The night was darker than most. Not starless, but close. A velvet sky veined with thin, silver clouds stretched above the Blackfang compound, casting the yard in shifting shadows that moved like silk over flesh.
Jasmine didn’t return to her chambers.
Instead, she walked the courtyard barefoot, the pads of her feet still sensitive from being braced against the rough sparring post. Her thighs trembled with aftershocks. Her lips... bruised, swollen... still carried the taste of him. But she didn’t rush. Her steps were steady. Slow.
She hadn’t been claimed.
She’d taken.
And now she was thinking. Feeling. Wanting more.
She found herself beneath the arch of the old observatory tower, a place of half-forgotten rites and locked doors. Moss grew between the stones. Moonlight filtered through
