Page 181 of The Dragon 2
“The reason why I took you to the side, Nyomi is because I want you to understand that you cannot let the Dragon devour you. Seduce him. Tame him. Reign over him if you must. But don’tdisappearinside him. That is not what women like us do.”
“I’ve got it.”
“We still should figure out what happened.”
My voice was barely a breath. “He confessed something and then it got emotional.”
“I thought so with the snippets I gathered. And. . .whatever he confessed that is good for you.”
“Well. . .it was a secret.”
“Secrets are good. The Dragon sits on a throne, and that throne is Japan. That means he doesn’t have to tell you anything. He can keep and fuck you without saying anything. . .if you are a. . .regular woman. Therefore, if he shared anything, then he sees you as important and powerful within his heart.”
“Yeah, but this wasn’t a good secret.”
“Not all secrets are good.”
“But he did apologize for not telling me sooner.”
Hiroko blinked once. Then twice. Her painted lips parted, and for a beat, she looked like I’d told her the moon had bowed to me. “He apologized?”
“Yes.”
“The Dragon?”
“Yes.”
Then a slow, dangerous smile curved across her face. “Kenji Sato does not apologize. Not to his enemies. Not to his men. Not to women.Never.”
She stepped back like the news physically startled her. Then, her eyes gleamed, not with envy, but with delight. “With this dinner tonight, you didn’t just seduce the Dragon. You’ve unspooled him. Do you understand what that means?”
I stared at her. “I don’t know what it means. Not fully. He got even more intense after the apology.”
She exhaled sharply and stepped closer again. “It means you are no longer flirting with control—you have it. Even if you don’t know how to hold it yet.”
I swallowed hard. “He still tries to dominate everything.”
“Of course he does. He’s the Dragon. It’s in his nature to conquer. He will never stop. But tonight, he didn’t just let you see his underbelly, he exposed it willingly. A man like that onlybares his throat when he wants to be ruined by someone he believes is worthy.”
“I’m not trying to ruin him.”
“You already are ruining him. Every meal. Every word you say, and yet. . . he’s not pulling away. He’s leaning in. Dragons don’t kneel, Nyomi. But they do circle what they can’t stop burning for.”
“Then why does it feel like I’m the one being consumed?”
“Because you are.” She didn’t blink. “But here’s the secret—power isn’t about never being devoured. It’s about choosinghowto be devoured. Minutes ago, you weren’t choosing to be devoured, you were just letting him.”
My body was still trembling with the echo of his kiss. “He told me that he’s rearranging his empire for me.”
Hiroko let out a short, stunned chuckle—then covered her mouth like it had betrayed her. “Rearranging his empire?”
“Yes.”
She muttered something sharp in Japanese before looking up.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means Tokyo may not be safe in these next days.”
