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My insides constrict. It feels like the walls of the Palace of Nine Hills are closing around me once more. The waterfall is expected to appear soon, the day after tomorrow.
“Half a day,” I offer to the prince. “We will remain within the palace grounds. Attempt to break your word, and the deal is void. I will destroy the antidote without hesitation.”
“One night, from dusk till sunrise—before you leave for whatever it is you seek. After that, I know you won’t return,” he counters. “My terms are generous.”
“Why in the night?” I ask apprehensively.
“I’ve always liked nightfall; it’s when the unexpected happens.” He pauses. “It is also when I can get away, when my time is mine alone.”
Jin’s body is taut with fury. “If you hurt her—”
“Then I will hurt him back.” My smile is cold. “I’m certain His Highness has not forgotten what I’m capable of.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
THE CREAK OF MY DOOR WAKES ME. IN THE DARK, I GROPE for my dagger on the table—but drop it back at the sight of Jin.
“Always sleep with that under your pillow,” he chides me. “An enemy would move much faster. It would be too late to reach for a weapon then.”
“Anyone but you would admonish me for drawing a blade on them.” My annoyance fades as he sets down a tray of food: sliced watermelon, spiced meat buns seared a crisp golden-brown. “Why didn’t you knock?”
“I did. You didn’t hear.”
Rising from the bed, I take the robe Jin passes me. As I slip it on, he leans against the wall and looks out the window. I’m studying him before realizing it: the chiseled lines of his face, those eyes that shift from brown to gold depending on his mood. My gaze trails down to his hands that are at once capable of carrying a delicate firefly or swinging a sword with brute force.
His eyes flick to mine. Heat flushes me to be caught staring, my fingers clumsy as I try to knot the robe. Jin moves behind me, taking the ends of the sash and pulling it tighter around my waist, the slither of silk unnaturally loud in the quiet. As he knots the sash, his knuckles brush the curve of my back. Surely he can hear the thud of my heart, the withering of my pride as I lean against him. His hands slowly circle my waist, then he spins me around, my body pliant in his grasp. We stand so close, his nearness igniting a fire I no longer seek to quench.
“Last night,” he says quietly. “When you spoke my name… did you mean what you said?”
I want you, Lord Jin-Yong. I hold his gaze without flinching. “Yes. From now, I will always mean what I say to you.”
He cradles my face between his hands, anticipation flaring through me. “I told you once, I’d wait for you to ask me to kiss you again.” A smile breaks across his face. “I lied.”
He bends to seize my lips in an aching kiss—ruthless and fierce—pulsing with suppressed desire. A heady rush engulfs me as his arms tighten, my hands winding around his neck, as he kisses me like he’s drowning and I’m his last breath of air.
At the sharp knock outside my door, Jin curses, pulling away. I’m trying to steady myself as Shenming’s voice rings out. “Are you ready? We must meet General Suilan by the bridge.”
“Prince Zixin secured the permission we need from Lady Shufang,” Jin explains quickly. “The general will escort us to where the Ice Pearls are cultivated. We’ve been instructed to select one for His Highness after he expressed his admiration of them.”
“Did you forget to tell me earlier?” I tap his chest in a mock rebuke, savoring how he reddens. “This is most unlike you, Lord Jin-Yong.”
Soon after, Jin, Shenming, and I hurry to the bridge by the main entrance. General Suilan is already there, her armor gleaming in the sunlight, a bow slung across her back.
“I was afraid you didn’t get my message in time,” she tells Shenming.
He shakes his head. “I usually wake early. Mornings are the best time to train with the troops.”
“One day, you should join me to view the sunrise from here,” the general invites him. “The sight might give you another reason to return—after you leave.”
He smiles at her. “I already have reason enough.”
“Perhaps tomorrow?” she offers.
A shadow falls over the captain’s face—is he thinking of the waterfall? Where we need to be then?
“Could we join?” Jin interjects. “I also enjoy watching sunrises—”
Shenming treads on his foot, barely breaking his stride as he moves ahead with the general. I hope he’ll be careful to not entangle himself deeper. The general would be furious to be made into a pawn; she doesn’t seem the forgiving type.
