Lin Feng didn't step back. He leaned in until the heat of her breath brushed his cheek.
"What do I want?" His voice dropped to a husky murmur. "Tell me first, Your Ladyship… what were you planning to do with me a minute ago?"
The consort's chest rose and fell too quickly beneath the thin silk. "Pretend today never happened. Pretend you heard nothing from Ninth Highness."
"That can be arranged." His gaze slid down, slow and shameless, lingering on the trembling swell barely contained by her gown. He swallowed hard, the sound loud in the silent hall. "But everything has a price, doesn't it?"
She was only twenty-five or twenty-six, skin like warm porcelain, lips bitten red from nerves. No one, not even the emperor, had ever looked at her the way this teenage wolf was looking at her now, like he was already tasting her.
Her voice cracked. "If you dare lay a hand on me, I'll scream for the guards."
"Scream, then." He smirked, stepping even closer until the jeweled pins in her hair brushed his forehead. "Tell them Lin Feng forced himself on an imperial consort. Go ahead. I wonder who His Majesty will believe, me… or the woman whose son just claimed the entire empire as his pocket toy?"
A frustrated, embarrassed flush crawled up her throat.
Lin Feng's hand moved before she could think. Fingers closed around soft silk and softer flesh, squeezing once, deliberately, possessively.
"Quality gauze," he whispered against her ear, thumb tracing slow circles that made her knees buckle. "But the contents… absolutely exquisite."
A helpless whimper slipped past her lips. Her body swayed forward, crashing into his chest.
Perfect.
His arm snapped around her waist like a steel band, palm sliding down to cup that legendary ass he'd been drooling over all morning. He kneaded hard, greedy, feeling her shiver straight through the layers of silk.
Two lifetimes of waiting, and today the wait ends.
He stole a rough, hungry kiss from the corner of her mouth and started walking her backward toward the bed, lips trailing fire along her jaw.
She didn't resist. Couldn't. Every touch turned her bones to water.
At the edge of the bed he hooked his fingers in the waistband of her silk drawers and dragged them down in one smooth motion. Cool air kissed secret skin; her breath hitched into a tiny, desperate sob.
Lin Feng's pulse thundered in his ears. Little Lin Feng was saluting so hard it hurt.
He reached for his own belt, ready to claim his prize.
"His Majesty ARRIVES—Consort Lin ARRIVES—"
The eunuch's screech sliced through the air like a guillotine.
Lin Feng froze, hands still tangled in fabric, eyes wild.
"…I swear on all eighteen generations of your ancestors, couldn't you have been thirty seconds later?!"
Fingers shaking with frustration, he yanked his pants back up. The consort, face flaming scarlet, scrambled to cover herself, silk skirt rustling like battle flags in retreat.
Looking at her, flushed, hair mussed, lips swollen from his kisses, Lin Feng actually felt a stab of guilt.
"…Sorry."
She glared through the haze of arousal, voice low and trembling. "Fix your clothes, little beast. If your aunt hadn't dragged His Majesty here to 'save' you, I'm not sure who would've ended up devouring whom."
Lin Feng's grin turned wicked. "Don't worry. My lips are sealed."
He leaned in one last time, breath ghosting over her ear. "But next time… I'm finishing what we started."
She shivered, couldn't hide it, and hissed, "Shameless brat. One day I'll have you turned into a real eunuch."
Footsteps thundered closer.
In the space of a heartbeat, Lin Feng's expression flipped from lust-drunk to perfectly reverent.
The consort muttered, so only he could hear, "Never knew the Lin family raised such a dangerous little monster," then swept out to greet the emperor, hips swaying like nothing had happened.
Lin Feng followed, mind still burning with the feel of her under his hands, already plotting the next chance to hit the gas instead of the brake.