The muscles of body clench and nails curled to bite crescents against her palms in a sudden flare of pent ferocity. Her heart mimicked the constrained turmoil of a waterfall. She spun so she might face him; might climb the length of him with a gaze too invasive to be anything but inappropriate. His fingers grazed hers through and rather than shy away, she captured his wrist and held it there.
"What would you know about what I long for?" Her father thought her only stubborn and headstrong. She had hidden the beast in her body away behind a labyrinth of silk and pearls and beauty. Orichalcum armbands constricting her arms like collars.