The Light Within (Shadow and Light Duology #2)

28. Julien

twenty-eight

Julien

I t was half-past five in the morning when Julien was ready to leave.

The sun wouldn’t rise for hours yet. By the time the first light touched Cinn’s road, Julien would be dozens of miles away.

Staring down at Cinn’s sleeping body in the fragment of moonlight—stark naked, entangled with the duvet as if it were a passionate lover—Julien wavered in his decision. It would be so much easier to unpack his bag, undress, slip back into the bed beside him. Hold his warm body close. Kiss the spiderweb on his shoulder. Be there when he woke up, giving Julien that small smile he always blessed him with, before pretending to be grumpy at being awake.

Instead, he was sentencing Cinn to wake up alone.

His heart gave a painful squeeze, as his mind conjured the image of the moment Cinn realised what he’d done.

Putain , he’d probably kill Cinn if he did this to him.

Julien was going to be in so much trouble.

But this was the only way to keep Cinn safe. The man who he loved more than anything. The person who, quite curiously, loved him back.

He’d keep him safe if it was the last thing he did.

Julien couldn’t spend the rest of time at the window, anxiety coiling in his stomach, waiting for the next strike. He couldn’t wait for Eleanor’s half-baked promises of protection. Non , he needed to do what he always did, and take matters into his own hands. Be in charge of his own destiny .

Finding the hoodie he’d folded up earlier, Julien pulled it over his head. It would be cold on the journey, but mostly he needed the comfort it would provide. Cinn had no idea, but Julien had been routinely swapping the hoodie out with random identical ones Cinn left strewn all over his house. That way, it always smelled faintly of him.

Julien placed the note on the dresser.

He pulled the covers up over Cinn to cover more of his body.

He kissed his mop of brown curls, the tiniest bit too firmly.

Tempting fate.

Cinn didn’t stir.

So, into the stillness of the bedroom, Julien whispered, “I’ll be back soon, mon amour .”