Up the marble stairs, their footsteps echoing.
Past silk-lined corridors hung with art worth more than houses.
Through the master suite doors, heavy wood carved with dragons and phoenixes, symbols of power and rebirth.
He shut them with one clean motion.
Lock.
Click.
Silence swallowed them whole.
"You embarrassed tonight," he said calmly, his voice level despite everything.
She laughed bitterly, the sound sharp and ugly. "You kissed in public."
"And you made a spectacle of my wife."
Her pulse skipped; that word again hit her differently.
"My wife."
The words hit differently here.
In the dark.
In the room that already belonged to both of them, that slled of his cologne and her jasmine, their scents mingling in the air.
He stepped closer, each footfall deliberate.
"No matter how much freedom you think you have," he said quietly, but with steel underneath, "the mont I decide otherwise...I only need to lock the doors."
Her back hit the edge of the bed, the mattress soft behind her knees.
Her breath ca short, rapid.
"You wanted a married woman’s privileges tonight," he continued, advancing slowly. "Then you act like one now."
Her defiance burned, but beneath it, sothing hotter coiled in her belly.
Dangerous.
Hungry.
Traitorous.
"You’re shaking," she whispered, noticing the minute tremor in his hands.
"Because I’m restraining myself," he said, and it sounded like a confession.
Silence stretched between them, taut as a wire.
Then...
"Go shower."
Her brows snapped together, confusion replacing anger. "What?"
"I won’t touch you like this." His gaze dragged over her slowly, deliberately, cataloging every detail. "Go. Now."
She hesitated, pride warring with sothing else.
Just long enough for irritation to outweigh everything else.
Fine.
She turned and disappeared into the bathroom, the door not quite slamming but close.
THE SHOWER
The water ran hot, scalding, steam filling the massive bathroom.
Her thoughts burned hotter.
His hands.
His grip.
His mouth.
His control.
The way he’d looked at her like she was sothing precious and dangerous simultaneously.
For the first ti, she wasn’t playing with power.
She was standing inside it, surrounded by it, possibly drowning in it.
Her jasmine scent thickened in the steam, natural, intoxicating, dangerous. A perfu that once drove kingdoms mad, started wars, sank ships. The scent of her true nature, intensified by heat and water.
Tonight...
It felt wasted.
She stepped out wrapped in a thin silk robe, one of the ones hanging in the bathroom, expensive, soft, and clinging to her damp skin.
Barefoot.
Vulnerable.
Unprotected in ways that had nothing to do with clothing.
The lights were low, dimd to almost nothing.
Lu Yuze was already seated at the edge of the bed, jacket gone, sleeves rolled to his elbows exposing strong forearms, posture lethal in its calm.
He looked up as she erged.
The air changed, charging with electricity.
"You don’t understand how many n would lose their minds for you," he said quietly, voice rough.
"I don’t care about n," she replied, chin lifting.
His gaze lifted slowly, pinning her in place. "I know."
He reached for her, hand extended.
This ti she didn’t pull away, letting him guide her closer.
He brought her down onto the mattress, not beneath him, that would co later....
Beside him.
His arm slid around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest with one smooth motion.
Possessive.
Protective.
Territorial.
Her heartbeat went feral, hamring against her ribs.
She turned in his arms, unable to resist, needing to see his face.
Their mouths collided again, hotter now, slower, unbearable with restraint that was rapidly fraying. Her hands slid into his hair, fingers tangling in dark strands. Her body pressed closer, every line of her fitting against him, need burning openly now, undeniable.
Her jasmine scent deepened, filling the room.
A silent invitation.
A biological imperative her rmaid nature couldn’t suppress.
His breath hitched, catching audibly.
For one dangerous second, she thought he would lose control completely, thought he would take what she was offering.
Then...
He stopped.
Completely.
His lips left hers, though she could feel his reluctance, feel how much the withdrawal cost him.
His forehead rested against hers, their breath mingling.
His own breathing still irregular, heart racing against her palm.
But his grip loosened, gentling.
"Sleep," he said softly, the word barely audible.
The command stunned her more than anything else that night.
"What....?"
He pulled her closer instead of answering, tucking her against him fully, one arm locked around her back, the other cradling her head like sothing precious.
Claid.
Held.
Denied.
Her body burned with unspent hunger, every nerve ending alive and demanding.
Her pride burned hotter, outraged at the denial.
"You’re joking," she muttered angrily, trying to pull back. "You bring here, talk about caging , touch like that, and now you tell to sleep?"
His eyes were already closing, exhaustion finally showing in the lines of his face.
"If I continue," he murmured, voice heavy with sleep and sothing darker, "I won’t stop."
That scared her more than dominance ever could.
The implication of those words.
The certainty.
The promise.
Silence settled between them like fallen snow.
Her irritation simred, refusing to die.
Her desire didn’t fade, pulsing steadily.
Her heart betrayed her again, slowing, matching his rhythm.
And against every instinct she had, against everything her nature scread....
Her body slowly relaxed in his hold, lting into him.
Sleep crept in like a thief, stealing consciousness.
The last thing she felt was his arm tightening around her waist as if, even unconscious, he refused to let go.
As if he’d finally caught sothing he’d been hunting for far longer than she knew.
And just like that, the chaos descended and fell into the night....
MORNING AFTER
Lin Shuyin woke to pale sunlight filtering through heavy curtains, her mind sluggish and disoriented.
For a few blessed seconds, she didn’t rember where she was or what had happened.
Then awareness crashed in.
The unfamiliar weight of the silk sheets.
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