With trembling hands and a heart pounding like a war drum in her chest, Emilia slowly turned the knob of her bedroom door. Her breath came in short, uneven gasps, and a fine sheen of cold sweat clung to her forehead. Every step she took into that room felt like a descent into hell itself. The devil had summoned her—told her to meet him here in twenty minutes.
And Emilia, despite every fiber of her being urging her to run, had obeyed.
Why this room? she wondered. Why not speak to her at breakfast, or issue his commands from the icy formality of the dining hall? But no—this man was chaos wrapped in elegance. Unpredictable. Unknowable. Dangerous. He thrived on control, and today, that control wore the mask of intimacy and privacy.
One moment he was still, calm as ice—and in the next, he wa
