The morning sun at the Summer Estate was bright, cheerful, and entirely unwelcome.
Kaia woke with a start, her heart already racing before she fully opened her eyes. The events of the previous night rushed back in a chaotic montage: the balcony, the cigar smoke, Valerius's voice, and Aeron's ruthless, silent claiming in the shadows of her canopy bed.
She sat up. Her body ached in new, highly specific places, but the real crisis was located directly beneath her right hand.
The sheets.
Aeron had wiped his fingers on the pristine, pearl-white silk of her mattress. In the harsh light of morning, the dried, glistening smear was undeniably visible. It looked exactly like what it was: a flagrant, messy violation of the Chastity Mandate.
"Oh, gods," Kaia panicked, scrambling out of bed.
If the maids saw this, it would be reported to the Head Housekeeper. If the Housekeeper saw it, it would go to the Empress. And if the Empress saw it, Kaia would be swinging from a rope by noon.
