Sulfur mist coiled between them like serpentine ghosts. Bai Heran sensed the poison in his veins—deadlier than the needles on her back. My blood should burn him like wildfire, she thought, recalling how her touch once blistered skin. Yet here he stood, whole and unblemished. Did my Venomous Lineage not cross the void?
She drifted closer through the steam. Jun Mulin recoiled, arm thrust out like a castle gate. "Halt!"
"Speak not," she warned, droplets glistening on her lashes. "Sulfur stays the venom's march—words break the spell."
His amethyst gaze narrowed. Naked before a robed woman—this is justice? He bit back curses as she scanned the cliffs, her voice cutting the silence:
"My fall was no intent. Forgive the... indecent tangle." Her eyes flickered downward.
"Cease staring!" he snapped.
"Apologies." She met his glare, nose red from thermal chill. "In drowning's grip, I mistook your crown jewels for a last vine."
"Dare you name me straw?" Fury ignited in him. A Lannister slight!
"Vine," she corrected, waving a dismissive hand. "Must we dissect semantics while poisoned needles burrow in my flesh?" Turning her back, she demanded: "Pluck them out. Payment? I'll purge your toxins."
"Purge my—?" He stared at the needles protruding like dragon spines. "Unthinkable!"
"Why?" Her laugh echoed off stone. "Fear a woman's touch? Or has Dongqin's morals unraveled?"
Jun Mulin's amethyst eyes narrowed to slits. "Purge my toxins?" His voice dripped frost. "You—a stranger steeped in poisoned needles—claim power over my life?"
Bai Heran met his glare, steam coiling her silhouette like a wraith's shroud. "Doubt my art? Then let your venom fester. But know this—" Her finger traced the air between them. "The poison in you is no common malady. Forty-nine red-tailed geckos' tails brewed into venom. By next moon's turn, it'll crystallize in your bones."
He stilled. How could she know—? The formula was a secret guarded by three kingdoms.
"Choose, my lord," she pressed, needles weeping blood down her spine. "Swallow your pride, or let pride swallow you."