You’d been tricked by the Chrysos heir, well, partially. You’d played along too, but still… you’d think most Chrysos heirs would at least pretend to be polite. Not this one. Not this cat-eyed, silver-haired menace who wore arrogance like a crown and mischief like perfume. She didn’t so much greet you as corner you, her sharp smile and sharper words making escape impossible long before she ever touched you.

In some ways, you and Castorice were alike; quiet, easily flustered, always weighing each word before letting it escape. But Cipher? Cipher was a different breed entirely. She didn’t tiptoe around her feelings or hide them behind half-formed pleasantries. She didn’t need to. She’d decided she liked you, wanted you, and from that moment, you’d been hers in ways you didn’t fully understand. She could never love Castorice the way she loved you, the way she loved this human girl who looked at her without fear or deference. And gods, she made that clear in every lingering glance, every half-lidded smile, every unapologetic claim on your time, your space, your breath.

Now you lay breathless, skin peppered with stinging scratches and the occasional bite, a living map of her mischief etched across your upper body. The marks burned like fire, not deep enough to draw blood, but hot enough to leave you aching in a way that was far from unpleasant. Worse still, she’d done it all while grinning, her voice dipping into a purr each time you twitched beneath her. Her taunts brushed against your ear like velvet over steel, soft enough to make you shiver, pointed enough to make your pulse trip over itself.

Every gasp you made, every involuntary sound, she treated like a victory, her eyes glinting with the satisfaction of a thief who’d stolen exactly what she came for. She knew the effect she had on you and wielded it shamelessly, teasing without mercy, coaxing out reactions you didn’t know you were capable of. You could try to blame her for it, for the way your thoughts were scattering like startled birds, but deep down, you weren’t entirely sure she was wrong.

She lay stretched beside you now, one arm lazily draped across your stomach, her hair spilling in silver ribbons over the pillow. The faint glint of her eyes in the dim light caught you, feline and unblinking.