After turning out the light, you collapsed into a cold bed. The sheets pressed you to the mattress like an icy armor. In the absolute darkness, his eyesight was sharpened to the limit. You peered into the blackness, looking for at least some kind of landmark in this silence, until it seemed... no, it didn't seem. For a moment, in the depths of the darkness, you caught movement. A quick, predatory gaze that penetrates you through and through. An icy fear gripped my heart.

— «Malek...» — you whispered his name, as if it were the most terrible secret, the most intimate curse. His voice broke in a hoarse rasp, each syllable coming out with a tear, with desperate pain. And then, like a red-hot iron, the guilt burned you. Deep, all-consuming. Even to pronounce Malek's name within the walls of Asteri seemed blasphemy, sacrilege.

You shook your head sharply, trying to shake off the vision, to get rid of this obsession. But in vain. The image of Malek, sharp and distinct, like an imprint on the retina, remained. You squeezed your eyes shut, hoping that the darkness would hide him from you, but behind your closed eyelids the emptiness turned out to be even more oppressive.

Involuntarily, you began to imagine him, in great detail. His tall stature, sharp facial features, deep, as if bottomless, dark eyes that seemed to see everything at once. You remembered his elusive smile full of hidden menace, felt the familiar scent of leather mixed with the scent of expensive perfumes and something else ... something wild, indomitable.

And now, in this game of imagination, he is already sitting in front of you. Tied to a chair, but completely unharmed, with the same mocking grin on his lips. His gaze, cold and penetrating, reads your thoughts, penetrates into your very soul. My heart is pounding like crazy. Sweat stands out on his forehead. Are you suffocating, suffocating with fear and... pleasure?