Under His Gaze
323 Words
Evelyn didn’t sleep.
She lay on the unfamiliar bed, staring at the ceiling, listening.
Every sound.
Every footstep.
Every shift in the palace walls.
Her body was still.
But her mind—
Working.
Analyzing.
She had been transported across time.
Thrown into a political assassination.
Marked by enemies she couldn’t even see yet.
And somehow—
The most dangerous part wasn’t any of that.
It was him.
Prince Li Jian.
The way he looked at her.
Not like a stranger.
Not like a subject.
Like he was trying to solve her.
Morning came too quickly.
A knock.
Soft.
Controlled.
She opened the door.
He was already there.
No guards.
No advisors.
Just him.
“You’re awake,” he said.
“I didn’t sleep.”
His eyes flickered.
Not surprised.
“Good,” he said.
Evelyn raised a brow.
“That’s not usually something people say.”
A faint smirk.
Gone just as fast.
“I need you sharp.”
She crossed her arms.
“I usually am.”
Silence stretched between them.
Not uncomfortable.
Charged.
He stepped inside without asking.
Evelyn didn’t stop him.
Didn’t step back either.
He circled slowly.
Observing.
“You fight like someone who has seen war,” he said.
“I’ve seen worse,” she replied.
His eyes snapped back to hers.
Interest.
Deeper now.
“Worse than death?” he asked.
Evelyn held his gaze.
“Yes.”
A beat.
Then—
He stepped closer again.
Too close.
“You speak like you don’t belong here.”
“I don’t.”
Silence.
He studied her.
Longer this time.
More carefully.
“And yet…” he murmured,
“You stepped in front of death for me.”
Her heart skipped.
“That wasn’t about you,” she said quickly.
A lie.
He knew it.
“I think it was,” he said.
And suddenly—
The air between them shifted.
Not danger.
Not tension.
Something much more dangerous.
- Writer
