Page 72 of Dueling the Suitors

He unclasped his cloak and took off his crown, and placed them both at the foot of her bed.

She eyed him warily. “What are you doing?”

Instead of answering, Cyrus sat down and grabbed her ankles. She squeaked and tried to tug them free from his hold.

“Relax, I’m not going to hurt you!” He widened his eyes to underscore his words and held her feet firmly on his lap.

“You are touching me!” She stared at him, horrified.Whatwas he doing?

“I call this an apology gesture.” He gave her a small smile, one that made him look slightly vulnerable, and began to take off her shiny black slippers. “You’re not exactly on the list of people who will receive a verbal apology from me. So, until you do, whenever I mess up, this will be how I make it up to you—my apology gestures.”

“And let me guess, you plan on messing up more in the future so it would give you an excuse to touch me.” Her words didn’t have the desired sharpness as his hands began to massage her feet, and her voice became breathy.

A smirk tugged at Cyrus’ lips, and he looked up at her from her feet. “Well, I cannot say I didn’t consider—hey!” He grasped her ankles firmly as she tried to pull them back and let out a huff of laughter. “Don’t jump to conclusions. I didn’t even finish what I was saying. So, as I was saying, I cannot say I didn’t consider it, but I decided against it because I’m an honorable man. Even though we are married and I could take advantage of you, I will not.”

His words didn’t take her off the edge, but she didn’t ask him to stop what he was doing either. Astoria curled her hands on the bedspread and sat with her back stiff, watching his movements with caution. If he did something he wasn’t supposed to do, shewould act. Surely, defending herself wouldn’t count as attacking him.

His hands massaging her feet made her whole body burn and tingle strangely as though he was running his hands all over her. Was he using a healing spell for sore feet? That would explain the tingling effect.

Cyrus looked from her feet to her face again. “Lie back and relax. You won’t know you can trust me until you let me prove myself to you.”

So she relaxed, and eventually closed her eyes as she leaned her back against the propped-up pillows, but only after throwing him a warning glare.

“Feeling better?” he asked after a few minutes, his voice so soft and calm it barely sounded like his.

Astoria had to crack her eyes open to ensure he was still him before she hummed her response, unable to form a verbal one.

A few moments later, Astoria felt the warmth bathing her body reach towards her heart. She opened her eyes and found him looking at her, with a strange, almost solemn look in his eyes.

She startled a little. What was going on in his mind? She didn’t dare ask. Something told her she would rather not know the answer.

Their eyes locked. Neither of them looked away. As the moments stretched, the warmth flooded her heart even more.

Cyrus was lifting her feet off his lap and shifting closer to her, not breaking their eye contact. Astoria didn’t stop him, didn’t move away, didn’t even ask what he was doing.

He reached her slowly, almost hesitantly, as if he were testing the waters; like he expected her to push away from him at any moment.

But Astoria stayed in her place. Something anchored her there, and even if she wanted to, she couldn’t move. Strangely enough, she didn’twantto move.

Tension crackled in the air between them. Cyrus sat as close to her as possible, and at some point, Astoria straightened herself from her leaning position too.

Cyrus lifted a hand to the side of her head and touched her hair. “May I?”

She could only nod.

His fingers began to take the pins out of her hair gently, one by one, and set them on the bed where she had already placed her crown. With each pin that came down, each lock of hair fell until it framed her face. Cyrus’ fingers undid her intricate braids with utmost care and concentration, and combed through her tresses.

His eyes moved to hers, and Astoria lost what little air she had in her lungs at the soft, adoring, yet intense look that filled his eyes.

Then he smiled.

Her heart stopped for a moment.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, his voice so quietly reverent Astoria barely heard it. “You aresobeautiful.”

Leaning in, he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, his fingers tangling in her hair as he did. “Goodnight, Little Dragon,” he murmured and pulled back to look at her. “Dream of me.”

For the first time since they started this ridiculous routine, Astoria could only stare at him, unable to form her usual response.

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