Page 62 of Dueling the Suitors

Astoria’s eyebrows flew up. Gone was the seriousness on his face. A smug smirk tugged at his lips, and his dark eyes gleamed challengingly at her.

This couldn’t be happening. The whole point of this scheme was to get underhisskin, not to give him a chance to get underhersmore than he already had.

“What do you say, darling?” His voice took on a teasing note as her response delayed. He lifted a hand in the air and waved it around twice.

The décor of her room was immediately replaced with its original one—black and lavender-grey.

“That’s the best you can do?” She snorted and lifted her hand in the air. Golden magic burst from her fingers and flowedaround the room to decorate it back to her taste, but it bounced off the walls and ceiling like an invisible shield was blocking their reach.

Astoria immediately realized what was happening. Anger and resentment burned within her. She gave him a withering glare.

“You thought I didn’t know how to play?” he asked. “Oh, darling, I am a mastermind. It’s about time you realized that.” He winked and sauntered back into his room, closing the door behind him. “My room is ready to be cleared of your garden when you are!”

Astoria glared at the door, her chest rising and falling rapidly from the force of her furious breaths. She hated him.

She hated him.

She hated him.

She hated him!

Princess—

Don’t patronize me, Sky!She fell back onto the bed and squeezed her eyes shut to block out the black and lavender-grey in her room. She grabbed a pillow, pressed it to her face, and screamed into it.

She had been right. Being married to this man had made her a mad woman.

He might have won again, but her games had only just started.

And she still had the upper hand, didn’t she?

His room would remain a garden until the morning came and she was up. Until then, he would have no other choice but to walk around the flowers.

Satisfied with that thought, she let sleep reclaim her.

* * *

Astoria banged on the interconnected door after breakfast. When Cyrus didn’t answer, she assumed he wasn’t there and let herself in.

She released a laugh at the sight that greeted her. She hadn’t been able to examine her work last night after casting the spell, as she had to avoid the risk of being caught red-handed. She’d wanted it to be his morning surprise. And it turns out, this was marvelous payback for someone who despised gardens.

Who else in their right mind wouldn’t plant one on their palace grounds?

Astoria admired her work for a moment, embedding the sight into her memory before she undid the spell. She sighed as the garden disappeared and Cyrus’ room transformed back to its ugliness.

Ugly. Even as she let her eyes wander about in admiration.

The elegance of the room was almost the same as Astoria’s, but the vast, circular balcony caught her breath. The view the balcony provided beckoned her forward, but Astoria snapped back to her senses and remained rooted to the doorway.

His room wasugly. The black and lavender-grey sucked the life out of it.

Wait…

Astoria stepped forward and stretched out her arms. Magic flowed out of her fingertips. She changed every black in his room to leafy green and every lavender-grey to gold.

He deserved it.

Sighing in satisfaction, she stepped back and closed the door. Skylar gaped at her from the bed.

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