"So what happened in the end? Did she harass you?" Elara's voice was sharp with a protective edge she didn't know she possessed. Her hands stopped their rhythmic stroking of his shoulders, her fingers digging slightly into his wet skin.
"No, I kicked her out and bolted the door," Evan replied, his voice echoing off the damp wooden walls. "She lingered there for a while, probably trying to peer through the cracks, then finally gave up."
Elara let out a long, shaky breath. "I heard Ann was bold, but to target our home while I'm away... the shamelessness is unbelievable."
"She's not the type to give up after one rejection," Evan said, a playful, dangerous lilt to his tone. "I'm sure she'll be back. Maybe next time I should just invite her in and see exactly what she's offering? A man gets lonely when his wife is always hiding from him. A little change of pace might be interesting."
"No! Please don't," Elara gasped, her grip on his shoulders tightening. "I'll talk to Maya. She's a guard; she knows how to handle low-lifes and stalkers. Just... stay away from her, Evan."
"Relax, I was joking," Evan chuckled, the vibration of his laugh traveling through the water. "I'll leave the heavy lifting to Maya."
The tension in the room shifted. Elara's mind suddenly flicked back to the secret mission Maya had assigned her. The Mark. She had been scrubbing his back for ten minutes, but a man's back tells no tales of his virtue. Maya had whispered that the mark was located in a much more... intimate place.
Her heart began a frantic drumbeat against her ribs. She had to see.
"Evan... why don't you... get up and lean over this way?" she suggested, her voice barely a whisper, thick with a forced casualness.
Evan turned his head, looking back at her over his shoulder. His wet hair clung to his forehead, making him look devastatingly young and predatory all at once. "And why would I do that?"
"Just... let me help you wash the front," she managed to say, though she felt like she was burning alive.
Evan stared at her for a beat, his gaze heavy and unreadable. Then, a slow, knowing smirk spread across his lips. "Okay, wife. Do whatever you want with me."
He shifted, turning around in the tub and leaning his back against the opposite rim, fully exposing his front to her. The water was clear, but the steam and the rippling surface made it impossible to see the details beneath the waterline.
Elara felt like a thief in the night. She reached into the water, her hands trembling as they touched the firm, muscular planes of his chest. Her palms slid over his pectorals, the touch electric. Evan let out a soft, huffed breath, his eyes half-closed as he enjoyed the sensation.
She moved lower, her hands tracing the ridges of his abdomen, going deeper into the water. She was leaning in so close now that her face was inches from his, her eyes wide and fixed on the depths of the tub. She was so focused on finding that crimson line that she didn't notice how her own red pajamas were soaking through, clinging to her heavy breasts and revealing the dark circles of her nipples.
"What exactly are you looking for, Elara?"
The sudden, deep rasp of his voice made her jump. She looked up, finding Evan watching her with an intense, piercing focus.
"I... it's nothing," she squeaked, trying to pull her hands back.
"Nothing?" Evan leaned forward, his face so close she could feel the heat of his breath. "Your eyes have been glued to the bottom of this tub since you walked in. Are you looking for something specific? Or are you just that impatient to see what you've married?"
Elara was trapped. The shame of being caught peeking was too much to bear. "I... I wasn't peeking! I just... I wanted to see if you had the mark!"
"The mark?" Evan blinked, then a flash of memory from his "new life" hit him. The virginity mark. A biological red line that served as a seal of purity in this reversed world. A slow, mocking laugh escaped his throat.
"Wow, Elara. You're quite the little schemer! I treat you with nothing but respect, I don't care that you're a 'short cripple,' and yet you're in here inspecting me like I'm a piece of suspicious meat? How bold."
"No! I'm not suspicious! I'm just... curious!" she cried, her face a mask of desperation.
"Curious?" Evan barked.
"Yes! It's... it's a woman's thing! It's like buying a piece of beautiful jade—you just hope, deep down, that it has no flaws." She blurted out Maya's words, praying they sounded halfway intelligent.
"Beautiful jade? Flaws?" Evan crossed his arms over his chest, his bicep muscles flexing impressively. "Where did my 'idiotic' wife learn to be so philosophical? Did someone put you up to this?"
"No! I'm just curious! Truly!" Elara stood her ground, though her knees were knocking together.
Evan looked at her for a long moment. He wasn't truly angry; if anything, he found her possessiveness a turn-on. In his old world, chastity was a joke; here, it was a crown. If she wanted proof of his crown, he'd give it to her.
"Fine. You want to see it? Then look."
Without warning, Evan stood up.
The water cascaded off his body in a heavy rush. He rose out of the tub like a titan, completely, gloriously naked. Elara gasped, the shock of the sudden exposure sending her stumbling backward. She tripped over a stool and collapsed onto the floor, her breath knocked out of her.
But she couldn't look away.
There, in the dim, steamy light, she saw it. On the pale, sensitive skin of his thick, resting manhood, there was a vivid, needle-thin crimson line. It was unmistakable. It was the seal. He was hers, completely untouched by any other woman.
"Okay... okay..." Elara swallowed, the air in the room suddenly becoming too thin to breathe. Her head felt like it was spinning. A strange, hot sensation prickled in her nose.
"Hey, Elara. You're bleeding."
Evan's voice was full of genuine surprise. Elara touched her upper lip, and her fingers came away wet and bright red. The sheer sensory overload—the heat, the scent of him, and the sight of that perfect, marked body—had literally burst a vessel.
Mortified beyond words, Elara scrambled to her feet, shoved the door open, and sprinted out into the yard.
Maya was in the middle of a set of overhead presses with a large stone when her sister came flying out of the bathhouse, blood smeared across her face.
Maya dropped the stone with a thud. "Sister! Did he hit you? Did that man actually lay a hand on you?"
"No! Evan didn't hit me!" Elara cried, diving toward the water urn and frantically scrubbing at her face. "I... I did this to myself!"
Maya paused, her eyes narrowing as a slow, wicked grin spread across her face. "To yourself? Oh... I see. You saw it, didn't you? You got so excited you blew a fuse!"
Elara finished washing and turned to glare at her sister. "You and your 'bad ideas'! He caught me. He knew exactly what I was doing, and he was furious."
"Ah, crap. Is he really mad?" Maya's grin faded into worry. "Should I go in there? I'll tell him it was all me. He can scream at me if it makes him feel better."
"No," Elara sighed, her anger draining away as the image of that crimson line burned in her mind again. "It's not just your fault. I wanted to know, too. Besides, Evan isn't petty. He... he really didn't lie to me, Maya. He has the mark. He's pure white jade."