Everything within her seemed to stop as she stared with unbelievable eyes at Cassian, if he truly meant it...

Her eyes widened at that declaration.

No!

Not that!

Anything but That!

She tried to protest, but her ruined throat would not permit her to speak. Her lips parted uselessly, but no sound followed after that.

Cassian raised a finger and pressed his warm finger across her lips, silencing her thoughts and effort with his gentle touch. "Shhh. Do not strain yourself."

Without breaking eye contact and warning, he slipped one arm beneath her knees and the other around her back.

The movement drew a startled breath from her. Instinctively, she clutched at the front of his coat, her fingers curling into the fabric before she could think better of it.

He cradled her body in such a way, making sure Cixi’s head rested against his chest. And rose to his feet, holding her as though she weighed nothing.

What bewildered her more was that what she felt at that moment was a contradiction.

Moments ago, his words had frightened her. And now he held her with a care so precise it almost seemed an affront.

Cixi did not understand him.

He felt agitated but not grim like before, making her more relaxed than ever, although her mind tried to struggle with the word punishment he announced for her.

’He wouldn’t sign the kissing contract.’ No! She can’t let that happen.

Cassian’s gaze moved over her once, carefully watching her, and then he gave a quick glance around the ruined room. When he was sure she didn’t bleed, his stern expression relaxed.

With her gathered in his arms and the ruin of the apartment behind them, he turned to leave.

Meanwhile, Cixi listened to his steady heartbeat, which sounded like a lullaby to her. She tried to stay awake as much as possible, but the strain and pain in her body made it impossible for her to keep her eyes open. She eventually fell asleep while leaning against a man she didn’t understand.

Despite feeling frightened, she experienced a faint sense of safety with him, even though she sensed he was unhinged. Unknowingly, she had become entangled with him in a most bizarre way, fated to connect. She could feel his possessiveness, yet all she understood was that she mattered to him, much as his cat once had.

*

*

*

When Cixi awoke, she found herself staring at the white ceiling of her own bedroom.

Morning light was peeping through the closed curtains. The room stayed dark still. For one dazed instant, she simply blinked at the ceiling, her mind drifting in that soft, foolish haze between sleep and waking.

When she sat up, he blanket slipped down and cool air touched her skin, creating goosebumps all over her body.

Cixi looked down only to discover she wore nothing on top.

Nothing at all.....

Her bra was gone. Her semi was gone...

The blanket still stayed tangled around her waist, and when she snatched it up in alarm and lifted it just enough to check beneath, she discovered that below, too, her clothes were missing. She was in her panties.

She tilted her head in stunned confusion.

She looked around and found her clothing on the floor, folded...? She even looked more confused, trying to remember the night... half-fearing what she might find, she touched her throat and felt no pain.

Her fingers moved more firmly over her skin. Nothing stings, no tightness in her throat, no burning protest from bruised flesh. Her brows drew together.

She then rolled her right shoulder cautiously and found she could move her shoulder without any pain.

She rolled the other to see if she had hurt her left shoulder and mistook it for the right.

And it was the same result. No pain at all.

Now she threw the blanket aside entirely and climbed out of bed with growing disbelief.

Her bare feet touched the floorboards. She twisted her waist, first to the right, then to the left. Then she lifted one foot, then the other. She raised both arms. She circled her shoulders once more.

She felt perfectly fine!

She bent. Then straightened. And twisted again.

She felt more refreshed than yesterday!

Her body felt as though none of it had happened. As if she had not been strangled, bruised, and thrown half into death’s mouth.

Cixi stood in the middle of her bedroom in only her panties, feeling too astonished to remember her current frame.

Then, very carefully, she opened her mouth and tested her voice.

"Aaaaah."

It came out clean, and with that, a smile appeared.

She tried again, louder this time. "Aaaah!"

No tearing sensation in her throat!

At once, she began testing sounds like a child delighted by her own discovery. "La la la... mmm... ra ra ra... didam didam..."

A wide smile spread across her face.

Then another.

Then delight overtook her completely.

"So I get hurt, I feel pain, and then I heal?!" She clapped her hands together once, bright with wonder. "Great!"

"You look extraordinarily pleased with yourself."

And her happy moments were gone with every muscle in her body tightened.

Cixi, who was facing a window that closed with dark curtains, turned so sharply to find Cassain standing at the doorway with a cup of coffee in his hand and all the calm audacity of a man who had no business being anywhere near her bedroom.

His gaze rested on her, taking in every inch, lingering on the bare skin that she had entirely forgotten was exposed.

A wave of vulnerability washed over Cixi as heat flooded her cheeks. She gasped, suddenly aware of her state. In an instinctual flurry, she snatched up the blanket and wrapped it around herself, clutching it so tightly that it might as well have been armour against his piercing gaze.

"Are you out of your Mind?!" she cried out. Her voice was a mix of shock and indignation.

"What are you Doing here?!"

"Taking care of you," he replied with an intolerable smoothness.