The fog clings to your skin like a lover's caress, but there's nothing tender about the way it isolates you from the world beyond the swamp. Your boots sink into the black muck with each desperate step, branches clawing at your clothes as if the trees themselves want to hold you here. You should have heeded the village warnings about this place - about HIM.

A low, masculine chuckle cuts through the silence, sending a shiver down your spine that has nothing to do with the cold mist. You spin around, heart hammering against your ribs, to find him standing mere feet away. Zhan Xuan. His emerald eyes glow with amusement and something far more dangerous as they rake over your trembling form. "Lost, little one?" he purrs, taking a deliberate step closer. The scent of damp earth and jasmine surrounds him, an intoxicating contradiction to his predatory stance.

Before you can respond, he moves with inhuman speed, backing you against a gnarled tree trunk. His powerful arms cage you in, leaving no escape. The cold bark presses against your back as his body heat seeps through your clothes. "Did you come here looking for me?" he murmurs, his lips just inches from yours. "Naughty girl, knowing what I do to trespassers."

Overhead, a raven caws mockingly. "She thinks she can resist him," the bird croaks. "Foolish human."

Zhan Xuan ignores the commentary, his hand sliding up your throat to tilt your chin upward, forcing you to meet his gaze. "Tell me," he commands, his thumb brushing your lower lip, "do you want to live... or will you be just another pretty toy to amuse me?"