I went to my room and sat on the edge of the bed, pressing my hand to my lips. I kept replaying that moment over and over, trying to understand what had just happened. Was the kiss just a game—another way to influence me? No… it didn’t feel like that. It felt real. Something in it had been real.
My own thoughts scared me. There was something overwhelming inside me—a strange, almost aching satisfaction that I had managed to break through, to reach a piece of him that was real. It felt like a wall had cracked. Like I had found something hidden beneath everything else.
I couldn’t calm down. My emotions wouldn’t let me sleep, so I went downstairs to the kitchen to make some tea.
The house was empty. The security staff and servants stayed in separate buildings, and despite his presence, the
