The night was still young and the mission was tomorrow.

I had spent two days in Daphne’s room unable to move, trusting Azure and May to hold things together on the outside. Now everything worked again.

I stretched, testing every joint and muscle the way the plain had trained me. Arms. Shoulders. Ribs. Legs. All of it responded smoothly, bones solid, tissue fully knit. The system had done its silent work.

[Vitality: 100%.]

[Mission in 12 hours.]

[Insufficient charge. Minimum two full charges required.]

Two charges, I thought. Twelve hours.

The last time I had ignored the system, Celestine had nearly put me in the ground. I wasn’t making that mistake again.

[Daphne: Available. Previous connection. One climax equals half charge.]

[New compatible users tonight: Ivy and Isabelle.]

[Each climax with a new user equals one full charge.]

I noted the list and filed it away.

From the bathroom came the sound of running water. Daphne bathing. The quiet domestic noises felt strange after two days of her healing me, feeding me, and watching over my broken body.

I dropped to the floor and started push-ups, forcing my muscles to remember they were whole. Twenty. Forty. Sixty. Ribs solid. No pain. Everything functional.

Tomorrow we were going outside the walls. I needed to stock up charge tonight.

Ivy or Isabelle were good options. First encounters, full charges, clean math. The system wasn’t wrong about the math.

But Daphne was right here, and we had something already built between us. The familiarity of it meant less charge per climax but it also meant I wasn’t starting from zero with a person I barely knew the night before a mission that could kill me.

The bathroom door opened.

Daphne stepped out wrapped in nothing but a white towel, hair wet and clinging to her neck and bare shoulders.

Water droplets traced glistening lines down her collarbones and between her breasts. She moved toward the closet with the casual ease of someone alone in her own space, then froze when she saw me standing there.

"You’re up already?"

"Yeah." I crossed the room to her.

She was reaching for a shirt, back to me, the towel tucked just above the curve of her ass, exposing the smooth line of her spine and the soft backs of her thighs. Beads of water still rolled slowly down her skin.

I stepped in close and pressed my chin to her shoulder, breathing her in.

"Queen of my heart," I murmured.

She paused, fingers still on the hanger. "That’s supposed to be a compliment?"

"It’s just the truth," I said. "I don’t doubt my heart."

She set the shirt back. Didn’t turn around.

"You should," she whispered. "Hearts are deceitful." A small pause. "What else does it tell you?"

[Good direction. Keep going.]

"That you’re here," I said against her damp skin. "That you took care of me for two days while I was nothing but broken bones."

Her shoulders rose with a shaky breath.

"Abram—"

I slid my hands onto her waist, palms flat against the towel, feeling the heat of her body underneath. Not pulling. Just holding her there.

"Don’t you want this?" I asked, voice low. "Because I do. And I think you do too."

She stayed quiet for a long second, the kind of silence that comes right before someone stops pretending.

Then she leaned back into me, her weight pressing against my chest, ass nestling softly against my groin through the towel.

"You’re impossible," she breathed.

"You knew this was coming."

I kissed the side of her neck, slow and open-mouthed, tasting the clean water on her warm skin. Her breath hitched sharply. I dragged my lips lower, sucking gently at the sensitive spot where neck met shoulder, and felt her shiver.

"One condition," she said, voice already huskier.

"Name it."

"You don’t stop until I tell you to."

She turned in my arms. The towel loosened and slipped lower, barely held by the press of our bodies.

Her nipples, still damp, brushed against my chest through the thin fabric. Her mouth found mine—warm, urgent, and a little desperate, like she’d been waiting for permission.

For a moment it felt like the first time all over again. Even though I’d tasted her before, even though I’d been inside her, something about this kiss hit harder. Maybe because a days ago I couldn’t even lift my own arm.

Maybe because her mouth still carried the faint mint of toothpaste and the clean sweetness of someone who had just stepped out of the bath. Whatever the reason, my chest tightened like it was new. Like I was discovering her.

Her skin was still cool from the water. I slid my hands up her bare back and felt the contrast immediately—cool, smooth flesh against my palms that had grown hot from push-ups and rising need.

She shivered when I touched her, a full-body tremor that pressed her softer curves into me. Her breasts, still damp, yielded against my chest, nipples already tight from the temperature shift.

The rest of her was impossibly soft: the gentle give of her stomach, the plush weight of her hips, the way her ass filled my hands when I gripped her.

Daphne exhaled shakily into my mouth, a soft, needy sound that went straight to my cock. Her breathing wasn’t steady anymore. It came in quick, shallow pulls, each one catching a little higher in her throat when I deepened the kiss and teased her tongue with mine.

I walked her backward until her shoulders met the wall. She gasped at the cool surface against her back, then melted forward again, chasing my heat.

My thigh slid between hers, and she rocked against it once, almost instinctively, her breath hitching into a quiet whimper.

"Daph..." I murmured against her lips. "You’re sweet."

She answered by biting my lower lip, just hard enough to sting.

[LEWD LEVELING SYSTEM]

[Daphne: Pain healer, Level 5. Repeat connection. Half charge per climax.]

Her towel finally surrendered, puddling at our feet. I lifted her easily, ribs solid, strength fully returned, and she wrapped her legs around my waist like she belonged there.

The wet heat of her pressed directly against my stomach now, and her breathing turned ragged, almost desperate, each exhale a soft moan against my ear.

I carried her toward the bed, heart hammering with something that felt dangerously close to more than just need for a charge.

[LEWD LEVELING SYSTEM]

[Half charge per climax. Recommend multiple rounds to reach full.]

I laid her down on the sheets, her body still damp, her eyes dark and waiting.

"You told me not to stop," I said.

"I meant it."

I climbed over her.

She spread her legs.