A/N: Many thanks to Musa Tecna bestfriends forever and Vchanny for the lovely reviews!

Written for the Senshi/Shitennou Reverse Mini Bang 2017. Huge thanks to all the mods who set this up. Huge thanks to my betas, CharlieChaplin2, Galaxylily, and Thalia! Huge, huge thanks to mochibuni, for her beautiful artwork which was the inspiration to this fic.

Chapter 2

As personal guards to the Princess, the Senshi didn't usually have to be present when foreign dignitaries from other planets arrived. However, Serenity actually wanted to be there this time.

Given that Serenity had never showed such enthusiasm towards meeting ambassadors from other planets, Jupiter found her enthusiasm peculiar.

"She loves staring at Earth anyway, so she probably thinks that everything and everyone is as pretty as the picture that she'd painted in her mind," Venus had commented with a sigh.

Nonetheless, the four of them soon found themselves standing at the northern palace gate, awaiting the arrival of a certain Prince Endymion of Earth and his generals. It hardly surprised Jupiter that most of Queen Serenity's court was absent for one reason or another. Except for the Queen and her daughter, it was no secret that most Lunarians had always seen the Terrans as beneath them.

Mars, in particular, preferred to call them "savages" when their lieges weren't around to hear her.

Even Luna and Artemis had suspicions about them, but they always held the Queen's orders above their own opinions and so it came as no surprise when Jupiter saw them slinking around near the Queen's ankles.

While Jupiter was lost in her thoughts, a streak of light left Earth and made its way towards the Moon.

"They're early," Venus said with a raised eyebrow.

"At least they have manners then," Mars commented wryly.

Jupiter snorted, causing Serenity to look at them in confusion. Jupiter patted her on the head, signifying for her to not worry.

However, it was hardly needed, as the streak of light landed right before them at that precise moment, and her Princess's attention was no longer on them. The light faded away and five people emerged.

In spite of herself, the first thing Jupiter noticed was that all five of them were attractive. Okay, she was lying—they were downright gorgeous, and Jupiter had seen her share of good-looking men. Yet, there was something about them that made them stand out. Perhaps it was because the Prince and his generals' upbringing had given them an extra presence, an aura of gravity and a demand for respect; or perhaps it was the fact that each and every one of them were taller than her, a feat that wasn't easily accomplished. The final outcome made it hard for Jupiter to have an immediate reaction, and it wasn't until Queen Serenity stepped forward to greet them that Jupiter realized that she was staring at them.

That was also when she noticed that one particular general with wavy chocolate brown hair was ogling them, too, as if he was surprised to see them there.

Must be one of those chauvinistic Terran pigs that we've heard about so many times, surprised to see women as guards to royalty.

It killed the initial impression she had of him and further proved to her that Terrans were all alike, despite how good-looking they were. Therefore, when his gaze met with hers, she rolled her eyes and purposely turned her head away from his direction.

"Prince Endymion, it's a pleasure to have you here with us today," Queen Serenity said with a pleasant smile.

"The pleasure is all mine, Queen Serenity," Prince Endymion replied with a small smile of his own as he kissed the back of Queen Serenity's hand. He gestured to the men who stood a small distance behind him. "These are my personal guards, the Shitennou, Kunzite, Nephrite, Jadeite, and Zoisite."

"Your Highness," the four generals said and bowed in unison.

"Welcome to the Moon Kingdom," Queen Serenity said. "I do hope you would enjoy your time here." She gestured towards the Princess and the Senshi. "This is my daughter, Princess Serenity, and her guards, the Inner Senshi, Sailor Venus, Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter."

"Princess Serenity," Endymion echoed as his eyes landed on Serenity.

"Prince Endymion," Serenity replied.

The moment seemed to stand still as the two of them stared into one another's eyes, until one of Endymion's generals coughed lightly.

Serenity's cheeks turned pink as she lowered her eyes and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Endymion stepped forward, gently picked up Serenity's hand, and placed a kiss on the back of it. "The pleasure is all mine, Princess."

A small smile appeared on Serenity's face and her eyes sparkled as she turned towards the Queen. "Shall I show them to their chambers, Mother?"

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Princess, I—"

Something flashed through Queen Serenity's eyes as she held up a hand to stop Luna from continuing. "That's fine, Serenity."

