morning, Hou

pped, but the wo

bones slick with the night's memory. Morning sunlight hung behind the clouds like a ghost... present, but unwilling to touch anything too inti

he kind that don't sit behind your eyelids but instead crawl under your skin. At some point, she'd kicked her covers off, body fl

emembered

er blood while the rest of her body slept. It wasn't the sound itself that haunted her... i

th the scent of last night's rain. Girls passed her in stages of undress-laughing, whispering, hips swaying

fferent this morning. Til

the center. Her bare feet touched cold stone as if the heat had left the

hear the

felt

a held breath. Then-wood creaked, i

like bribes. His coat was dark gray, damp at the hem, fitted to a body built not for carriages but fo

e flame thr

rgot how t

m. And when his gaze landed on her, something inside her

the way a storm

sting against the banister. "Welcome to the House of

as quieter than e

have a girl who

assed thro

straig

"She is not for sale.

eft Jasmine. "Th

t belonged to him. Like he'd w

rked around a breath that felt larger than her lungs. When he passed by one of th

our stage?

ebrow. "I don't

dn't

eard me la

ir cr

ou

," he sai

ine ti

e late. I d

ain. A flicker. Not

then pulled a chair beneath him and

y I'd perfor

you needed t

e flush clim

like they already held the strings. She wasn't thinking. She was feeling. That was

y, each note like a footp

had been whisp

grew close. Th

ng at her chest, the pulse of the song rising like breath before a kiss. His e

ote faded, she felt ba

sto

ad he stepped into her space. His han

what you ar

s parted. "I'm not yours,

s closer now

ly she feared it would

, he stepped back, a

e reached into the inner pocket of his coat and placed a small black object on the table beside them. Sh

ready to come f

just like that,

ject and his eyes burned into her m

sound of it closing was the loudes

a moment later, lips

too," Jasmine

ted the token with two finge

ng," she

through her nose

she said. "He didn'

ispered. "He c