Page 31 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
“You always do.”
She didn’t look at him, and her tone wasn’t cold. It was wounded. And that made it worse for Magnus.
Silence ensued. It was heavy, and sure enough expected. She could feel him behind her, the heat of him.
Then, he spoke in a low voice, “He needs to hear the truth, even if it comes from someone he hates.”
Her chest rose and fell as she bit back a reply. Because the truth wasn’t the problem; it was the man delivering it.
The man who had kissed her in the hallway two nights ago with a reckless tenderness that made her momentarily forget the predicament she and her brother were in.
It almost felt like betrayal.
And now he was here, speaking as if nothing had happened. As if the kiss hadn’t happened. As if her lips hadn’t quivered under his. As if she hadn’t leaned into him.
She turned around slowly. “You act like you know everything. But you don’t understand what this house means to us.”
His eyes locked onto hers. Those mesmerizing eyes. “I understand what it means to you. I’ve seen it in the way you look at the walls, like they’re alive. I’ve heard it in the way you speak of the past, as though it still has breath.”
Lily hated how steady his voice was. Hated how observant he was. Hated how he watched her intently. Hated more that her heart answered to it.
“I have to tell you,” she said tightly, “that kiss was a mistake.”
“I know.”
She blinked, her eyebrows knitting together. “That’s all you have to say?”
His answer was so brief, so quick, as though he had been expecting those words.
“What else would you like me to say?” he asked, stepping closer to her. “That I regret it too? I don’t.”
Her breath caught, and she swallowed thickly when his gaze dropped to her lips before returning to her eyes.
“But if you regret it, I’ll respect that.” He shrugged.
“That’s not—” She broke off and shook her head, suddenly flustered. “You don’t get to twist this around. You kissed me.”
“And you kissed me back.” He took another step forward.
The words hit her like a slap. The truth and the reality of them.
Suddenly, the air between them shifted. Perhaps it was the closeness of his body heat, but the space between them felt delicate yet dangerous like the silence just before lightning split the sky. The mood was rife with tension and she was suddenly taken back to the night before when she had crossed a line she shouldn’t have.
“I was confused and upset,” she said quickly. “You’d just told me everything I feared was true. You stripped away every illusion I had?—”
“And you kissed me,” he cut in. “Not because you were weak, but because youwantedto. For once.”
Lily let out a shaky breath and turned back to the window in a bid to hide the flush in her cheeks. However, the memory of his hand on the back of her neck, the way the world had vanished when his lips met hers, almost made it impossible.
“You think everything can be solved with that kind of arrogance?” she scoffed sharply.
“No,” his voice came from behind. “I wasn’t trying to solve anything. I just wanted to feel something honest. And I think you did, too.”
Her fingers curled around the sill tightly.
“You think I don’t know how dangerous this is?” she whispered. “You think I haven’t lain awake every night since, wondering what that kiss meant?”
Her honesty surprised her.
