungs before

exhaling slowly. “It’s strange, isn’t it? The city looks so calm from up here. Like nothing’s changed.”

“It’s always calm when you’re far enough away. But down there...” as she

gestured toward the lower districts “...it’s chaos.”

Lucien nodded. “Do you think we did the right thing?”

“Do you?”

Her question lingered between them, unanswerable.

Lucien hesitated. The city ’s noise faded, the lights softened.

Lyra’s cigarette burned low between her fingers, the ember casting a warm light on her face. She ’s been fighting for so long. But who’s been fighting for her?

Without thinking, he reached out, his hand taking hers. She flinched, but didn ’t pull away.

“Lyra... you are not alone in this.”

“It’s the only way I know.”

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