That dream again.
Xie Lingyuan.
He came to me in silence, like always—his breath warm against my neck, slow and deliberate. Lips grazed the tender skin just beneath my ear, lingering.
Then came his fingertips.
They traced a slow path from the nape of my neck, down the curve of my spine, until they found the narrow dip of my waist. He held me there, close. My chest pressed to his.
I could feel him—his body, solid and hot, breathing against mine. Every inhale strained with something he couldn't say. Every exhale brushed my cheek like a promise.
Then his mouth dipped lower.
He found it.
That red mark hidden beneath my collarbone—the one no one else knew about. The one that only existed in dreams… until it didn't.
He kissed it.
And then—he bit.
A shock of pain. Sharp, almost unbearable.
I gasped.
It bloomed into something worse.Something better.My back arched. Tears bit the corners of my eyes, but not from fear.
The heat spread—low, deep in my belly. My thighs clenched.His hand slid beneath the silk of my robe.
I should have stopped him. I should have said no.But all I could do was reach for him.Clutch at him.Pull him closer.
My fingers tangled in his hair. My breath caught as he pressed his lips to my throat again, then lower.
Desire laced with guilt, shame melting into want. I felt undone.
I woke with a gasp.
My sheets were twisted. Damp.My body still trembled with the ghost of his touch.Between my legs—wet. Throbbing.The echo of that bite pulsed under my skin.
I pressed my palm to the spot beneath my collarbone. My fingers hesitated.
It hurt.
I stood and stumbled toward the mirror on the table. I barely lifted it before it slipped through my shaking hands. It fell—shattered. Glass scattered across the wooden floor like pieces of a secret I couldn't hide.
A knock."Miss? May I come in?"
Xiaotang.
Too late.
She stepped in holding a warm towel. Her eyes swept over the disarray—my flushed face, the ruined sheets, the broken mirror.
"Another nightmare, miss?" she asked.
I yanked my collar closed, heart hammering. But my trembling hands betrayed me. I couldn't hide it fast enough.
She stepped close and took my wrist gently. "You're freezing," she said, voice hushed. "You should tell the young lord. These dreams… they leave marks."
"He mustn't know," I said too quickly. Too harshly.
She didn't argue. She simply dipped the towel in warm water and began to wipe the sweat from my forehead.
Seven nights.
It had been seven nights since my ji li—my coming of age. The ceremony where girls receive their first hairpin and step into womanhood.
He gave me that jade hairpin with his own hands. Smiled like it meant nothing.
But everything had changed.
His fingers had brushed my hair. His gaze had flickered away—too fast, too cautious.
Like if he looked at me too long, the world might unravel.
In my dreams, I still call him cousin.But in the dark, he calls me Zhiwei.And it sounds… right.
I pressed a palm to my chest. My heart was still racing. Not from fear.
From longing.
Xiaotang looked at me gently. "You care for him, don't you?"
I turned my face away.
"It's not allowed."
But we both knew.
It had already begun.