My Taboo Harem!

Sienna reached her car and opened the door before lowering herself inside, she looked back at him; her expression did not soften enough for anyone else to notice.

Phei noticed.

Gratitude lived inside the glance.

Quiet. Private. Almost shy beneath all that ancient death and sovereign pride.

"Thank you for today."

She would never say it that way. Sienna preferred affection translated into stolen divine relics, altered skies and threats against entire bloodlines; ordinary gratitude probably made her feel underdressed.

Phei smiled at her.

Just warmth.

Something in Sienna’s violet eyes eased enough to make her lips curved by the smallest fraction before she entered the car Dravenna had arleady entered and closed the door, sealing the expression inside before dignity could press charges.

Around them, the rest of the convoy settled into place.

Brian had already loaded himself and his three women into one of the larger vehicles; he sat behind the wheel claiming this was the safest arrangement. All three women appeared to understand he had chosen the driver’s seat because it was the only one nobody could squeeze him out of.

Landon was inside another car with Cherry, who had claimed the sound system before her seat belt. David had entered with his woman so peacefully that Phei briefly wondered whether the man had hidden powers. No argument, jealousy or wrestling match over the front seat. Just two adults entering a vehicle without damaging international diplomacy.

’Suspicious behavior.’

Valentina rode with Amber in the former’s crimson Perrari, its body shining beneath the sun like a beautiful debt collector. Val rested both hands on the wheel while Amber adjusted her seat with the calm of pretending she would not encourage reckless speed the moment the road opened.

Yuki had joined Delilah, which felt like handing fireworks to royalty and trusting etiquette to prevent the explosion.

Victoria and Nastya rode together; the two jealous princesses sat inside their car wearing different versions of the same lie.

Victoria’s posture said she had chosen this arrangement willingly and did not care where anyone else sat while Nastya’s smile said she was perfectly delighted and had definitely not considered shooting Catrina’s passenger seat from a nearby rooftop.

Phei gave them twelve minutes before they either became terrifying friends or started measuring who had been kissed more recently.

There were too many people for a single convoy to contain neatly. Several other princesses were already at the destination, while more planned to meet them there. Phei had stopped counting after the list began sounding less like a trip and more like a summit where every delegate happened to be gorgeous, dangerous or romantically inconvenient to wanted to sing them lullaby tonight.

Engines awakened one after another.

Jade had appeared right after from the far side of the hotel entrance after finishing a conversation with a man Phei did not recognize. The stranger bowed, handed her something small and disappeared back inside.

Phei’s attention abandoned him instantly.

Yesterday, Jade had looked like Park Motors royalty, wrapped in controlled elegance expensive enough to make ordinary billionaires straighten their ties.

Today she had apparently decided elegance could stay home and think about what it had done.

Her dark hair was pulled into a loose high ponytail, several strands escaping around her face and brushing her cheeks in the morning breeze. A fitted green top held her chest with enough precision to qualify as hostile engineering, the square neckline displaying smooth skin and a generous swell that made Phei’s eyes slow without apology.

The fabric narrowed around her waist, making the curve beneath it look indecently deliberate, then ended above a pleated black skirt sitting high on her hips.

The skirt was short.

’Very short.’

Well, short enough that every step made the pleats dance around her upper thighs and invited the eye to commit repeat offenses. Her legs stretched beneath it in long, smooth lines before ending in clean white sneakers that somehow made the entire outfit hotter by pretending innocence had been involved.

Phei’s gaze began at those sneakers.

Climbed and paused at her thighs...

...and climbed again... and stopped where the skirt wrapped her hips:

Then rose over the narrow waist, the curves filling the jade top and finally reached her face after taking the scenic route, getting lost twice and refusing to apologize to local authorities.

’Gods.’

Yesterday, she had looked like a princess one negotiated with.

Today, she looked like a princess one made irresponsible promises to against the hood of her own car.

Jade caught him staring.

Of course she did; Phei was not exactly conducting covert surveillance.

His eyes were travelling over her with the open appreciation of a man who had seen treasure and decided subtlety was for poorer people.

Instead of becoming uncomfortable, Jade enjoyed it... very much.

Phei saw the pleasure enter her posture, the slight lift of her chin and the warmer curve of her lips plus confidence of a woman being admired by exactly the man she had dressed to be admired by.

Her hands remained clasped before her, fingers lightly catching the hem of her skirt as she approached.

That tiny gesture ruined the formidable-princess performance rather beautifully.

Phei leaned one hip against the Sovereign and waited.

Jade stopped in front of him.

For a moment, neither spoke.

The engines around them purred, cameras watched and Catrina sat inside the passenger seat pretending her ears had become decorative.

Phei let his gaze drop once more.

Jade noticed; her smile deepened.

"Finished admiring me?" she asked.

"Not remotely, princess, not at all."

A faint blush touched her cheeks.

Phei nodded toward her hands. "Is this how the formidable Princess Jade behaves when she is shy?"

She glanced down at the fingers holding her skirt, then released the fabric immediately.

"I am not shy."

"Of course." His smile turned slow and wicked. "You just walked across the entire entrance holding your skirt like it might reveal your feelings before you did."

Jade laughed softly before Phei stepped closer.

"Do not tell me you are falling for me, Princess."

"You are getting very far ahead of yourself, pretty dragon."

He placed a hand over his chest.

"There."

Her brows rose. "There what?"

"You gave me a cute name."

"It was an observation."

"Careful." He leaned nearer, lowering his voice while half the plaza developed sudden interest in lip-reading. "At this rate, you will use every sweet name before we even become a couple."

Jade’s eyes warmed.

She turned slightly and slid one hand along the Sovereign’s black body. Her fingers glided over the carbon surface with intimate familiarity, tracing the machine she had prepared for him.

"Perhaps I came from a future where we are already together," she said. "Maybe I have called you those names so often that some of them followed me back to the past ."

Phei stared at her.

That was unfairly good.

A line like that should have required licensing.

"I already love that future where me and you are already a pair made in Heavens."

Jade’s smile softened into something warmer.

"What do I have to do to make it real?" He asked as he reached for her hand before she could answer.

Jade’s fingers relaxed into his palm and Phei lifted her hand and kissed its back...

...slowly.

His lips remained against her skin for an extra heartbeat, long enough for warmth to bloom across Jade’s face and for everyone watching to realize courtship had officially stopped pretending to be theoretical; the convoy had already stolen the hotel’s attention:

Now Phei and Jade were standing beside its darkest car, her hand inside his, behaving like the rest of the morning had become background scenery to their private little future.

Catrina looked through the passenger window and tried very hard to appear emotionally supportive.

Emily and Maddie paused their civil war, Nastya leaned across Victoria for a better angle.

Victoria shoved her back without taking her eyes off Phei.

Jade glanced toward the audience before returning to him.

"Just do not forget our date," she said. "You have a habit of getting lost in whatever your life puts in front of you."

"Certainly, Princess."

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