31. Astraea #2
“Come on,” Kyros says, turning toward the hallway and running his palm down my arm until my hand opens up for him.
Our fingers lace together as he begins guiding me toward the hallway.
The front door creaks as it opens again, and we pause as Rowan steps inside, followed by Viltarin and Ruaan.
Silence hangs heavy in the air as something passes between all of the men.
I can’t help but feel that something has to do with me as Rowan’s eyes darken when they catch on where I stand by Kyros’ side.
Kyros tightens his grip on my hand, firm but not painful.
The softness in his features hardens into his typical scowl, and he pulls me again with something that sounds like an animal's low rumbling growl.
“What was that all about?” I ask when we finally reach the bedroom, and I’m left staring at the back of his head.
The tie that is usually there is gone. Instead, his hair hangs long and wavy across his tense shoulders.
He leans against the window sill and looks down, his body clearly rigid and stressed.
My heart begins to race at the way he has yet to turn to face me.
My hand aches where it was just held in his.
“Kyros?” I attempt to sound calm as I so desperately want to get his attention.
My heart is now thundering in my chest. Something tells me if I were to have my hand pressed to his, this frantic feeling would be knocking against my palm in the same rhythm.
“They think you’ve known all along.” He finally says, though his voice is only a croaking whisper.
Still, he doesn’t turn around. My brows drop low as I consider what he’s saying and how he refuses to look at me.
“They think you’ve been hiding the fact that you have magick.
That you’re working with Connard, and even the games for your betrothal were a ruse.
” His words hit me like a punch to the gut.
Wrenching the air from my lungs, I stumble backward as though it were a visceral blow.
“And… you believe them?” I scoff incredulously, unable to keep the venom out of my tone.
The vitriol I feel over the accusation demands it.
He cannot be serious. I shake my head in denial as I stare at his back in disbelief over this accusation, and his shoulders slump before he finally turns to face me.
“Shula. Of course I don’t believe them.” Kyros says resolutely, and my heart jumps at his response. I see the truth of that statement in his eyes, more even, I feel it in my chest through the connection we seem to share.
“Then why ask?” I grind out between my teeth.
I didn’t realize I’d pressed myself against the door we’d just walked through until Kyros now closes the distance between us.
He anchors his hand above my head on the panels of the wood door.
Towering over me, he drapes me in his shadow.
His chin dips slowly, his head turning just enough that his next words send his breath skating through my hair, tickling the skin along the column of my neck.
“I wasn’t asking. I was telling you what they’re thinking…
But I don’t give a fuck what they think...
” His fingers slip through the strands of my hair and wrap around the back of my neck.
He gently forces my gaze up to meet his, and I can’t help but tremble.
“I refuse to keep things from you anymore. I know how it feels to have my entire life changed, purely because of those I thought I could trust keeping the truth from me. I claimed you as mine—you are my twin flame. And regardless if either of us truly knows what that means in the God’s eyes…
I now know what it means to me.” Everything in me aches at his confession, my teeth throb, my core tightens, and my breathing comes more erratic with every second that dances between us.
“There is a lot more I need to tell you, but as soon as I do, everything is going to change.” Kyros continues to stare directly into my eyes as he speaks.
He exhales slowly, his gaze never retreating, and continues, “Everything around us is going to change, but Shula, I need you to understand that nothing here will ever change.” He takes my hand and presses it over his heart as he holds his stare into my now watery eyes.
“I know I haven't given you many reasons to trust me in the past, but I need you to trust this promise; I will share every detail I can, once I understand what’s going on.
I won't keep things from you like before.”
“And even when everything changes, our flame will always burn.” I whisper back, looking at where my hand rests and then back into his heated black eyes.
He pulls at the straps of my leather vest, much more gently than the last time he was removing it from my body.
As though sensing that I need his touch to be gentle.
“Our flame will always burn.” He repeats as he pays attention to the straps, his fingertips brushing along my skin as he toys with them.
“I feel like all of this is a dream.” I mutter and watch him devour everything about me. His lips press together as his eyes flit back to my face. “It’s like a nightmare that’s holding me hostage, and through everything that has happened, nothing has pulled me from its clutches.”
“You don’t need to be pulled away—this is where you fight back.
Everything your life has challenged you with has built resilience in you.
I see it in your soul.” He steps in even closer; his body heat and scent of warm honey and smoky earth engulfs me.
Lifting a hand, he strokes his thumb delicately over the skin below my eye.
“I see it here.” His thumb scores a path down my cheek and brushes across my lips, causing them to part on an inhale.
“I hear it with every word that passes these beautiful lips.” My heart rate spikes as he leans forward, his lips hovering over mine.
“But more than anything, I feel it radiating from the flame that lives here.” His hand is warm and heavy as it presses against the center of my chest again.
He’s right. I know he is. I feel the strength building, and I think I have felt it for a long time.
I just never realized what it was. I would have never run from the palace if I didn’t have the courage to take the risk, and yet, there is still a part of me that feels guilty for where I am now. As ridiculous as it sounds.
Pushing up to the tips of my toes, I bring my lips to press against his.
The warmth of his mouth and the way his arms slide around my body feels so right.
I melt into his embrace. This life has taken more than it’s given.
I have been cursed to restricted knowledge and obscured truths, but right now none of it matters.
The only truth I need is burning between the two of us.
Everything feels as though it is out of control, and I finally understand Kyros’ need for dominance.
He gently pulls me away from the door. Guides me closer to the bed in the far corner.
I didn’t get a great look into the room before we stepped inside.
The filtered moonlight illuminates the space in a cool gray glow, and the room itself is stifling.
We come to an abrupt stop when the back of Kyros’ legs hit the low-lying bed.
I lean back as I ball my fist into the material of Kyros’ dark tunic.
The ends of the loose ties of his neckline tickle as they dance along my wrist with the shadows that now live there.
Kyros opens his mouth to say something, but using the pads of my fingers, I cover his lips to stop whatever it is he is about to say.
I don't need him to speak any more confessions. I don’t need him to make any further promises.
Right now, I need to show him my trust and what our bond means to me.
I shake my head with a coy smile. He narrows his eyes, but before he can say anything, I push him with the hand I have twisted in the fabric above his heart and force him to fall to his back on the center of the bed.
I’ve never truly been in control of anything, and though he says I have controlled him, it was never my intention. Raising my chin, I make a decision. I will be in control of my future, and I’ve already accepted his claim on me. Now, he is mine to claim.