The first rays of the morning sun had barely begun to pierce through the thick mountain mist when Ethan quietly slipped out from beneath the heavy blankets. Beside him, Louisa was completely and utterly exhausted, her delicate body deeply asleep, thoroughly spent after a long night of being relentlessly loved and claimed over and over again to satisfy her husband's monstrous, unyielding physical endurance.
Ethan dressed in a pristine white robe, checked on the still-sleeping Mary behind the privacy screen, and stepped out into the cool dawn air. It was time to inspect his new territory.
When he arrived at the massive commercial plot near the main peak junction, his amethyst eyes widened with a rare flash of genuine surprise. The sect's engineering corps had moved with a terrifying, supernatural speed. Although the structure was designed as a two-story pavilion, it possessed the staggering, sprawling footprint of an elite clan mansion.
