Royal Reboot: Level up, Your Majesty!

Chapter 38: Queen vs. The Consequences of Cuddling

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 welcome to check me. Thoroughly.”

Astra blinked. A faint blush. “Last time 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 remembered.”

"How could I forget?" Eydis’s fingers drifted through her hair absently, unaware Astra was still watching her, tracking every movement like it meant something.

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 something 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 immediately. The scent hit harder than expected, dragging memory 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 recommendation. For research, of course.”

Her curiosity was genuine. The perfumes her teenage self could afford were less ‘eau de toilette’ and more… ‘odour of the toilet’. Astra’s scent, however, was something else entirely.

Something 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 complimented plenty of times. Envy made a hobby of it, to win her favour. But those were often empty praises with hidden motives.

Everyone in her life seemed to operate that way, didn't they? Yet, a compliment 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 came out rougher than she’d intended.

Astra smiled, slow and unsure. It wasn’t practiced, but it was beautiful. It did something to Eydis she hadn’t prepared for.

For the first time, she wondered if there was meaning to... winning this. Whatever this was.

"You're one to talk, Eydis," she countered. The way she said Eydis’s name, how it sounded almost like a hesitant caress on the syllables, felt… intimate.

Her name had never sounded like that before. Not tentative. Not cherished.

Eydis forgot what she meant 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 something volatile. Her breath brushed Astra’s skin, and still she moved closer.

“Is that so, Astra?” She savoured the name 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 me again when you’re not about to inhale me.”

Eydis laughed. "Can’t help it, can I? We already established you smell divine. Unless you’re fishing for compliments 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. Metaphorically, of course.

Eydis wondered if, in this lifetime, 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 meant more than just the words. “Not a healer?”

“Do you remember everything I say?” Eydis was both surprised and oddly pleased.

“Silver tongue.” Astra’s eyes skimmed 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 lifetime, 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 me 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 shameless body heat theft? The disrespect for personal space? The tendency to knead her roommate’s belongings with sharp claws?”

"So you know it's shameless. 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 means,” 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 meant 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 blamed her familiar, the room, the air, the stars, anything else.

But what came next surprised them both.

“Is that an offer, Astra?”

So. Much. For. Damage. Control.