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Every window was floor-to-ceiling glass stacked against dark wood. The interior was all dark stone and low expensive furniture.
He carried me through the entrance. "This is one of your homes."
The chauffeur remained outside with the umbrella, and then soon the door closed us in. The lock turned on its own.
And for the first time tonight, there was nothing left between me and the fox spirit but a few inches of wet silk.
Chapter eight
Muddy Gold and Violet
Gabby
🎧 Chapter 8 Soundtrack:
The whole space smelled like him—cedar and moss. Cold stone and ancient smoke. That delicious scent soaked into every beam, every floorboard, every piece of silk.
My knees would have buckled if I'd been standing.
A soft, embarrassing sound left my throat.
Yoichi went still, and then he inhaled slowly. "Oh, little witch. You’re ready."
My body hummed for him. "I. . .don’t know what. . .you’re talking about.”
“You do.” He walked me through halls of polished wood and paper screens. We passed a closed door with a bronze fox carved into the handle.
He stopped us in front of it.
Instantly, the door opened on its own.
Candlelight flickered to life inside, and my breath caught.
Gifts crowded the room from floor to ceiling.
Lacquered boxes stacked in towers. Silk bundles tied with faded cord. Chests with brass corners gone green with age.
Centuries of them.
A diamond-encrusted tortoiseshell comb rested on a velvet cushion by the door. Its teeth were carved into tiny cranes in flight.
Beside it sat a silver hand mirror, its back was engraved with vines so exquisite they looked like frost.
And draped across a black lacquered stand, hung a beautiful kimono in my favorite colors.
My heart stuttered.
It was the exact color of the Mississippi River at dusk. That muddy gold melting into violet, the way the water looked from the levee when the sun sank behind the city and the whole river caught fire.
I'd sat on that levee a thousand times. "When did you get that kimono?"
"Two hundred years ago." He followed my gaze. "I didn't know why I wanted those colors. I'd never seen anything like them. I only knew it was yours."
My throat tightened.
He gazed down at me, and those eyes glowed. "I've spent centuries buying you presents and waiting. I can't wait to watch you open them, one by one."
My heart warmed. I was so unprepared that part of me wanted to provide more pushback and say that I might not be his mate. But at this point. . .with the way my body was throbbing, dripping, and humming. . .I could no longer doubt the obvious.
