31*

Before he could think any further, he quickly scooped more water into his hands and doused his face again, desperate to cool himself down.

Throughout his life, Ralf had never experienced anything like this.

As a child, he had been sick—too sick for his body to function the way it should. Years of constant chemotherapy, medications, and surgeries had left him numb to urges most people took for granted. His biology had been quiet, stifled before it could even awaken. He had been impotent.

But now… that wasn't the case anymore.

Uninvited, images of Sorn flickered through his mind—images that had no right to exist, things that Sorn would never do, things Ralf had never imagined before today. His stomach twisted.