"Umhh... Haah...! Haah...!" I don't know how much time had passed.
I didn't want to know.
All I knew was the way his hands gripped me, the heat of him inside me, the way my body bounced in the air as if the world had stopped just to hold us here.
My head fell back every time he lifted me, my hair swaying, my moans catching in the rhythm of him driving me down onto his length.
The candles blurred into golden streaks and shadows, petals drifting in the air that I couldn't be sure were real.
All I could feel was him. All I could hear was the deep, ragged sounds in his chest every time I clenched around him.
And somehow, without me noticing, the world shifted.
I was lying on my side now, our bodies pressed in the tight familiarity of a spooning embrace. One of my legs was hooked over his, and his arm hooked around my waist; he buried himself into me from behind in deep, rolling thrusts that stole my breath in gasps.
My hand was trapped above my head under his, his palm keeping me there while his hips met me again and again, each slap of skin echoing in the heated air.
Then his rough whisper: "Mine."
And I broke — wet heat spilling between my thighs, a wave that rolled through me, leaving me shaking against him.
I barely caught my breath before I was turned again, pressed up against the cool wall. My palms were flat to it, my cheek too, his chest covering my back like an unmovable wall of heat and muscle.
His weight pinned me there, his hips snapping forward until the sound of it — his body meeting mine — filled my ears along with my own strangled moans.
The contrast of cold wall and blazing skin made me feel as though I was melting into him.
My legs trembled hard, but his hands on my hips kept me steady as I shattered again, my body clenching around him in endless waves.
And then — I was on top.
My knees pressed to the bed on either side of him, my hands splayed over his chest for balance as I rode him in desperate, bouncing arcs.
His eyes were locked on me, watching each drop and lift as though engraving it into his memory. Every time I sank onto him, the stretch and fullness tore a moan from my throat.
My head fell back, eyes unfocused, ceiling blurring into a haze of candlelight as my mouth fell open on a trembling, helpless cry. The pleasure hit sharp and deep, like fire curling from my core, every muscle in my body tightening — my thighs, my stomach, my back — until I felt like I'd shatter.
It was too much.
The stretch of him, the heat inside me, the way every deep thrust grazed exactly where I needed him — it broke through my control. My hands shot down to his, dragging one from my hip to my breast.
I pressed it there hard, forcing my own softness deeper into his palm, wanting all of him on me.
His fingers flexed, closing around me as I arched against him.
"Aahhh—! Haahhh!" The sound tore from me in raw pulses with each wave, my body clenching in desperate rhythm around him.
I felt him twitch inside me, the thick swell of him growing even harder in the space of a heartbeat.
His breathing broke apart above me, his pace faltering into deep, shuddering pushes that drove him fully into my drenched, gripping heat.
And then — he groaned low, the sound vibrating through his chest into mine.
I was still pulsing around him when I felt it — the sudden flood of heat as he spilled himself into me. It came in hard, thick waves, painting every inch inside I had just surrendered to him.
The sheer sensation of him filling me while my muscles still clung tight around him tipped me over again — my body milking every drop as my nails dug into his skin, my forehead pressing into his chest.
My breasts, pressed between us, rose and fell in ragged jerks with my breathing.
His arms wrapped around me fully, holding me locked to him as if he couldn't bear even an inch of space — his final groan breaking against my hair as the last of him emptied deep inside me.
We stayed like that, my walls still fluttering around the thick heat inside, our skin slick, our hearts pounding together until the only sound left in the candlelit air was our entwined breath.
"Haaa… haaah… haaah…"
"Luna, Y-you... stop doing that." He was the first to break the silence, his voice almost lazy, but I saw the faint smirk ghost across his lips.
My head tipped slightly back against the pillow, my pulse still chasing itself.
"What?" I asked, genuinely — my voice low, my body still twitching in small, involuntary spasms that I knew he could feel.
His eyes flickered lower, catching the subtle rolls of my belly as my inner muscles tightened around him in slow, greedy squeezes.
Milking him without touching him intentionally by twitching my lower muscles as if wanting to suffocate his thing.
Our gazes locked then — a soft clash of heat and mischief before I drew in just enough air to shift slightly away, my chest rising and falling under the thin sheen of sweat on my skin.
Even at that small distance, I could feel his focus dragging over me… his watchfulness.
It only made me want to tease him.
Even in my numb, wrung-out state, my body ached for the power of making him groan — which he did the instant his one hand slid up into my hair.
I knew the movement before it was complete — his palm cradling the back of my head, slow, deliberate, pulling me back to him.
"Please, ask me something," he murmured, tilting my chin enough to seal a kiss to my forehead. Then, not letting me slip, he laid my cheek to his chest, letting my ear catch the slow thump of his heart.
"You're… still able to go for another round?" I breathed, my lips curling faintly as I felt that this man wanted to go for another round of my desire.
He gave a low hum, voice dipping like molten steel cooling in water. "You are the most bold woman I have ever seen… Luna. Always so bold."
Was he drifting into sleep?
Or was that voice meant to put me there? I didn't know.
My fingers wandered of their own accord, tracing the ridges of scars along his side.
"You call me bold after doing all that to me?" II muttered, recalling this night, which was the most beautiful proof I could get of him not just loving me, but also craving me.
"Maybe," he said, almost smiling, "I've gotten infected by your boldness."
I scoffed softly, the sound teasing both of us before I nuzzled my cheek against him.
And then he moved — reaching down for the sheets, pulling them up and over me with surprising care.
He wrapped me in them fully, tucking me in like something fragile… no skin left bare to the air even though he'd seen every inch of me.
Confusion rose, but before I could speak, he shifted — turning and bracing himself on all fours over me.
His eyes were locked to mine, inches away, shadows cutting sharp edges across his face from the candlelight. I breathed harder just from the closeness, my body still tender from him.
"Why did you take that out?" I frowned, my gaze dropping instinctively.
He tilted his head, following my eyes down. Then he chuckled lowly, shaking his head. "Why don't you listen to me first, Luna?"
"I will…" I felt heat winding low in my gut again as I sensed something missing that belonged to me. "…but first, enter it."
I slid one leg open under the loosened sheet, the faintest whisper of challenge in my voice.
His length wasn't as hard as before, but still full and warm, and he moved without protest — sliding back into me slowly, deliberately, with that molten weight that pulled a soft sigh from my lips.
He leaned down, pushing the sheets down to bunch at my waist, pressing his forehead to mine.
"Please," he said, his voice low and unguarded, "Don't you want something from me? Ask anything. Anything in this world. If it's within my power… I'll do everything to get it."
My lips curved, a spark dancing behind my exhaustion.
The smirk that slid over my face made something in him flinch — not in fear, but in predatory awareness.
Like he knew he'd just walked into a trap, yet couldn't bring himself to step out.
His expression shifted — confusion meeting underlying heat.
His silver gaze never left me as my own turned sharper, colder, the muscles in my jaw tightening.
I could feel it — the shift from lover to something else entirely.
"Javrian," I said, my voice a firm decree.
Something unreadable crossed his face as two months' worth of memories washed over me — the pieces of the future I'd seen, the ruins of my family—my husband and babies, the crown-shaped noose of the Emperor Wenhan holding me as a pawn.
I had not chosen this man, but fate had… and now, I could choose what to do with that fate.
My wish was simple. My voice was blade-sharp when it came as demand.
"...I want you to kill Emperor Wenhan and eradicate his entire bloodline... for me."