Page 60 of Dueling the Suitors

“Do you want me to seal it?”

“If you have a plain seal, yes.”

Cyrus opened the drawer and searched for a plain seal, sparing her a glance. “Remind me to make you a seal of your own, Empress Astoria.”

He gave her a teasing smirk. Astoria’s heart constricted hearing her new title, but she rolled her eyes at him.

Cyrus sealed the letter and closed his eyes, not before giving her a wink, which did strange things to her insides.

Astoria forced her eyes to stay on the letter in his palms rather than his face, noticing the way his eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated and how his unfairly long eyelashes brushed below his eyes. But she failed. At that moment, he looked more human than she had ever seen him.

Then she remembered the way he had looked at her on their wedding day when she walked down the aisle to him.

Her heart accelerated. He had looked even more human then than now. But whatmadehim look like that when he stared at her, she had no idea.

Astoria snapped out of her thoughts as his eyelashes fluttered and opened. She was quick to drop her gaze to his now-empty palms so he didn’t catch her watching him—thankfully.

“There, now. Your precious letter has been sent to your precious brother.” Cyrus dusted off his hands.

Astoria eyed him. “How do I know you didn’t simply send the letter somewhere else in this palace and not to my brother?”

“You don’t,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone and smirked as she huffed. “Your only option is to trust me.”

“My trust is the last thing you will ever have,” she snapped and turned on her heels to storm out of the room.

“By the way, your coronation is in a week. I’m about to send out the invitations to my court and my vassal kings. Oh, and the royal seamstress will see you today after lunch to take yourmeasurements. I don’t know about you, but I am quite eager to announce our marriage to the continent.”

He gave her that annoying smirk.

“Yes, you already rambled about how you long to flaunt me as your wife yesterday. I have no desire to hear it again.” She shot him one last glare over her shoulder and stomped out of the study, with the perfect scheme for revenge in her mind.

The first of many.

That night, when Cyrus came to their interconnected door and wished her good night, repeating the same words as the last two nights, Astoria opened the door and shot him a sweet smile.

“Bad night, Big Dragon. Dream of flowers.”

She shut the door on his baffled face, biting her lip to keep from grinning too broadly.

13

The Vengeful Princess

“Astoria!”

Cyrus’s yell from the interconnected door’s other side woke her up. Astoria grinned and turned her face to the pillow to muffle her giggles. She lay still, pretending not to hear his outrageous call.

“You immature, rebellious woman!” Cyrus was banging on her door now. “Open the door this instant, or I will open it myself!”

Stop pretending, Princess. That banging and yelling could wake even a giant. He will know you are not responding on purpose,Skylar said.

Please don’t ruin my fun, Sky.

“Astoria!”

Astoria rolled her eyes. “What’s the matter, husband?”

“Perhaps you would like to explain how my room turned into a flower nursery overnight?”

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