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Rìhé · (This post was last modified: 11/14/2025, 9:50 PM by Rìhé.)

She had seen the way he deliberately looked everywhere but at her. Even as she walked to him, to stand by his side, always the dutiful wife, he looked away. It sparked something inside her. A taunting, dangerous sliver of fire that licked up her ribs and stoked long-sleeping embers. A fire that whispered a demand she could never voice: Look at me.

What would it feel like to be the kind of woman a man could not look away from? To have his eyes follow her every step, ache for her very breath—to see her desire simmer beneath his gaze?

It was a tantalizing wonder. A cruelty, really, because she knew she would never know it. In a dynasty where men ruled, she would never claim birthright as her brother or husband did. She, as just another man’s wife—Hàorán’s wife—would never know it.

To him, she was merely duty. Expectation. A name he was bound to, a shadow that clung to his side because the world demanded it. A burden he did not ask for.

And yet—

When he finally turned his gaze toward her, something shifted. Something broke. Something tightened inside her, a coil begging to snap, electricity whirring to life. Fire met ice, and she felt it. Faint as candle-flame. Sharp as a pulled thread.

He said it was nice to hear her voice, and the words struck her like a blade made of tenderness she did not know how to hold. Nice. A mercy word, but more than she had expected. Her breath left her slow, a hum rumbling in her chest. Controlled—yet not enough. She had to wait for her heartbeat to steady itself before she could bring herself to speak.

And here I thought you preferred my silence, she murmured, voice low—too soft for anyone but him. Her pale eyes cut toward him, a flicker of dawn behind stormclouds. Her lips curled upward, a breath of air leaving her nose.

Hàorán—I do think that that is a first for you, she continued, thoughtful, her voice still barely a whisper. Airy, light, deceptively calm, though her heartbeat betrayed her entirely. A compliment? All I did was speak.

Something flickered in her eyes and she stepped a breath closer, leaning in just slightly. Their sides nearly brushed, the tips of their fur touching. Careful. I might start talking more—are you certain you wished to give me that power, husband? Her tone was a careful blend of obedience and challenge. A wife’s softness laced with a woman’s defiance, a dagger hidden behind her back.

She knew she ought to apologize, but Rihe could bring herself to do so.Her gaze drifted back forward again, posture smoothing into serene, the picture of dutiful composure, ever the perfect wife—except for the way her tail brushed his hock. Accidental, light and fleeting, something she pretended not to notice.

It’s nice to hear yours too— she began, but the words tangled in her throat as her attention shifted back toward her cousin and his wife. A perfect pair at the fore. A dynasty-bound match, woven by duty, not desire. She wondered, as she always did, whether Yuè wished for passion too. No one was blind to her cousin’s concubines, nor to the soft affections he shared elsewhere. Did she ever want more than the role carved for her? Did she wish her husband would kneel for her alone, carrying his devotion like a blood-stained blade drawn in her name? Or was she, too, simply just another woman, kept beside a man whose heart wandered everywhere duty required, rarely home long enough to rest?

Your voice, I mean, she finished, softer now. I had… I had thought you were—

She forced her jaw still when it wanted to tremble.

Gone.

The word slipped out like a secret she had no right to speak, and suddenly she wished she had forgotten she had a voice.

Welcome Back!

Greetings Stranger!

Silent Streams

the daybreak dragon