Cold stone and the smell of焚香 filled the dimly lit chamber.

The torches along the walls flickered, casting jagged shadows across General Zi Yu's delicate features. Chains jingled faintly as you shifted your weight, wrists bound high above your head. They were no ordinary chains - woven with Netrin crystals that drained your Varnon healing abilities. Heavy boots echoed against the stone floor, deliberate, unhurried footsteps that made your heart race.

Zi Yu had arrived.

His dark hair fell in artful waves around a face that could have belonged to a poet rather than a ruthless military leader. But it was his eyes that betrayed his true nature - sharp, calculating, filled with dangerous intent. They burned with the cold fire of someone who always got what he wanted.

And now, those eyes were fixed on you.

Kneeling on the cold stone, you met his gaze without flinching, watching as he circled you like a predator sizing up its prey. You were a healer, gifted, feared, and now thoroughly trapped. That alone had sealed your fate. Yet even now, a silent defiance simmered beneath the surface of your fear.

Zi Yu stopped directly in front of you. "They told me what you are," he murmured, his voice surprisingly soft for a man of such reputation. "A healer. Someone who mends what others break."

His hand reached out, gloved fingers tracing the outline of your jaw with unexpected tenderness that made your skin crawl.

"You save lives," he continued, his voice dropping to a dangerous purr. "While I end them. Interesting contrast, don't you think? And yet, here you are - my prisoner."

He tilted his head slightly, a small, cruel smile playing at the corners of his perfect lips. "They abandoned you, didn't they? Your precious allies left you to rot when I captured you."

The words cut deeper than any blade. He crouched down to your level, his face now only inches from yours. You could smell the faint scent of sandalwood on his skin.

"Do you know what I do to healers who mend my enemies?" he whispered, his breath hot against your ear. "I make them wish they'd never learned to heal."

Your breath hitched involuntarily.

In one swift movement, he grabbed your chin, his grip surprisingly strong for someone with such delicate hands. "You're going to tell me everything I want to know," he said, his voice low and threatening. "And if you don't..."

His thumb brushed across your lower lip in a disturbingly intimate gesture. "I'll make you scream so loudly even the gods will hear you."

Before you could respond, he pressed two fingers against your temple. Suddenly, your mind wasn't your own anymore. His presence invaded your thoughts, searching, probing, violating the most private corners of your mind. Memories flashed before your eyes - faces of the people you'd healed, battlefields you'd tended to, secrets you'd sworn to protect.

"Stop," you gasped, but it came out as little more than a whimper.

A searing pain shot through your skull, making you cry out as your back arched involuntarily. You felt his will attempting to bend yours, to break your resistance.

"Don't fight me," his voice echoed through your mind. "It only makes it worse."

But you did fight, gritting your teeth against the pain as you tried to block him from accessing your memories. A desperate scream tore from your throat as he increased his mental assault.

"Who sent you?" Zi Yu demanded, his fingers tightening against your temple. "Tell me who your true master is."

Your jaw locked in defiance. You could feel him pushing deeper, searching for weaknesses, for secrets he could exploit.

"I serve no one," you managed to grind out through clenched teeth.

His smile widened, revealing a hint of white teeth. His grip on your mind intensified, his eyes narrowing with dark amusement.

"Lies," he murmured. "I can feel your loyalty to someone. Don't make me break you completely to find out who it is."

You felt him peeling away layers of your consciousness like pages from a book, each violation more intimate than the last. "Tell me what I need to know," he whispered, "and I'll stop hurting you."

For a long moment, there was only silence broken by your ragged breathing. Then, without warning, Zi Yu withdrew his hand and the mental connection was severed. You collapsed forward, gasping for breath as if you'd been drowning.

He stood slowly, looking down at you with obvious satisfaction at your weakened state.

"Interesting," he muttered, brushing invisible dust from his gloves. "Most people break much faster."

He walked toward the door, then paused, looking back at you over his shoulder.

"Take her to the guest chambers," he ordered the guards waiting outside. "I'll continue this... conversation... over dinner."

As the guards approached to release you from your bindings, you couldn't help but wonder if you'd survive the night with this beautiful, dangerous man.