Jupiter exchanged a quick look with the other Senshi and found them just as confused as she was. As the Princess of the Moon, it wasn't Serenity's responsibility to attend to the visiting Prince and his generals. Furthermore, even if it were, she would always find some way to get out of chores and tasks. The fact that Queen Serenity showed no signs of being surprised made Jupiter all the more bewildered, but she knew that she couldn't possibly ask right now.

And that was how Jupiter ended up walking through the corridors with her Princess and the Prince a small distance in front of her and a general right next to her. Her attention, however, was hardly on the man. Instead, she kept looking backwards to make sure that Mercury was all right.

"You know Nephrite's not going to gobble her up while we're right inside the Moon Palace, don't you?" the general next to her asked in a volume that only she could hear.

Jupiter's eyes snapped towards him, taking in the flirtatious bottle-green eyes, lazy smirk, and loosely-tied strawberry blond hair.

"I didn't say he would," Jupiter muttered.

"You didn't have to say anything, Sailor Jupiter. It's written all over your face," he continued to say in a hushed voice. "Though I can't say that I'm surprised, given the reputation Nephrite's land had gained."

Jupiter ogled him. "What reputation?"

Mars, who was walking in front of her, turned her head slightly to look at what the outburst was about. The general walking next to Jupiter immediately snapped his mouth shut. It wasn't until Mars turned around that Jupiter grabbed the strawberry-blond general and marched to the left until they were a small distance from the others.

"What reputation?" she demanded once more.

The general looked at her, worried. "You mean, you didn't know?"

"What am I supposed to know?" Jupiter pressed, narrowing her eyes and cracking her knuckles threateningly.

The general held up his hand in mock surrender and said, "Okay, okay! I was just making sure. I'm surprised you didn't know, since everyone on Earth knows about this. Funny, since you know, I thought it was the kind of news that would've spread to other planets—"

"Would you quit babbling and get to the point?" Jupiter hissed.

The general took a step back and his eyes widened. "Please don't hurt me. I'm not the one who eats babies."

"Eats—He what? He eats babies?"

"Well, I don't think you should say it like he wanted to do it, but you know, it's really part of their growing up ritual or something like that, and think about it in a good way. At least I didn't say that he eat young maidens. I mean, I've heard people say that the elders of his land drink young maidens' blood to enhance their ability to talk to the stars, but—hey, where are you going!?"

However, Jupiter had already reached where Mercury and Nephrite was. Without saying anything, she grabbed Nephrite by the shoulder, turned him around, and clocked him in the face.

"Jupiter!" Serenity gasped.

"Jupiter, what's the meaning of this?" Venus demanded sharply.

"He eats babies!" Jupiter spat out, causing Nephrite to stare at her.

It took a short moment for everyone to fully digest what she had said.

Serenity broke the silence and asked Endymion with shock written all over her face, "He eats babies!?"

"You eat babies?" Endymion asked Nephrite with a disgusted frown.

"I do not eat babies!" Nephrite growled.

"Who told you he eats babies?" the silver-haired general standing next to Venus spoke up.

Jupiter spun around to point at the strawberry-blond general but found no one there.

"Zoisite," the blond general standing next to Mars said with a sigh.

The frown on the silver-haired general's face deepened, and without warning, he disappeared, only to reappear moments later with the strawberry-blond in question. Before any words could be exchanged, Nephrite jumped to his feet, rushed forward, and pummeled Zoisite while spewing out a string of words that Jupiter couldn't understand. She could only assume that they were expletives in his native tongue.

Later, she would recall in retrospect how peculiar it was that no one thought of stopping him from beating up Zoisite before he became a bloody mess; she could only assume that it was because this was probably the norm for them

"That's enough, Nephrite," the silver-haired general finally spoke up.

Nephrite also ended up with a couple of scratches on his face and arms, and under different circumstances, Jupiter knew she would've found the whole scene hilarious.

Zoisite gingerly touched the corner of his mouth and winced. "You son of a—"

"Stop trying to aggravate him, Zoisite, or else I won't stop him the next time he tries to kill you," the silver-haired general said coldly.

"But Kunzite, look at—" The rest of Zoisite's words were swallowed when Kunzite shot him an icy stare.

