The first thing Zara felt was peace.
A deep, unfamiliar sense of calm settled over her like a warm blanket, quieting every instinct that usually kept her on edge, coiled and ready like a bowstring pulled taut.
It was... strange.
She had spent so long living in a constant state of vigilance that true relaxation had become something almost foreign to her, a language she’d forgotten how to speak.
Her body was always prepared to react, muscles primed even in stillness, her mind always ready to anticipate danger before it arrived, cataloguing exits and weaknesses out of sheer habit.
It wasn’t that she disliked this feeling.
Quite the opposite.
It felt so wonderfully comforting that, for a fleeting moment, she wanted nothing more than to sink deeper into it, forget everything else, and simply remain there forever, weightless and unguarded.
Unfortunately, reality was already beginning to catch up.
Her senses slowly stirred awake, one after another, pulling her out of the peaceful haze that had embraced her throughout the night like a tide reluctantly receding.
The first thing to return was her sense of smell.
A familiar scent drifted into her awareness, faint and warm, curling through the last remnants of sleep.
His scent.
Alex’s.
It was warm, comforting, and oddly familiar, the same faint morning scent she had unconsciously memorized after countless mornings watching him sleep peacefully with that innocent, boyish expression on his face, an expression so at odds with the man he became once his eyes opened.
’I really like this smell...’
The thought drifted lazily through her drowsy mind before she could even realize she’d had it, slipping past her defenses the way only half-formed thoughts could.
Then came another sensation.
Weight.
Something... someone... was resting against her.
Her body registered the soft silk sheets beneath her, cool where the night air had touched them, and the warmth pressing gently on top of her, solid and undeniably present.
Under normal circumstances, waking up pinned beneath another person would have triggered her instincts immediately, a knee already braced, a hand already reaching for the nearest blade.
Yet...
They didn’t, not completely.
Instead, another sensation demanded her attention, pulling focus away from the alarm that should have been ringing.
Touch.
Something brushed lightly against her shoulder.
Then again.
And again.
At the same time, faint sounds slowly reached her ears as the last traces of sleep faded away, small indistinct noises she couldn’t quite place yet.
Someone was...
Someone was...
Trying to...
...eat her?
’What?!’
Her thoughts snapped awake in an instant, the fog burning away in a single heartbeat.
Zara’s eyes flew open.
Her vision was blurred at first, still clouded by sleep, forcing her to blink several times before the world gradually swam into focus around her.
She could make out someone’s arm cradling the side of her head, and another hand resting lightly against her shoulder, fingers loose and unthreatening.
And then...
She froze.
Her instincts screamed that someone was invading her personal space.
Yet, strangely...
They also told her she was completely safe.
The contradiction sat heavy and confusing in her chest.
’...Alex?’
Blink.
Blink.
Blink.
Her vision finally cleared.
Alex was fast asleep.
His breathing was slow and even, chest rising and falling in a steady, undisturbed rhythm, completely oblivious to the chaos he was causing.
His face carried the same peaceful expression he always wore while sleeping, making him look far younger than he usually did, all the sharp edges and careful control smoothed away, leaving only something disarmingly gentle.
His lips moved ever so slightly as he muttered incoherent nonsense between sleepy breaths.
"Mmm... tamsty... mmm... foomd... mor..."
nibble.
nibble.
nibble.
Zara stared.
Alex, still trapped somewhere inside whatever ridiculous dream he was having, continued absentmindedly nibbling at her shoulder as though he had discovered the greatest delicacy in the empire, utterly content and utterly unaware.
’Huh...?’
’Why can I... vaguely feel what he’s dreaming...?’
The strange sensation barely lingered in her thoughts before it was immediately shoved aside by a far more pressing issue, one that made her whole body go rigid.
’T-T-THIS BOY...!’
’H-HE’S LEAVING HICKEYS ON ME IN HIS SLEEP BECAUSE HE THINKS I’M SOME KIND OF IMPERIAL CUISINE?!’
Her expression cycled through disbelief, brows drawing together in a way that made her look almost comically betrayed...
Confusion, lips parting as though the words to describe this simply didn’t exist...
Embarrassment, heat crawling up her neck before she could stop it...
Then finally settled into pure, righteous outrage, her jaw tightening and her eyes narrowing into something dangerously sharp.
Without another moment of hesitation, she planted both hands firmly on Alex’s shoulders and forcefully pulled him away from her, fingers digging in with far more strength than the situation strictly required.
Even then, he stubbornly resisted in his sleep, mumbling and leaning back into her grip like a stubborn child refusing to be parted from a favorite blanket.
"Blasphmiiimm... mmym... food..."
For one brief second...
Zara simply stared at him, disbelief momentarily overriding her fury.
Then her eye twitched.
The next moment—
She hurled him straight toward the ornate headboard, the motion sharp and unrestrained, years of honed reflexes channeled into pure, undignified retaliation.
BANG
"AArhggg!"
Alex jolted awake with a painful yelp, both hands immediately flying to the back of his head as tears instinctively welled in the corners of his eyes from the impact, his whole body curling forward on reflex.
Still dazed, he blinked repeatedly, trying to chase away the lingering fog of sleep and the ringing in his skull before finally focusing on the furious woman standing over him.
He found Zara standing over him, arms folded tightly across her chest, glaring down at him with an expression that could only be described as profoundly offended, her whole posture radiating a kind of wounded, simmering indignation.
She looked absolutely furious.
...Which made it all the more difficult not to notice the rather unfortunate angle he was currently looking from.
His gaze instinctively threatened to drift lower.
[ Image ]
Ahem.
He caught himself, jaw tightening, and forced his eyes upward with the sheer will of a man defusing a bomb with his bare hands.
"What do you think you are doing hurting me like that?!" Alex blurted out, voice still rough with sleep, quickly forcing his eyes back up before his sleep-addled brain wandered into dangerous territory.
The last thing he wanted was for Zara to catch him staring.
That would be a disaster.
A complete disaster.
She would never let him live it down.
Zara stared at him as though he’d suddenly grown a second head, her arms slowly loosening from their fold as disbelief momentarily eclipsed her anger.
For a heartbeat, she seemed too stunned to even process what he had just said.
Then—
"WHAT. Do. You. Think. You. Are. Doing, Alexander Abyss?!"
Her voice echoed through the room, sharp enough that Alex swore he felt it in his teeth.
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End of Chapter 96: WHAT Do You Think You Are Doing, Alexander Abyss?!
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