Page 81 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
She nodded. “Very much.”
“And your father?”
Her expression darkened. “He loved her. That was the best thing about him.”
“And the worst?”
“He spent the rest of his life trying to outrun his grief. Until it caught up to him.”
Magnus said nothing for a long moment. Although he tried to return his gaze to the stage, his eyes strayed back to her beautiful face.
“I know what that’s like,” he admitted quietly.
She turned to him, and their eyes locked. “Did you lose someone, too?”
His jaw flexed. “My aunt.”
Her eyebrows rose, surprise flashing between them. That was unexpected.
“You never speak of her.”
“I don’t know how to.”
Without thinking or considering the consequences, Lily rested her hand on his. It was a light and uncertain gesture, but it was real. Deep.
“What was she like?” she asked.
Magnus stared ahead at the stage, watching the actors move around. “Gentle. Smart. And kind to a fault.” A pause. “She died because she trusted someone she shouldn’t have.”
Lily didn’t press further. She only squeezed his hand gently, letting whatever weight in the atmosphere settle between them.
When the silence returned, it felt different somehow. Gentle. Companionable. And when she turned to look at his face again, she found him already staring at her.
His gaze fell on her lips.
There was no calculation now. No guardedness as the tension between them shifted into something different. Something fragile begging to become more.
“You’re dangerous,” Magnus said, his voice rough with restraint.
“So are you,” she whispered.
His hand rose to her jaw, his thumb softly brushing her cheekbone. “If I kiss you again?—”
“I won’t stop you.”
That was all he needed.
In one swift motion, his hand pulled her closer before their lips met in a kiss that was utterly unlike the last.
This wasn’t greed or chaos.
This was reverence. Hunger.
He kissed her like a man who had been holding back for far too long and now had finally broken free.
Lily melted into him immediately, her fingers knotting into the folds of his coat, her mouth moving against his in a rhythm that felt more like admission than desire.
When he pulled her even closer, the entire world felt like it narrowed to the space between their hearts. The stage was forgotten, including the beautiful theater.
