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"Mmmm," Kel hummed, snuggling deeper into the blanket surrounding her.

Her cot had never been so comfortable before. And since when was her scratchy blanket so smooth? And heavy? And... breathing?

Kel's eyes fluttered open.

The warm blanket her nose was buried in turned out to be a bare chest with two protruding arms wound tightly around her.

Slowly pulling away, Kel looked up at the owner of the chest. His eyes were closed and soft breaths flowed out of his slightly parted lips.

Carefully, she reached out and gently traced the features of the man's sleeping face. She'd never seen the Dragon Emperor this way before. He looked vulnerable and almost childlike.

The emperor winced as Kel's fingers trailed down to the black tip of a dragon's wing, barely visible over the top of his shoulder. The skin hidden by the mark felt stretched and uneven, like some kind of scar.

A sudden rustle outside the tent startled Kel.

Was it dawn already? How long had they been asleep?

Still tangled in Calix's arms, Kel used her hands to feel around the bed for her clothes. Somehow in the night, Calix's clothes ended up spread between them--Kel with his shirt and the emperor with his pants.

Blushing as she recalled the events of last night, Kel began to push herself up.

"I have to get dress-Eep!"

With a yelp, she crashed back down again, the emperor's arms tightening around her like a snake trapping its prey.

"Don't go," Calix murmured, pressing his lips to her forehead.

"You were awake?" Kel gulped, her cheeks and ears stinging.

"Mmm," the emperor grunted sleepily in response.

"So you can act like this too?" Kel whispered, patting his head.

At Kel's touch, the emperor closed his eyes, a hint of a smile spreading across his lips.

Kel's own grin, on the other hand, slowly dipped to a frown, her eyes wandering away from the docile man.

"... What is it?" Calix asked, his eyes still shut.

Kel sighed.

There were too many questions. She didn't even know where to start.

If he knew she wasn't the princess, why did he play along with the whole charade? No, why did he accept her as a hostage in the first place?

"At the river last time.." Kel smiled half-heartedly, giving up on putting any of her tangled thoughts into words, "why were you taking a bath at such a late hour?"

The emperor opened a single eye and snorted before closing it again.

"I was trying to avoid a certain peeping girl," he smirked. "But she still found me."

"P-peeping?!" Kel's eyes widened, the red tint behind her cheeks now fueled by an entirely new source of embarrassment, "If a-anything, it was y-you peeping at me this time!"

"Hmmmm?" Calix raised an eyebrow, the edges up his lips curling devilishly. "Who's lusting after whose body right now?"

Huh?

A tingling sensation suddenly became tangible underneath Kel's hands, which had unwittingly been clutching each side of the emperor's muscled chest.

"I...uh.." Kel stammered, quickly pulling her hands back against her own body.

It's true that the emperor had an attractive body. He wasn't overly muscly or broad-framed, but his features were still well-defined, starting from his chest down to the outline of his abdominal muscles and even below that...

"Eek," Kel squeaked, throwing her hands over her face.

Maybe she was the more lustful one here.

The emperor chuckled, and tugged her closer to him, nestling her head under his chin.

"So you can act like this?" he mimicked, stroking her hair.

Kel looked up at him with a frown, which only made him laugh harder, crushing her against his neck again.

"Cute.." he whispered.

Kel didn't answer but happily nuzzled into the emperor's warm skin.

Despite the myriad of new concerns plaguing her mind, for the first time since she'd been taken hostage, she felt peaceful.

After a few seconds, the emperor spoke again.

"What do you really want to ask me?"

Of course, she should have expected that he could see through her.

Since he'd always been able to.

"When did you know.. about me?" Kel asked in a tiny voice.

"From the beginning," the emperor replied. "When my teacher sent me a letter saying that he'd found you."

"Right.. so Uncle Itzae.." Kel paused.

She finally had to confront it. The fact that the man who raised her was the mentor of the Dragon Emperor, born from the people of Subterra.

"... he wasn't really Dash's uncle then," she finished.

As soon as she mentioned Dash's name, a growl came from Calix's throat.

"If not for my dear teacher's weak heart," he grumbled, "I never would have had to put up with that lousy guy clinging to you all the time."

Kel giggled as the emperor went on to complain of his teacher's habit of 'collecting pitiful children'. Despite his unhappy tone, Kel could tell that the man wasn't actually upset about Itzae's kind heart at all.

Perhaps, it was just Dash that made him so angry.

"Well, I do distinctly remember you once telling me that you didn't care if I loved Dash," Kel teased.

Calix scowled.

"I wasn't in my right mind."

Kel nodded in agreement, remembering the strange behavior of the emperor that day. He had been practically delirious with fever at the very least.

"Perhaps, I should make it an official crime," Calix continued thoughtfully.

"Huh? Make what an official crime?" Kel questioned.

Had the conversation shifted while she wasn't paying attention?

Calix stared off, his scarlet eyes burning as if imagining some faraway destruction.

"Any man, aside from me, who receives your love will be sentenced to execution immediately," he detailed. "Starting with Dashien."

Kel shook her head.

"You can't kill Dash," she sighed, half her mouth raised into a smirk.

Suddenly, the emperor gripped her shoulders, pushing her away from him.

Able to see his entire face now, Kel could tell that he was serious. His mouth was pressed into a line and his eyes were glowering.

"He took you away from me."