Brand of the Desert

The Furnace of Sediment

The huge wooden door leading to our own secret inner chamber slid shut with a heavy, decisive thud. That sound became a solid wall, completely cutting off the prying eyes of the palace guards and the venomous vipers of the central court. The vast room of the inner chamber, stripped entirely of all the hypocritical pretense unique to the imperial palace, glowed softly with only the deep, heavy amber light cast by the stone brazier. The crackling fire threw long, wavering shadows across the smooth wooden floorboards, and the spacious room was filled to the brim with a cozy, dry warmth scented faintly with cedar and pine.

I stopped near the edge of the low mattress. My fingers moved methodically, loosening the stiff, structured outer layers of formal imperial robes. The moment I dropped the heavy folds of fabric onto a nearby cabinet, a sense of release swept through me, as if I had finally shaken off the immense weight bearing down on my whole body. All that remained on me was thin, loose white cotton underwear. The soft cloth draped lazily over my slight frame, and my skin, freed from the suffocating tension the outer chamber had given me, finally began to breathe fully.

In that instant, a sudden, comforting warmth clearly bloomed right behind my back.

Before I could even turn my head, Hyunjin’s long arm wrapped firmly and safely around my waist from behind, his broad body completely enveloping my back. He had already changed into loose, relaxed white underclothes as well. His long black hair fell softly over his forehead, pleasingly tousled. He lowered his head, letting out a deep, tired sigh between his lips, and buried his face lazily in the hollow at the back of my neck, while his broad chest rose and fell in a quick, slow rhythm, pressed tightly against my spine.

"I hated seeing that man lay a hand on you." Hyunjin whispered low. His deep voice sank into a low, rolling murmur that vibrated straight through my skin. The grip around my waist tightened, suddenly filled with fierce, possessive intensity, and his long fingers anchored me firmly against his body so I would be pressed to him completely. "The moment I saw his hand rest on your shoulder... I wanted to smash the whole garden to pieces."

I let out a low, muffled laugh. Carefully turning in his tightly enclosing arms, I faced him fully. The physical distance between us was completely nonexistent. My hand slid deliberately up over the smooth fabric of his broad shoulder, and my fingers slipped deep into the soft hair at the back of his neck to hold his gaze beneath the flickering brazier light.

"I told you I’m not afraid of them at all," I whispered on purpose, clearly, so every syllable would reach him in the amber light, and my quiet, low, slightly rough voice cut cleanly through the silence between us. "You arrived exactly when I needed you, General."

Hyunjin’s dark eyes deepened with even fiercer, more intense longing in response to my confession. His gaze traced slowly down the curve of my lips before locking firmly back into my eyes. The teasing, playful expression he usually wore around me had melted away entirely, leaving behind a heavy, breathless tension that made my pulse leap instantly. He lowered his head even more, using the difference in our heights to press his imposing frame over me, and his hot breath brushed rapidly over my lips.

"Chaewon." He breathed my name softly, as if engraving a quiet vow into it. His large, warm hand slid up from my waist to firmly cradle the back of my neck, and his thumb swept along my jaw with decisive, resolute pressure to lift my face.

He erased the last scrap of distance between us. His lips caught mine, offering a deep, deliberate, achingly slow kiss. It was a completely forceful domination of touch, and each time his lips moved against mine with heavy friction, it felt as if they were stealing even the last breath left in my lungs. I wrapped both arms tightly around his neck and pulled his solid body closer to me, surrendering myself completely to the pace he set. When the tip of his tongue lightly emerged and drew a slow line along the seam of my lips, a floating, dizzying sensation washed over me, as if the whole quiet room were spinning in the deepening kiss. His hand slid softly down the hollow of my back, pressing my body flush to his, and the urgent, heavy breath from him, along with the implied weight of our close contact, left me utterly dizzy, breathless, and completely captivated by his sudden, electric heat.

-----

The thick silk quilt was pulled firmly up over our shoulders, perfectly shielding us from the cold midnight air seeping in under the door. The huge bed was like a silent cocoon of absolute safety, and cedar still lingered pleasantly in the air as the room settled completely into a deep, peaceful stillness.

We lay beneath the quilt with our bodies perfectly tangled into one. Hyunjin lay flat on his back, his long body fully relaxed while he pulled my small frame tightly to his side and held me close. His large arm wrapped around my waist so firmly that I stayed pressed against his chest. My head rested comfortably on his bare shoulder, and my fingers moved lazily, drawing random, quiet, slow lines across his chest.

"The capital wasn’t always built on pillars like these," I murmured softly into the dark, and the quiet, low, slightly rough texture of my voice echoed unbelievably gently through the still space as I looked up at his profile. "Before the city factions built these fortress walls, the history from long ago says this whole valley belonged to nomadic tribes. Without any court law at all, they crossed the basin by these mountain ridge roads, trading silk and iron, and followed the moon’s path."

A low, rich laugh slipped from between Hyunjin’s lips. The vibration traveled straight through his chest and into my cheek, and faint smile lines of boundless tenderness awakened at the corners of his eyes. He turned his head slightly, then pressed a soft, lingering kiss over the top of my head, and soon after, under the quilt, he gently wrapped his arm around my waist and lightly held me with his long fingers.

"A genius strategist who falls asleep while quietly reciting ancient court history," he teased softly, his low voice full of languid, sleepy warmth, and that tone sent my heart reeling all at once. He shifted his body even closer to mine, tugging the thick quilt a little higher over our sides. "If those ministers knew that my Crown Princess is spending all her attention at midnight analyzing the trade routes their ancestors used instead of worrying about their venomous factions... they’d be absolutely terrified."

I smiled with my face buried against his skin, nudging my feet a tiny bit beyond the edge of the thick quilt to catch a little cool air, then burrowing even deeper into his arms.

"They should be afraid, Your Highness. Because the next time they try to cage us, I’ll use those historic ridge routes to outmaneuver and bring down their entire faction command structure before they know what hit them."

A soft, full, satisfied sigh escaped between Hyunjin’s lips. The grip around my waist turned endlessly gentle, and after he lowered his head to press a soft, sleepy kiss onto my bare shoulder, he carefully threaded his fingers between mine beneath the quilt and held my hand firmly. It was a solid seal, completely shutting out the rest of the empire. Sharing the warmth of our joined fingertips like that, we drifted side by side, slowly sinking into the depths of deep and peaceful sleep.