After the adrenaline and excitement faded, I found myself unable to control the wave of shyness that washed over me. Standing there in the moonlight with Astrein, his question hanging in the air between us—"Can you come to my room tonight?"—I felt my face flush hot.

But when I looked into his eyes and saw the raw desire there, the longing that mirrored everything I was feeling, I found it almost impossible to refuse him.

These past days had changed ...