Liu Mingyan kisses her slowly, thoroughly. It's been a long time since she's done this with anyone she didn't already know, who didn't come to her for this purpose. Who was not, to some degree, awed by her, as Empress and Luo Binghe's most favored. (Or, in Sha Hualing's case, resentful of her, which was its own kind of fun.)

It sparks an old hunger in her, the hunger to know and be known, as women and equals. She wraps a hand around the back of Susan's head and draws her deeper into the kiss.