Queen vs. The Consequences of Cuddling
Are we going to address the floating eyeball situation (literally), or are we going to keep counting speckles in each other's eyes? Eydis pondered silently.
Very, very captivating eyes, but that was entirely beside the point.
She looked away first, crossing to the desk and shrugging off her blazer. There had to be a less awkward way to gather intel than prolonged eye contact.
Chance encounter with Theo in the library? Plausible enough.
"You... okay?" Astra’s voice cut through her thoughts. "You should've stayed in bed."
Eydis turned slowly. "My dear roomie,” she said with a faint smile, “I assure you, my health is impeccable. But if you’re concerned, you’re welco to check . Thoroughly.”
Astra blinked. A faint blush. “Last ti I did that…”
“I used you as my blanket,” Eydis finished.
The blush on Astra's face deepened, rivalling the scarlet lace lingerie peeking from a shopping bag. Eydis's eyes lingered on them. Normally, she would have scoffed at such a bold, brazen choice. But on Astra…
Curious, she thought.
Irrelevant, she corrected.
Her eyes snapped back up, but it was too late. Astra had caught the glance.
Astra cleared her throat, her darkened gaze falling to the floor as she discreetly nudged the bag containing the lingerie out of sight with her foot.
"So you rembered.”
"How could I forget?" Eydis’s fingers drifted through her hair absently, unaware Astra was still watching her, tracking every movent like it ant sothing.
The faint scent of sandalwood clung to her skin. She paused, brought her fingers to her nose, and frowned lightly. She’d doused herself in lavender earlier, a few sprays too many, if anything. And yet, here it was.
Still here.
Eydis wondered if it was sothing beyond physical. But of course, that thought was not only dangerous, but forbidden.
And yet, it lingered.
"Your essence,” she said, half to herself, lips quirking into a reluctant smile, “is rather… persistent.”
Astra stared. “My… essence?”
Eydis cursed under her breath. She’d really said that out loud. She took a breath and regretted it imdiately. The scent hit harder than expected, dragging mory with it: Astra’s hair against her cheek, soft laughter, the warmth of her—
Neck, she reminded herself, teeth gritting.
Just her neck.
"Sandalwood fragrance, is it not?" Eydis asked, trying for neutral. "I’d take a recomndation. For research, of course.”
Her curiosity was genuine. The perfus her teenage self could afford were less ‘eau de toilette’ and more… ‘odour of the toilet’. Astra’s scent, however, was sothing else entirely.
Sothing unsettlingly divine.
"Why?" Astra asked, her brow arched in a way that grated on Eydis's nerves.
Infuriating. Distracting.
“Must one hoard all life’s finer things?”
“That’s not what I—” Astra exhaled. “Your scent is lov—fine. It’s fine.”
Eydis went still. The warmth in her cheeks mirrored Astra’s. She’d been complinted plenty of tis. Envy made a hobby of it, to win her favour. But those were often empty praises with hidden motives.
Everyone in her life seed to operate that way, didn't they? Yet, a complint from Astra felt different. This felt… unscripted. Uncalculated. Human.
Astra realised it too. She stood from the bed, barefoot, stepping lightly through a minefield of her shopping bags.
Eydis held her ground, though the nearness made her pulse flicker.
Astra rested a hand on the desk beside her, the other lifting gently to Eydis’s forehead. "Are you really alright?"
Astra asked in her usual clipped tone, but the concern in her eyes said more. Eydis gripped the desk, steadying herself, then leaned in. Close enough to feel the warmth between them.
“One fever dream, and you’ve abandoned your beloved boundaries?” Her voice ca out rougher than she’d intended.
Astra smiled, slow and unsure. It wasn’t practiced, but it was beautiful. It did sothing to Eydis she hadn’t prepared for.
For the first ti, she wondered if there was aning to... winning this. Whatever this was.
"You're one to talk, Eydis," she countered. The way she said Eydis’s na, how it sounded almost like a hesitant caress on the syllables, felt… intimate.
Her na had never sounded like that before. Not tentative. Not cherished.
Eydis forgot what she ant to say. She only wanted more of that, more of Astra when she wasn’t trying to hold back.
