Instead, he kept it within his own. His warm, broad, and impossibly steady palm wrapped around her smaller one.

Cixi followed his every movement with a puzzled, unguarded expression and quivering breath that had started to turn shallow without her permission.

Then, with annoying patience, he lifted her hand and drew it towards himself. Cixi’s cheeks turned immediately red. Why was he looking at her in a way like a sailor gazing at the distant shore after years at sea, longing to touch the earth.....?

He placed her palm against his chest, and an electrifying wave coursed through her veins.

His hand remained over hers, pressing her gently against the firm warmth under his shirt. She felt the hard plane of muscle, the heat of his body, and beneath that — the strong beat of his heart.

Cixi swallowed hard.

Her lashes trembled as her gaze dropped at last from his face to where her hand lay trapped between his chest and his hand.

The intimacy of it stole the air from her lungs in a way she felt when they had kissed.

And it felt far more dangerous than those clauses.

He said absolutely nothing. He merely let her physically feel the steady, thumping rhythm beneath his ribs. To make sure she understood that what sat before her was someone ordinary. Something beating. Something disturbingly human.

"You make me vulnerable..." he confessed in that same, dangerously gentle tone.

Cixi tilted her head slightly, her eyes moving between his face and the place where her palm rested over his heart.

"I make you vulnerable?" she asked softly. "I do not understand." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

What was he trying to tell her? She could not quite decipher the meaning behind his words, though she could feel that there was one.

Cassian’s thumb shifted faintly against the back of her hand, and that movement was so slight that it might have meant nothing, and yet her pulse stumbled because of it all the same.

"It was as simple as it sounded," he explained. "You make me vulnerable."

Time seemed to loosen around them after that. For several long moments, neither of them moved.

Cixi found herself searching his face for the truth about him, if she looked long enough. And Cassian, in turn, watched her with the same still concentration to understand why Her.

At last, he withdrew his hand from hers, and a coldness wrapped around her hand.

"You only ever need to tell me once, and those people will never see the daylight ever again," Cassian gave another promise.

"You confuse me," Cixi admitted.

"Good, because I feel exactly the same way," Cassian replied instantly, his deep, dark eyes never leaving hers.

Cixi glared at him. "Was this your way of making me agree to the fourth clause?"

"Is it working?"

"Absolutely not!"

"What a pity." The corner of his mouth curved. "I had hoped charm might spare us more violent methods." That wicked smile deepened just enough to break whatever strange spell had formed between them.

"I am fundamentally not the cheating type," Cixi retorted sharply. "I openly admitted that I liked you, and I am even actively allowing you to sleep around with other women right infront of me. Exactly what more do you expect from me? Do not be so insanely petty. I absolutely refuse to agree to the fourth clause."

Cassian’s expression shifted, not colder, but more attentive. "Do you not trust yourself?" he asked her morality. And Cixi’s fingers tightened on the paper.

"What if someone fabricates false proof that I cheated on you, and you blindly choose to believe them?" Cixi challenged him to prove her wrong.

"I would listen to you," he said gently. "To your words. And I would believe you only."

Cixi’s breath caught in her throat.

What exactly had happened to this man? Cixi wondered. Why was he repeatedly dragging her through a disorienting cycle of blazing warmth, freezing cold, intense frustration, and something softer....one turbulent emotion right after another?

She searched his face more closely. "And what if you don’t keep your words?"

For the first time, Cassian glanced down. He took the pen from the table and, without hesitation, added a line beside the fourth clause in his own elegant hand. "Let’s add an explicit addendum to this clause."

Any accusation brought against Party A shall be judged by Party B only after hearing Party A’s own words, and Party B shall not accept another’s version above hers.

He set the pen down again.

"There," he said quietly. "Now it is written."

Cixi looked at the line, then at him.

She felt strangely flustered by how easily he had said it, how simply he had declared that her word would be enough for him. What if she lied? What if one day she gave him reason not to trust her? Was he truly willing to take that risk?

Cassian was a puzzle, and against her better judgment, she desperately wanted to understand him. A spark of curiosity rose within her chest, making her heart flutter erratically.

She finally moved on. "’Party A shall remain blindfolded whenever Party B engages in an intimate situation with anyone." Cixi’s brows knitted together in deep confusion before she looked up at him, entirely bewildered, waiting for an explanation.

"Do you wish to watch me fuck another woman?" he asked with a calm expression. "If so, we may remove the clause."

Then, despite herself, she actually considered it for a moment. "And what exactly happens if you secretly kiss her while I am completely blindfolded?"

"I won’t."

She stared at him suspiciously.

"Believe me."

That only made her more suspicious.

"If you like," he continued, with a softness that sounded entirely too reasonable, "I can have a camera installed."

Her frown deepened. "Then what is the point of me being blindfolded?"

"So that you do not suffer needless jealousy when other women are much closer to me than you may ever truly want. It pains me to think of you watching something that could cause your heart to bleed. Your feelings matter deeply to me, and I want to protect you from any unnecessary hurt." He spoke in such a theatrical, gentlemanly tone that it would almost have sounded noble if she had not known him. "I should hate to distress you."

Cixi glared harder. "If you are so considerate of me, then you shouldn’t be sleeping with anyone."

"So you want me to sleep with you only for a year?" He was enjoying trapping Cixi in her own words. His gaze fell over the documents placed on top of the coffee table before returning to her with an air of challenge. "Although there is nothing written about us being more physically close than a kiss. Do we need to add something more?"

Cixi fell silent, her thoughts racing as she tried to gather herself. This devilish man was weaving another intricate web, and she felt herself caught in the strands of his playful manipulation.

It was true... she hadn’t asked for more than a kiss. She found herself confused, unsure how to respond. Did she want to witness him with someone else? The thought was enough to send a jolt of irritation through her.

Should she act jealous if he touched another woman? A wheel of emotions surprised her, and her mind raced with possibilities. Should she get involved with Cassian more than she already was?

She had fantasised that her first everything would be with someone she loved, not as a result of a curse. With a frustrated huff, she shook her head slightly, trying to dispel the mounting frustration. "You won’t cheat?"

"I won’t." He grinned widely, showing his perfect white teeth with his noticeable fangs.

"And what if you slip and make a mistake?"

Cassian did not even blink before answering.

"Then I shall serve you forever!"