The silken silence of the bedchamber was heavy, saturated with the lingering scent of musk and the cooling ozone of spent sword intent. Outside, the moon had begun its slow descent, but inside, the air remained warm, trapped by the powerful silencing arrays that hummed invisibly in the walls.
Lixue lay sprawled facedown across the dark crimson sheets, her slender, athletic frame appearing like a statue of ivory and moonlight. Her naked body glistened with a fine sheen of sweat, the moisture catching the dim embers of the hearth. Her long black hair, dampened by the intensity of their union, clung in silken strands to the elegant curve of her neck and the small of her back.