Eydis leaned in, their closeness stirring sothing volatile. Her breath brushed Astra’s skin, and still she moved closer.
“Is that so, Astra?” She savoured the na as she said it, finally allowing it. “Care to elaborate on my sins?”
Astra’s breath caught. Just slightly. A sound no one else would have noticed. But Eydis heard it. Felt it. It thrilled her.
She bit her lower lip to hide the grin, teeth grazing soft flesh as she fought to keep control.
Astra, to her credit, recovered quickly. “Oh, I’m not sure,” her lips twitched. “Ask again when you’re not about to inhale .”
Eydis laughed. "Can’t help it, can I? We already established you sll divine. Unless you’re fishing for complints now, Ice Princess.”
“Divine?” Astra faltered once again, struggling to response. "You're...impossible."
"Impossible?" Eydis lowered her voice. "Suppose I confided that I wasn’t feeling entirely myself. Would you lend your expertise, Doctor?”
Astra edged back, crimson eyes darkening like deep water. taphorically, of course.
Eydis wondered if, in this lifeti, she would finally get the chance to chart those depths.
She caught herself and corrected inwardly. The ocean’s. Literal ocean.
“So I’m a doctor now?” Astra asked, her voice husky, as if she ant more than just the words. “Not a healer?”
“Do you rember everything I say?” Eydis was both surprised and oddly pleased.
“Silver tongue.” Astra’s eyes skimd the floor. “Always deflecting.”
“On the contrary,” Eydis answered softly, “I was unusually straightforward with you.”
“There’s nothing straight…forward about you.” The words nearly tripped out of Astra’s mouth.
"Is that a riddle, Astra?” Eydis smiled. Modern slang was starting to feel familiar on her tongue.
“And there it is again. Deflection.”
Eydis’s gaze lingered on the faint blush dusting Astra’s cheeks. “No deflection… Are you?”
“Am I what?”
"Are you alright?" Eydis’s playful tone couldn't quite mask the genuine concern in her eyes. "Wouldn't want you catching whatever I have. Considering..."
Considering our night.
But the words never made it out. Intimacy was a line she wasn’t ready to cross, not aloud. Not in this lifeti, nor the next. People like them, creatures of shadows, didn’t get to have soft things. Not without cost.
"I’m fine,” Astra mumbled, then, mischief lighting her eyes, “Just allergic.”
"To what, exactly?”
“Cats.”
"Are you calling a cat, Ice Princess?”
Astra bit back a smile. "You purr. You invade space." She shrugged. “Yeah. Sure. Why not?”
Laughter escaped Eydis before she could stop it. Anyone else would’ve been incinerated on the spot. But from Astra, the insult was… charming.
“The way I purr?” Eydis purred, to test the sound, to test Astra, who tensed endearingly, even if only slightly.
Eydis tried to suppress a smile. “Not the shaless body heat theft? The disrespect for personal space? The tendency to knead her roommate’s belongings with sharp claws?”
"So you know it's shaless. Not just kneading, but rubb—"
Astra snapped her mouth shut too late.
Eydis’s eyes darkened. She leaned in again, close enough to brush warmth into Astra’s cheek. “Rubbing, physically, you say? You know, for an Ice Princess, you’re surprisingly… hot.”
Astra stopped breathing. Eydis could feel it.
“Eydis, y—”
“Which ans,” Eydis cut in, “I simply couldn’t resist getting closer. Call it weakness. A feverish feline seeking sanctuary in a cold, cruel world.”
The words were ant to tease, yet the silence that followed carried too much truth.
Eydis cursed Lust, vowed petty vengeance later. She searched for a new angle, a safer line, for damage control when Astra spoke first.
“Are you suggesting,” her voice almost tender, “that I’m your sanctuary, Eydis?”
Or not.
Eydis’s thoughts raced. She felt a dangerous intoxication, as if under the influence.
Astra’s mind was too sharp.
"Mine?" The words that tumbled from her own lips were purely instinctive. She cursed herself again and blad her familiar, the room, the air, the stars, anything else.
But what ca next surprised them both.
“Is that an offer, Astra?”
So. Much. For. Damage. Control.
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