Taking a deep breath and recomposing his features to display a polite friendliness, Kunzite addressed Jupiter, "Zoisite has the unhealthy habit of playing pranks on others, and unfortunately, he's too young to realize that here and now is not a good place to put that habit into action. I apologize on his behalf, Sailor Jupiter, and I hope you will not see this as a deliberate attempt to provoke you, dishonor the Moon Kingdom, or disrespect Queen Serenity."

Though Jupiter had no idea why it had happened, she'd figured out by now that Zoisite had lied to her. A furious blush colored her cheeks, both out of guilt and embarrassment. For a moment, she found it difficult to reply to Kunzite, so she nodded instead.

After casting warning glances towards both Zoisite and Nephrite, Kunzite turned around and walked forward. As he passed the blond general (presumably called Jadeite), he shot him a glance. Jadeite nodded and Jupiter was hardly surprised when he was the one who ended up walking next to her for the rest of the way to their chambers while Zoisite hobbled ahead next to Mars. Despite knowing that the whole incident was Zoisite's fault, Jupiter still found it particularly hard to look Nephrite in the eye and was more than thankful for Kunzite's arrangement.

~-0-~

"Great job, Jupiter, punching the general in the face. I'm certain he wouldn't try to court you now," Venus cackled after they'd accompanied Serenity to her room and the four of them were alone again.

Jupiter groaned and buried her face in her hands. "I … it's not my fault!"

"You can't really place the blame on her," Mercury said with a frown. "If General Zoisite hadn't pulled that prank …"

"Well, I got to say that I don't blame her either. They're Terran men," Mars sniffed.

Venus waved her hand and said, "I was just teasing her." She paused before saying, "Did you see that display of magic though? I thought most Terrans were afraid of magic."

"They're afraid of magic in commoners, but not in those who hold positions of power," Mercury corrected wryly. "Apparently, if you're powerful and rich, you possess the right to have access to magic, but you'll get burned at the stake if you're a beggar who knows 'witchcraft'."

"How civilized," Mars said sarcastically. "I can hardly wait until they join the Alliance."

"Never mind that. Do you think he—General Nephrite, that is … do you think he's all right though? I mean … I didn't … he's a king, right? Didn't they say that Prince Endymion's generals were also kings? I didn't just start a war by punching him in the face, did I?" Jupiter asked, wringing her hands together.

"I don't think so," Venus said. "At least, from Kunzite's reaction, I don't think he's blaming you on the incident. If anything, I think General Zoisite's in for a chiding once they are alone."

Mars cast a glance at Venus, which the latter firmly ignored.

"But still … this is … oh gods, this is embarrassing. How am I supposed to face him after this?" Jupiter moaned, pulling her hair in frustration.

"You can always try to be nice to him," Venus offered.

Mars looked disgusted at the idea but didn't say anything. Mercury looked decidedly uncomfortable and Jupiter hardly thought it was her imagination that the mini-computer she whipped out in the next second was to hide her discomfort.

"I had preferred to stay away from them," Jupiter said.

"Understandable. To be honest, given that you'd punched him because General Zoisite pranked the two of you, the only person he should hold a grudge against is General Zoisite, not you. If it makes you feel less guilty for punching him in the face, send him some flowers or something," Venus said.

"Don't they already have plenty of flowers on Earth?" Mars asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's just a gesture of kindness to show that she's sorry, not for him to start his own garden or something," Venus said airily. "Or you can bake him something."

"... I've never cooked before," Jupiter said.

"There's always a first for everything," Venus said sagely.

"I can look up some recipes for you," Mercury offered, peering up from her mini-computer.

"Do I have to?" Jupiter wrinkled her nose.

"Or you can just pretend nothing ever happened," Mars said with a shrug.

"But I did punch him," Jupiter said.

"It's either that or cookies. Or flowers. Just make your choice and get it over and done with," Mars said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Jupiter looked towards the ceiling and sighed. In the end, guilt overcame her other emotions, causing her to sigh again.

"Mercury, I'm going to need those recipes."

~-0-~

Jupiter stood by the oven and waited, tapping her feet on the floor rhythmically. When she first looked at the recipes for Terran cookies Mercury had given her, she'd thought that she would be bored stiff. However, since she was baking the cookies to apologize, she figured she'd just get it over and done with. Surprisingly, baking brought out the patience she'd never known she had and she found it a fun activity to do.

