His hands were planted firmly on either side of her head, his long fingers sinking deep into the mattress.

Lin Wan’s breath was completely knocked out of her chest. She lay frozen beneath him, her small hands pressing weakly against his broad, solid shoulders. He felt like a wall of iron, completely unmovable and terrifyingly strong.

"A toy?" Cassian growled, his voice dropping into a deep, raspy register that vibrated straight through her ribs into her aching core.

"If I looked at you as a toy, little master, you would already be dead. If I wanted to break your pride, I would have stripped those ragged clothes from your body on the very first night and forced you to crawl to my feet in front of the entire court."

He leaned down further, his sharp nose brushing against the soft, sensitive skin of her neck, right over the pulsing black manticore crest. The mark flared with a sudden, agonizingly sweet heat that made her entire body shiver against her will.

"I let you keep your rags," Cassian whispered, his voice softening into a dangerous, addictive purr against her ear. "I let you shout at me. I let you throw your gold at my chest without taking your life. No one in this entire realm has ever spoken to the Sovereign the way you do and lived to see the next sunrise. I do not want to break you, Lin Wan. But I will keep you. You will stay by my side until the stars burn out, and you will learn to accept that your life belongs to me."

He reached down, picked up the small slice of the sun-heart pear from the table, and pressed it against her lips once more. This time, his golden eyes were completely dark, filled with an absolute command that left no room for resistance.

Lin Wan looked into his eyes, her chest heaving with ragged, terrified gasps. She realized with a sudden, hollow dread that she had no power here.

She was completely at his mercy, and if she continued to fight him openly, he would simply use his massive strength to force her into submission.

Slowly, with a trembling jaw, she opened her mouth and allowed him to slip the piece of fruit between her teeth.

The fruit was incredibly sweet, melting into a warm, thick liquid that slid down her throat. The moment it hit her stomach, a wave of gentle, radiating heat spread through her cold meridians, temporarily soothing the rolling nausea in her belly.

Cassian watched her swallow, the hard line of his jaw finally relaxing slightly. A look of dark satisfaction settled over his handsome features. He reached out, his rough thumb gently wiping a stray tear from her cheek, his touch surprisingly soft for a male who had just slaughtered his own bloodline.

"Good," Cassian murmured, standing up from the bed and pulling his dark aura back just enough to let her breathe. "Eat the rest of the bowl. I have to meet with the elders of the western rings to settle the outer borders. I will return before the sun sets. If I find that you haven’t finished your meals by then, I will feed you myself."

He turned around, his crimson silk cape catching the light as he walked toward the grand ironwood doors. The heavy wood swung open, and he stepped out into the corridor without looking back.

*Click.*

The doors shut tightly, and the heavy vibration of the spatial isolation array settled back over the room like a thick sheet of lead.

Lin Wan sat up slowly, her body trembling as she clutched the silk blanket against her chest. She looked at the remaining pieces of fruit in the golden bowl, a deep, suffocating sense of desperation washing over her soul.

She could feel the walls of the room closing in on her, day by day, breath by breath. She knew that if she stayed here any longer, she would lose her mind completely. She had to leave. She had to find a way out of this gilded cage, no matter what it cost.

The heavy ironwood doors did not open again for a very long time.

Lin Wan spent the rest of the afternoon staring at the clear crystal glass wall, watching the dark purple clouds roll slowly across the mountain peaks. The sun-heart pear Cassian had forced her to eat had kept her stomach calm for a few hours, but as the light began to fade into a gloomy gray twilight, the cold, rolling nausea returned with a vengeance.

She felt heavy, as if her small bones were turning to lead.

She lay down on the middle of the large bed, burying her face in the soft silk blankets.

Every single breath she took tasted like his dark ozone aura. It was a constant reminder that even when he was miles away, his shadow was still wrapped tightly around her neck.

"Weiwei," Lin Wan whispered in her mind, her voice cracking with deep exhaustion. "Is there any change in the barrier? Can you find even a tiny crack in the spatial runes?"

A faint, crackling digital sound echoed in her mind, followed by a soft sigh from the system.

[No, host,] Weiwei replied, her voice sounding muffled and distant. [The isolation array is tied directly to the palace energy core. It is perfectly stable. But I am noticing something strange. The sovereign pressure inside this bedroom has dropped significantly during the last two hours. Prince Cassian must have left the inner citadel completely to deal with the lower ring rebellion. His physical presence is gone from the mountain.]

Lin Wan slowly lifted her head from the pillows, her dark eyes focusing on the heavy ironwood doors. Cassian was gone. For the first time in days, the suffocating weight in the air had lifted just enough for her to sit up without feeling like her lungs were bursting.

Suddenly, a strange sound came from the corridor outside.

*Clang.*

It was the distinct, heavy sound of metal armor plates sliding against each other, followed by the deep, rhythmic thud of marching boots.

Usually, the guards outside her door stood perfectly still like stone statues, never making a single sound. But today, there was a sudden commotion, a sharp bark of command, and then the sound of several soldiers marching away down the long jade hallway.

Lin Wan stood up from the bed, her bare feet sinking into the white beast fur carpet as she moved cautiously toward the center of the room.

*Click.*

The heavy ironwood lock turned with a sharp, clean snap.

Lin Wan stopped breathing, her entire body going rigid as she waited for the doors to swing open. She expected to see Cassian’s towering figure, his golden slitted eyes burning with that terrifying, possessive light. She braced herself to face his crushing pressure once more.

Instead, when the heavy doors moved aside, a different soldier stepped into the room.

He was a large, broad-shouldered beastman, standing well over seven feet tall, but his presence did not carry the suffocating, dark heat that Cassian possessed.

He was dressed in the magnificent black-and-silver armor of the imperial vanguard, a long crimson cape trailing behind his heavy boots.

He carried a large wooden tray in his hands, upon which sat a bowl of steaming broth and a small crystal cup of clear water.

He did not wear his manticore-shaped iron visor. His face was fully visible. He possessed the sharp, rugged features of a high-tier wolf warrior, with short gray fur lining his jawline and a long, jagged scar cutting across his left cheek. His eyes were not golden like Cassian’s; they were a deep, calm amber color.

This was Jarek, the Captain of the Palace Guards.

Jarek stepped into the room, his large boots making a low thud against the carpet. He turned around, using his elbow to push the heavy doors shut behind him, though he did not turn the iron lock. He set the wooden tray down on the marble table near the door, his movements surprisingly light and careful for a male of his size.

Lin Wan watched him closely, her hands clutching the fabric of her ragged dress. "Where are the maids?" she asked, her voice small and cautious. "Why are you bringing the tray?"

Jarek did not answer immediately. He turned his large body toward her, his amber eyes scanning her pale face, taking in the chopped hair and the dark shadows beneath her eyes.

He did not look at her with the cold, unblinking submission of the other servants. There was a strange, quiet look in his eyes—a mix of deep pity and solemn respect.

"The Sovereign has left the citadel to crush the western rebels," Jarek spoke, his voice a deep, gravelly rumble that was entirely devoid of Cassian’s predatory purr. "He ordered his personal guards to take over the internal security of this wing. I dismissed the maids for the evening shift. It is safer this way."