Chapter 56: Compatibility is a Loaded Word
Dr. Elaine re-entered a moment later, tablet in hand, her expression gentler now—but her eyes flicked toward the closed door with something unreadable before she turned back to her patient.
Lucas hadn’t moved.
He sat where Trevor had left him, posture straight, one hand still curled loosely around the edge of the table. He looked calm. That practiced kind of calm that came not from peace, but from learning to look unbothered long enough to survive being examined.
Elaine stopped a few feet in front of him.
She didn’t lift the tablet this time. Just held it by her side.
"Lucas," she said softly, "can I ask you something?"
He glanced up, wary but willing.
"Do you trust Grand Duke Fitzgeralt?"
The question was simple, but Lucas knew there was more to it.
Dr. Elaine wasn’t asking if he trusted Trevor as an ally, or a political safeguard. She wasn’t asking if the arrangement was working, or if Lucas approved of the title, or the name.
She was asking if he trusted him as a partner. As a man. As someone who might be the only one standing between him and a truth no one else could be allowed to speak aloud.
Lucas let the silence stretch—not out of hesitation, but out of caution. The kind born from a past life, the kind that reminded him just how often trust had been the first step toward betrayal.