Perhaps it's time to learn more about cooking then.

Now, the only thing left to do was to wait for the oven to do its work and bake the cookies. Given that it was the first time she'd tried her hand at cooking, Venus, Mars, and Mercury had all "kindly" declined her offer to let them try it first.

Some friends they were.

As she was waiting, the kitchen door suddenly opened. She looked up and found herself staring at the would-be recipient to the first thing she'd ever cooked in her life. It was so sudden that she just stared at him, not knowing what to say.

It was the first time they'd seen one another after that unfortunate incident, and things were, needless to say, awkward.

Apparently, he was also at a loss of words since he just stood at the doorway, looking very much out of place.

He belongs on a battlefield.

That thought came unbidden to her mind, and it was the perfect words to describe him. It wasn't that he was unkempt or something; his hair, despite being long and wavy, was neatly combed and his uniform was clean and ironed. However, he was muscular as he was tall, and she could easily imagine him carrying a battle-axe and smashing his way through enemy soldiers.

"... Hi," he finally said, breaking the silence.

She snapped out of her thoughts and allowed a smile to appear on her face. It was a nervous one, but a smile nonetheless.

"Hi," she greeted back, bunching up her skirt with her fist before she remembered that she was still wearing her fuku and doing so would reveal more than an appropriate amount of skin to him. She quickly released her grip and scratched the back of her head instead. "What are you doing here?"

It came out a bit harsher than she'd intended it to be, and she mentally groaned, hoping that he wouldn't get the wrong idea.

Surprisingly, Nephrite didn't look offended. Instead, a curious shade of pink suddenly colored his cheeks, and he looked like he'd rather be anywhere else than where he was standing at the moment. Then, it looked like he finally made up his mind, and with a determined look on his face, he marched forward until he was standing in front of Jupiter.

"These are for you," he said.

A strong but pleasant fragrance hit her in the face, and she stared at the bouquet of flowers that was now hovering in front of her face.

They're beautiful.

That was the first thought that went through her mind. Subconsciously, her hand went to the ear and touched the earring that bore the same shape as the flowers that were presented to her.

Roses, she recalled they were called. Her eldest brother, Prometheus, had brought the earrings back to her after a trip to Earth. She remembered that he'd said that roses reminded him of her: a beauty that had plenty of thorns hidden within, waiting to prick the unexpected. She'd laughed and took it as a compliment because as a warrior, it worked to her advantage. It had been a lovely trinket that probably would've ended up at the bottom of her drawers.

Until he unexpectedly died during a second visit to Earth.

They said that it was an accident. The skies were clear, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Two hours after the ship went out to sea, the storm moved in, wrecking the ship and taking her brother's life with it.

She'd never known she was such a sentimental person until she started wearing those rose earrings on her ears everyday.

Unexpectedly, tears welled up in her eyes, but she held them back, unwilling to cry in front of a stranger.

"Thank you," she said quietly, collecting the roses in her arms and inhaling the wonderful smell.

He looked uncertain, as if he wasn't sure if she was pleased or not. To be honest, she wasn't certain either, so she turned around and checked the oven instead, after she'd placed the bouquet down on the table.

"I talked to Kunzite about what happened yesterday," Nephrite began to say.

Jupiter paused momentarily, wondering what he was talking about, since Kunzite was there when she'd punched him. She then continued to check the cookies. They looked like they were about ready.

"He supposed that we'd gotten off on the wrong foot," Nephrite continued to say. "I mean … I wasn't sure why you looked like you were pissed off at me when we first arrived on the moon. I'd thought it was because Lunarians didn't like Terrans by default, but the other Senshi didn't seem to have a problem with us, and you didn't seem to have a problem speaking with the other Shitennou. Kunzite said that it was probably because you caught me staring when we'd arrived and you thought it was because I saw that the four of you are women."

Hm … that Kunzite is probably more intelligent than most Terrans are. I suppose I should let Venus know about this.

"Well, I have to admit that I was surprised to see that the four of you are women," Nephrite said.

Jupiter stopped in her motions and slowly turned her head around to give him the evil eye.

Nephrite immediately held up his hands. "I didn't mean it that way." He dropped his hands to his side and continued, "What I meant to say is that back on Earth, there's a religion that said that Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury were gods, not goddesses."

