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Cyrus shook his head, his eyes finding a spot on the ceiling as though he could not look at me during this conversation.
“Your army is my army, Sweetheart.”
“Not yet it isn’t.” I spat back at him, my hands grasping the seat of the chair I was sitting on, my knuckles turning white at the force. “We are not yet married, Cyrus.”
Bringing his eyes back from the ceiling above us, Cyrus narrowed them as he glared over the desk at me again, as though my words had struck a nerve. My stomach flipped at the look he was giving me, and for a minute, he looked like someone else entirely.
We sat there, glaring at each other and neither of us saying anything, for what felt like an eternity.
“He will not hurt me.” I said again, softer this time, and let one hand go from where it gripped the seat and reached over Cyrus’s desk again, palm up. He looked down at my hand briefly, before returning his gaze to my face. His expression softened enough that I knew I had broken through to him, and with a sigh, he reached his own hand back out and locked our fingers together again.
“I have one condition.” Cyrus squeezed my fingers, and I nodded, waiting. “Ten days from now we will be married.”
My breath got stuck in my throat at his sudden ultimatum. I was operating as though we still had weeks, all the planning and preparations were going to have to be rushed through if I agreed to his proposition. It threw all my plans of killing him on our wedding night into the air and laughed at them as they fell in a circle around my feet.
“Fine.” I nodded, squeezing his fingers back, “Ten days from now, we will be married.”
Cyrus’s returning smile was blinding, and he stood from his desk, pulling me up with him. His hand stayed locked in mine as he rounded the desk to stand in front of me, placing a kiss on my forehead. His other hand found its way to the side of my neck, and he tilted my chin upwards, the breath-taking smile still on his face as he looked down at me.
“Take me to him, then.” He smiled, and I blinked at his words until they registered in my head completely.
I stepped back from him, our hands remaining joined, and led him from his study and towards the dungeons.
~~~
The heavy, humid air of the dungeons weighed heavy on my lungs as Cyrus and I stepped through the door.
Cyrus crumpled his nose at the smell of damp, pushing both of his hands into his pockets and trailing behind me. The dirt on the ground crunched under our feet as I led him down the long, dull room. He paused beside the only other occupied cell in the space, and I frowned as I watched him lean in close to the bars, a look of pure intrigue on his face as he took in the shrouded figure in there.
I cleared my throat, clasping my hands together and gesturing my head in the direction we needed to go. Cyrus nodded, casting a glance back into the cell he had stopped at, and knocked his knuckles against the metal bars before joining me again.
I could see Maeteo from here, sitting on the floor beside the cell door, his head tilted back against the wall and a smirk on his features. His eyes flitted between Cyrus and me, and the smirk on his face turned into a full-blown grin as a laugh rumbled from his chest. I settled him with a look that I hoped told him to behave himself and stopped outside of his cell.
A heavy hand on the bottom of my back made me takeanother unsteady breath, turning my head to see Cyrus standing slightly behind me, his eyes narrowed as he took in Maeteo, who had now stood and had his arms through the bars of the cell door, leaning on them as though he had no worries in the world.
“This is a surprise,” Maeteo’s voice was heavy with lack of use, but his face remained calm — unbothered.
“We came to ask you some questions.” I started, a hum from Cyrus making me tense, the last thing I needed was for the two of them to start fighting.
“Really? Because he looks like he came here to kill me.” Maeteo grinned, flicking his eyes to Cyrus and looking at him up and down. I felt rather than saw Cyrus’s hand curl into a fist against the fabric of my dress, and I reached behind me blindly, putting my hand onto his thigh and squeezing. An effort at both a warning and a reassurance.
“Behave, Maeteo.” I warned him, levelling him with my best attempt at a queenly gaze. “Who did you come here with?”
Maeteo did not answer straight away. He instead stared at me for long enough to make me squirm where I stood, his eyes running over every inch of my face and body until I felt as though he had undressed me completely in the middle of this dungeon.
The sound of dragging chains from the other occupied cell broke the tense silence, Cyrus’s head whipping around to stare at whoever was in there.
“The twins are here, too.” Maeteo finally said, breaking the silence, and my heart sunk in my chest. “And Aepein.”
“The dragon?” Cyrus asked, interest showing through his tone. Maeteo glared at him but nodded his head anyway.
“Where are they?” I asked, stepping away from Cyrus slightly and placing my hand on top of Maeteo’s surprisingly cold ones. He stared at the sudden contact, blinking as though he could not quite believe it was real.
“We found a bunker in the tunnels under the city.” He said softly, “They have been waiting there.”
I nodded my head, releasing Maeteo’s hands and stepping back, Cyrus’s touch returning to my back instantly. I looked over my shoulder at him, his eyes already on me. The ice blue orbs were staring so intently at me, and I wondered if he was waiting for me to make the next call.
Sucking in a breath, I pursed my lips together and nodded, swinging my head back around to face Maeteo.
