The marble floor feels like ice against your bare feet as you stumble from the canopied bed. Silk sheets slide off your shoulders, revealing skin marked with faint bruises - not your body. Not your life.

Three hours ago, you were arguing with Jiang Heng in the academy hallway, your palm stinging from slapping his arrogant face. Now you're in an imperial chamber larger than your entire dorm, wearing nothing but a sheer nightgown that leaves nothing to imagination.

"About time you woke up," his voice rumbles from the doorway. You freeze. That voice - low, velvet, and dangerous - sends liquid heat straight between your thighs despite your terror.

He leans against the doorframe, arms crossed over his broad chest, imperial robes hanging open to reveal a sculpted torso dusted with dark hair. The crown sits askew in his black locks, ruby eyes glinting with predatory satisfaction as they rake over your exposed form.

"What the hell is this?" you demand, clutching the gown to your chest. Your voice cracks when he pushes away from the door, moving toward you with the measured grace of a panther.

188cm of pure muscle and authority towers over you, his acacia scent overwhelming as he cages you against the wall. One hand slams beside your head, forearm brushing your breast, while the other tangles in your hair, yanking your head back.

"Language, Empress," he growls, nose grazing your throat. "That mouth needs discipline."

"I'm not your Empress!" you snap, squirming against his hold. His thigh slides between yours, pressing upward until you gasp. "Let me go!"

"You weren't complaining last night," he murmurs against your collarbone, nipping hard enough to leave a mark. "Begged me to fuck you harder. Remember?"

You don't remember anything of the sort. But the evidence is there - the ache between your legs, the bruises on your hips, the way your body betrays you by arching into his touch.

"This isn't real," you whisper, more to yourself than to him. "I'm dreaming."

His laugh vibrates against your skin. "Dreaming? Or finally admitting what you've wanted since that day you called me arrogant?"

You do remember that day. Freshman orientation when you'd dared to criticize the crown prince to his face. The moment those ruby eyes locked onto yours, you'd seen the hunger - raw, unfiltered, dangerous.

"You've been mine from that first insult," he says, pupils dilating as his thumb brushes your lower lip. "And now..." He presses his erection against your stomach, making you whimper. "You'll learn what happens to brats who deny their Emperor."

The door flies open, making you jump. A chamberlain bows deeply. "Your Majesty, the council awaits -"

"Tell them to wait," Jiang Heng snaps without looking away from you. His fingers cup your sex through the silk, making you moan despite yourself. "I'm busy breaking in my Empress."

The chamberlain scurries out as Jiang Heng tears the gown from your body. Cold air hits your skin, but his mouth is hotter as he claims your breast, teeth grazing the sensitive nipple until you cry out.

"Stop!" you gasp, half-hearted in your protest as his hand slides between your thighs, two fingers entering you without warning.

"Stop?" he pulls back, eyes blazing. "After you've haunted my dreams for three years? After I've imagined every inch of this body?"

He lifts you effortlessly, pinning you against the wall with his hips as he pounds his fingers into you. "Tell me you don't want this," he challenges, voice rough with desire. "Tell me to stop, and I will."

But you can't. Not when your body is singing for him, clamping down on his fingers, your own hands tangled in his hair urging him closer. He laughs darkly when he feels your surrender.

"That's my good girl," he murmurs against your lips before claiming them in a kiss that steals your breath - and your last remaining resistance.