"Probably because the deities that represented war, might, and intelligence should always be men, eh?" Jupiter asked wryly.

"To be honest, I'd never really thought about whether the gods were male or female until Endy—that is, the Prince—told us he wanted to visit the moon. I don't even know how Zoisite knew, but he insisted that all of you must be female. It couldn't have been Endy who'd told him because you would've thought he'd tell us, too, right?" Nephrite asked.

Jupiter hummed in response, not knowing how to answer him because she didn't know Endymion that well. Though she wondered why Endymion would know that they were female. Perhaps it was because Nephrite thought that the royalties should know everything. Funny because he was supposed to be a king back on Earth, too, wasn't he?

With her anger slightly appeased, she turned around, took the cookies out of the oven, and placed it on the counter for them to cool.

"But yeah … no one told us we were going to see four gorgeous women who belonged in fairytales. So that was the reason why I stared. Not because you're a female warrior."

The tray in Jupiter's hand nearly fell over. Thankfully, she caught herself just in time, but she couldn't do anything about the furious blush that appeared on her cheeks.

Get a grip. It's not even the first time someone complimented you.

Perhaps it was the honesty in his voice or maybe it was because his gift of roses had touched her more than she'd realized, but something about the way he'd said it made it sound so genuine and nice in her ears.

"Thank you," she said, not knowing what else to say.

Uncontrollably, she cast another look at the bouquet of flowers that was now lying next to the tray of cookies.

There was a moment of silence before Nephrite spoke up again, "By the way, I do not eat babies."

Jupiter couldn't hold back a laugh. Thoroughly amused, she smiled at him and said, "I kind of figured that out."

"Oh," Nephrite said with a frown. But it was quickly replaced by a smile. "That's good."

"Yeah. I don't think the Queen will be very fond of the idea of working with someone who eats babies," Jupiter joked.

"Well, I'm more worried if a beautiful woman thinks I eat babies, but that too," Nephrite said.

Jupiter's eyes widened, and she quickly turned around to look at the cookies again.

What was wrong with her? She'd had suitors that gave her even more flattering compliments and she could always laugh them off. However, when the person in question was Nephrite, she suddenly felt like a giddy village girl who hadn't been given praises before.

It really is a crime to look so beautiful.

She decided to chalk it up to the fact that he looked too gorgeous to be real. It wasn't that the men that she had seen before were ugly. In fact, she had seen plenty of men who were prettier than he was. Perhaps it was because he seemed like the perfect combination of strength and beauty, or perhaps it was the fact that he looked like he could easily carry her and do push-ups at the same time, but there was just something about him that differentiated him from other men to her.

"Am I distracting you?" Nephrite suddenly asked.

Jupiter whipped her head around and stared at him, wondering if he knew what was going through her mind.

However, he gestured at the oven behind her. "You were baking something, weren't you?"

Relief washed over Jupiter, and she nodded with a smile.

"If you prefer for me to leave you alone …" he said.

Jupiter lowered her eyes and shook her head. "It's fine. Besides … the cookies were for you anyway."

"You made cookies for me?" Nephrite asked.

Jupiter looked up again and found him looking at her with a surprised yet delighted expression on his face.

"... Yeah," she answered with some difficulty. "I mean … regardless of if it was because of Zoisite, I did … punch you in the face."

He grinned. "That was one hell of a punch."

She looked at him with uncertainty, but it was quickly washed away when she noticed that he held no malice towards her. Or at least, that was what it seemed like from his expression.

"You know, nobody ever made cookies for me," Nephrite commented.

She hummed and said, "Well, you're one of Prince Endymion's guards, so they probably thought that if you wanted cookies, you could always order the royal chef to make it for you or something."

Nephrite scoffed, "There's a lot of difference between cookies made from a royal chef and … well, cookies made for someone specific."

Jupiter raised an eyebrow at him. "How so?"

Nephrite leaned against one of the counters and crossed his arms over his chest. "A royal chef makes dishes so that they would get praised. Maybe they would wish to make the person they're serving happy or maybe not, but in the end, there's no emotion behind it. There's no hidden message in there. The dish might taste good and look pretty, but there's a lack of care. On the other hand, when someone makes something for that special someone, they're thinking about that person. They wonder if that specific person would like the shape, the taste, the smell … It's a kind of care that can't be felt through a fancy dish made by a royal chef."

