For Mo Xie and Ye Xinxia, that night was a test. Both had to restrain their most primal desires.
Mo Xie was not a man without desire. Restraint and reason had simply become an exceptionally strong part of his character, something indispensable to his magic cultivation.
They lay in bed, holding each other tenderly and talking until they gradually drifted off to sleep.
Ye Xinxia woke early, sometime before five in the morning. When she opened her eyes, it was still dark.
Perhaps it had been too long since they had slept in each other's arms. She was not quite used to it, and the sudden rush of happiness left her too excited to sleep.
The curtains were drawn tight. In the dim room, a man and a woman lay together on the bed beneath a thin blanket.
The man lay on his side, holding a beautiful woman against him. Her back was to him. One of his arms rested across the pillow, while the other encircled her slender waist, his hand resting on her smooth, flat stomach.
She was curled against his chest, her bare back pressed to him and her head resting on his arm. The fingers of her right hand were intertwined with his on the pillow, while her left hand covered the hand on her stomach.
They were like a young married couple, lost in that tender embrace and unwilling to let go.
For Ye Xinxia, the night held a special meaning. There was warmth and a sense of belonging, along with plenty of shyness and anticipation.
In the dark, she pressed her lips together, curled up, and quietly slipped out of Mo Xie's arms.
She leaned over his strong body with the thin blanket draped around her, torn inside. Her teeth caught her lower lip,