Page 32 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
“Did you come up with an answer?”
She hesitated, before jutting her chin in defiance. “It meant nothing.”
“Then why do you sound like you’re trying to convince yourself?”
Lily spun back toward him, her eyes flashing with growing rage. “You’re impossible.”
“And you,” he said, stepping closer still, “are lying to yourself.”
A shudder wracked her body at his proximity.
She hated how close he stood to her. How easily he slipped past her defenses. He stood just a breath away, and yet he didn’t touch her.
He didn’t have to; his nearness was enough. Enough to unsettle her.
“I have no intention of being one of your… conquests, Your Grace,” she hissed.
His gaze hardened. “I’ve never once thought of you that way.”
She lowered her gaze to her hands without answering. She didn’t know how to.
Magnus spoke again, his voice softer than before. “I kissed you because I couldn’t help it. Because you were looking at me like you were waiting for someone to see you. And I did.”
His words made her look up. Her lips parted, but no sound escaped.
Why did he have to say the most efficacious words?
Then, he stepped back, breaking the moment like glass on marble, leaving whatever had just transpired between them shattered, sharp, and most importantly, unfinished.
“I’ll leave you to your morning,” he said coolly, reverting to his usual demeanor.
As he turned and walked away, she didn’t stop him. She couldn’t.
The door clicked shut behind him. And Lily, still near the window, felt her knees tremble not from fury, but from the truth in his words.
She had just realized something: Magnus had seen her.
And that kiss… that kiss had seen through everything.
The air had just begun to cool as Lily walked alongside Eveline and Ava, the gravel crunching beneath their boots. Blooming roses lined the garden path, their scent persistent and heady.
As they walked, Lily kept her gaze fixed ahead. She could feel the sisters’ eyes boring into her, and she knew why. She had yet to make a significant contribution to the conversation.
But how could she? Back at home, she was caught between two storms—as Magnus had aptly described it.
Eveline was the first to break the silence.
“You seem… distant today, Lily. More than usual.” Her voice was soft, but beneath it lay a sisterly concern that made Lily want to spill everything at once.
She forced a laugh, but it sounded brittle. “Isn’t that just how I am? A bit tangled up in my own head?”
Ava exchanged a look with Eveline, her eyebrows knitting together. “No, there’s something behind it. We’ve known you long enough to tell.”
The weight of their concern made Lily’s chest tighten. But she quickly shook it off with another quick smile.
“I’m fine. Just… thinking about Cecilia. She’s off on her honeymoon with Theo, can you believe it? Seems like a lifetime ago when we were all caught up in her nightly complaints about her brother trying to choose a husband for her..”
Eveline eyed her, amused and not at all fooled by her attempt to change the topic.