Jupiter stared at him in wonder.

Just what kind of a man was he? She'd known that he could be straightforward, since he hadn't bothered beating around the bush when he spoke to her; he could be belligerent, judging by the way he'd beaten up Zoisite; and he could be sweet, as could be seen by the simple gesture of bringing her roses. However, this emotional side of him was one that she hadn't seen coming and it thoroughly surprised her.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head slightly upwards as if he were daring her to contradict him.

She should add "downright confrontational to the point of being in your face" to his list of attributes as well.

And somehow, it made her smile instead of getting angered. "No."

His face softened upon hearing her reply and he returned her smile.

They stood there in a comfortable silence for a short while, with Jupiter testing the cookies every once in a while to make sure they'd cooled down enough to be eaten and with Nephrite looking around the kitchen in mild interest.

"The cookies should be ready," Jupiter finally announced, and she felt that her voice was much calmer than what she was feeling.

The insecurity was something new to her. Throughout her life, she'd always been proud and sure of herself. However, standing here in the middle of the kitchen with a trayful of freshly-baked cookies in front of a man (a Terran man, too), she felt her insides twist and turn, threatening to make her retch.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

What was she thinking, giving him the first batch of cookies she'd ever made? She should've tasted them herself first, or maybe get someone to try them—that blond guard who was trying to ask her to the ball probably would be delighted to do so.

However, there wasn't anything she could do now except watch as Nephrite pick a cookie up from the tray and pop it into his mouth. The time seemed to slow down after that moment as she waited for him to say something. At least, she hoped that it wasn't so disgusting that he would spit it out.

She waited and waited, but it seemed like he took forever to chew that piece of cookie.

Why is he so slow? Do Terrans always chew for so long? Is he taking his time because it tastes horrible and he doesn't know how to spit it out without hurting my feelings?

After what seemed like a whole millennium, he finally swallowed.

"Well?" she immediately asked.

"Well what?" he asked instead of answering.

"How … do the cookies taste okay?" she asked.

"What—SHIT! Did you add something in there?" he asked, horrified.

"What?" she asked, confused now.

"It's poison, isn't it? But … you have super powers, why would you use poison on me?" Nephrite rambled. "No, wait. It's another one of Zoisite's pranks, isn't it? There's itching powder in there, isn't there? No, wait. He did that three months ago—"

Jupiter finally understood what he was worried about. Resisting the urge to giggle, she said, "There's no poison or itching powder in there! I … it's my first time making cookies, so I just wanted to make sure that they tasted all right. There are no pranks involved."

Nephrite stared at her, perhaps trying to see if she was being honest. In the end, he finally relaxed. Grabbing a cookie from the tray, he flipped it around in his hand and observed it.

"This has to be a prank," he said.

Jupiter raised an eyebrow at him and wondered what he was talking about.

He looked at her and gave her a half-smile. "Cookies this delicious? They can't possibly be the first cookies you'd ever made."

"They're … delicious?"

"Very much so," he answered, popping the cookie into his mouth. "Extremely delicious."

Jupiter beamed at him.

After he swallowed, he looked Jupiter in the eye and said, "Thank you."

"It's nothing. Like I said, it's … well, I hope that you will forgive me for … you know. That incident," she said.

"Of course," he said with a frown. "Did you truly think that I blamed you? I wasn't even angry at you anyway. What kind of a man would I be if I'm angry at you for something Zoisite did? Or did you think I would actually get angry for being punched in the face by a woman?"

"You're not?" she asked, surprised yet again.

He looked thoroughly offended. "Of course not."

The way he said it was so genuine, as if it was so ingrained into his mind, that it blew Jupiter away yet again.

He smiled again. "I'm thanking you because you'd given me an honor. You'd allowed me to be the first person to taste the first cookies you'd every baked. Thank you."

"Oh," she answered. She blinked twice, and she tried to find something something nice to reply to what he had said, but nothing came. In the end, she could only give him a feeble, "You're welcome."

However, despite being at a loss with how to answer him, she knew that his words had triggered something in her heart, something that felt as dangerous as it was intriguing.

And that something thoroughly entranced her.

~-0-~