Page 50 of Song of the Heart Scale
“Clean you?” I asked, rinsing the cloth in the basin again.
“Care for me afterward,” she clarified. “Usually it's just... done and over with.”
Something in her tone made me pause. I looked up to find her watching me with an expression I couldn't quite read. Vulnerability, perhaps, or confusion. I resumed my task, gently lifting her arm to clean beneath it.
“Then you've been with the wrong people,” I said simply. Although truth be told, I’d never done this for anyone, either.
The intricate tattoo sleeve adorning her arm caught my attention as I moved the cloth over her skin. In the moonlight, the detailed patterns seemed almost alive—writhing serpents and blooming flowers intertwined with symbols I didn't recognize, all rendered in colored ink that sharply contrasted with her golden skin.
“This is beautiful work,” I murmured, tracing the edge of a particularly intricate design with my fingertip. “Do they all have meanings?”
She watched me through lowered eyes and shrugged. “Some do. But some were just silly.”
I nodded, continuing my careful ministrations. The cloth gently slid over the colorful sleeve, not to clean it but almost in reverence, following the lines of art that coiled from her wrist up to her shoulder. Unlike the angry red marks from her fight with Thorne, this was intentional—a history she had chosen to wear on herskin.
“Done.” I set the cloth aside.
She turned toward me and studied my face in the moonlight. There was something different in her gaze now—not just desire, but a curiosity that made me want to look away.
“What?” I asked, uncomfortable under her scrutiny.
“I'm trying to reconcile the man who just fucked me senseless and then cared for me afterward with the shadow that terrifies half the empire.”
I snorted. “Perhaps they're one and the same.”
She nestled closer, her head finding the hollow of my shoulder. For a long moment, we lay in comfortable silence, our breathing gradually synchronizing. As the sweat on our bodies cooled in the night air, I pulled the blanket over us both.
“Do you think anyone heard us?” she suddenly asked, amusement threading through her voice.
“I think everyone in Uncle Bai’s mansion probably heardyou,” I replied dryly. “You're not exactly quiet.”
She lightly smacked my chest. “You weren't complaining a few minutes ago.”
“I'm not complaining now.” I caught her hand and brought her fingertips to my lips. “Just stating facts.”
Outside, an owl hooted, its call drifting through the partially open window. The rest of the world continued around us, oblivious to the shift that had occurred within this room. Tomorrow would bring its own complications, but for now, I basked in this moment of peace.
10
CAT
Sunlight streamed through the gauzy curtains and a golden glow warmed the silk sheets tangled around my legs. I blinked, groggy, momentarily disoriented by how soft everything was. The bed. The lighting. The peaceful hush of a world that, for once, wasn’t on fire.
A breath stirred against my shoulder.
I slowly turned my head.
Damien.
He was still asleep with one arm lazily draped over my waist, his dark hair tousled and falling over his eyes. His lips were slightly parted and his chest rose and fell in the kind of deep, undisturbed rhythm only someone very satisfied—and very exhausted—could manage.
Last night’s memories painted heat across my cheeks. Let’s just say things got a little... unhinged. In the best possible way. Wild kisses. Clothes on the floor. That man’s hands on my skin like he was learning a new language, and I was the dictionary.
I bit my bottom lip to keep from grinning like a total idiot. Carefully, I eased his arm off me and slid out of bed. He mumbled something that sounded vaguely like my name andshifted onto his stomach. I took a moment to drink in the sight of him—naked, muscled, peaceful. A dragon prince with a mean streak, now curled in my bed like a giant, smug cat.
God help me.
I padded across the room and threw on a silk robe draped over a nearby chair. Not mine, obviously—nothing in this estate was mine—but it was soft and smelled faintly of cedar and something spicy. Damien’s, maybe?
