“We’re going to be late,nio.”
Andrian adjusted a golden cuff link, frowning slightly at his reflection in the mirror. He’d tried his best to tame his hair into submission, but there was still that one stray strand falling across his brow. He pushed it out of his face and sighed as it fell right back.
He couldn’t believe that, with everything going on, he was worried about his fucking hair. Perhaps it was because there was so much else that he craved this small piece of normalcy.
He also knew Mariah was about to tease him for it, but that was tolerable to him. Preferable, actually.
Because her teasing him meant that she was with him, and he was with her, and they were figuring out how to face this fucked-up world of theirstogether.
Still a foreign concept, but one he loved, nonetheless.
“I’m almost ready!” Her strong, melodic voice called from the bathroom. He couldn’t help but smile. His queen could spend all day grinning ear to ear on a training pitch, covered in dirt andsweat, then turn around and spend three hours in a bathroom getting dressed.
Not that she really needed to. She could show up to any event wearing swords and battle leathers and still be the most beautiful one in the room.
But he understood why she wanted to get dressed up tonight.
It was the night before the Summer Solstice. In Leuxrith, this night was celebrated by a feast. While most came together in large family units, they’d been invited to a private event hosted by the council, along with the other adult members of prominent Leuxrithian families.
Andrian wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but he knew attending was important to Mariah. So here he was, dressed in a fucking suit and cape and fussing over his gods-damned hair.
“How do I look?”
He turned as Mariah emerged from the bathroom.
His entire world stilled and narrowed. His voice left him, knees buckling.
She looked…gods, there weren’t even words to describe the way she looked. Her white dress shimmered in the dying evening light, the gold-lined cutouts around her tanned skin gilding her form in moon-white flame. A matching cape draped across her shoulders, clasping at the base of her throat. She wore no crown, but never had she looked more like a queen.
“Andrian?” She lifted a delicate brow, humor edging her voice. The corners of her ruby lips kicked up in a smirk.
He swallowed hard. Blood rushed through his body, thrumming in his chest, his shadows purring in his ear. He opened his mouth, and when the words still wouldn’t come, he cleared his throat and closed the distance between them.
She watched as he walked, that beautifully frustrating smirk still tugging at her sinful mouth, her head tilting back as he halted in front of her.
He traced the shell of her ear, brushing his fingers through her dark waves. Her hair had grown; not nearly as long as it used to be, but still cascading over her shoulders, soft and thick. He hooked a finger beneath her jaw, thumb brushing over her cheek.
“You always look perfect,” he murmured breathlessly, “but right now, you could bring the gods themselves to their knees.”
Her smirk softened, but a bit of that mischief still lingered in her brilliant green eyes. “I don’t care much about what the gods think,” she said. “But it’s definitely nice to see you speechless.”
Andrian huffed a chuckle. “You don’t need to wear a dress like this to shut me up or get me on my knees,nio.”
“Oh, I know.” She leaned into him, her warm, sweet breath ghosting across his lips. “If it matters, you look pretty good yourself.”
“‘Pretty good?’” He scoffed. “Please. I know what I look like. Couldn’t let you hoard all the attention.”
“Cocky asshole,” she whispered with a smile, stretching up to him then taking a step away.
Tension rippled and coiled off his body as he fought back the urge to chase after her. He bit down hard on his tongue, swallowing the groan that waited in the back of his throat.
This was how it had been for the past two days. So much teasing, tantalizing, flirting, talking, just for her to pull away right at the end.
He didn’t know what the fuck she was up to, but, gods, was it driving himmad.
Mariah turned back to the mirror, smoothing down the shimmering material. “You don’t think it’s too much for a religious dinner?”
Andrian scoffed, using it to hide a release of some of the tension in his chest. “I would call the Luexrithians more spiritual than religious,nio,” he said. “And they’re far from modest aboutit. You remember Matheo’s face after his little adventure with Signe.”
