Thunder rolled again, nearer now, like a low animal circling the walls.
The shutters gave a soft rattling answer and then fell still as the wind changed.
Candlelight shivered once and steadied.
Mingyu didn't look up.
He kissed the inside of her thigh again, a breath higher than before, the slow drag of his mouth telegraphing patience rather than conquest.
Yaozu kept his palms over her hands where he had laced their fingers, his chest to her back, the quiet thud of his heartbeat a second storm that belonged only to the bed.
"Breathe," Mingyu murmured, and when she did, he followed the breath, his lips mapping the way her body opened to air and heat.
Another kiss, then another, the lightest scrape of teeth that made the silk at her waist rustle as her muscles answered him.
He didn't hurry.
He never hurried when he wanted permanence… when he wanted Xinying.
