The steam rose in thick, silken coils, wrapping the secluded marble bath in a private haze. The air shimmered with heat, heavy with the scent of mineral salts and damp stone. You sat across from Mydei, the scalding water lapping just below your collarbones. Your skin, already flushed a deep pink, prickled with a thousand tiny needles of fire.

You’d issued the challenge with a bold lift of your chin, wanting to see a flicker of that competitive fire in Mydei's sun-gold eyes, just to impress your man. “Who can last longer?” you’d asked.

Now, you were regretting it. The heat was a physical weight, pressing the air from your lungs. Your heart hammered a frantic rhythm against your ribs, and a dull ache had begun to pulse behind your temples. You tried to focus on the cracks in the marble opposite you, on the way the condensation dripped in slow, deliberate paths. Anything but the consuming fire of the water.

Mydei was a statue of stillness. He rested against the edge, his powerful arms stretched along the rim, the crimson tattoos on his chest and shoulders seeming to swim in the mist. His hair, darkened by moisture, clung to the lines of his neck and jaw. He watched you, his gaze a tangible thing in the steam.

A soft, low sound rumbled from him. A chuckle. Yet, it wasn’t mocking.

"You're looking unwell. Maybe you've had enough."