BOUND BY ROYALTY

CHAPTER 19

_ _ _

The past few days had been... different.

There was no more space between us. No lingering avoidance, no excuses to slip away before our conversations could stretch into something deeper. I had stopped fighting it the pull, the quiet warmth that always seemed to settle in Aleron's presence.

And Aleron... he didn't rush me. He never did.

His patience was something I didn't know I needed until I had it, until I realized how rare it was to be wanted without being demanded. He had let me come to him in my own way, in my own time, and now, standing beside him as he went through some documents in his study, I felt something shift.

A quiet understanding. A bond that wasn't just forced upon us but was slowly, irrevocably, being formed.

Still, there was something else.

Something curling under my skin, something I couldn't ignore. My body felt restless, heat simmering just beneath the surface, making my breaths feel too shallow, my skin too sensitive. I had known this feeling before, the slow but inevitable approach of my heat.

But this time, it felt different.

Maybe because, for the first time, I wasn't entirely afraid of the person who would be beside me when it came.

_ _ _ _

I shifted in my seat, trying to ignore the heat coiling in my stomach. It wasn't unbearable yet but it was there, a quiet, persistent thing that made every breath feel heavier, every brush of fabric against my skin more noticeable.

It wasn't supposed to come this early.

Aleron sat across from me, his head bent over a document, the afternoon light casting golden streaks through his ocean-blue eyes. He had been going through reports for the past hour, and I had barely spoken, too preoccupied with the way my own body was betraying me.

But then he looked up.

His gaze locked onto mine, and for a moment, I forgot how to breathe.

"You're restless." His voice was steady, but there was something else in it, something knowing.

I swallowed hard. "I..." I looked away, frustrated at how easily he could read me. "I'm fine."

Aleron didn't reply immediately. Instead, he set his quill down, leaned back in his chair, and studied me.

"You're warm," he said after a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly, he sniffed the air, as if he could already smell my pheromones. "Lucian, are you..."

"No." I cut him off too quickly. My fingers curled in my lap as I forced myself to steady my breathing. "It's nothing."

His brow furrowed, clearly unconvinced, but he didn't push. Instead, he sighed and stood, rounding the desk until he was in front of me.

I refused to look up.

"Lucian." His voice was softer now, closer.

I exhaled shakily as his fingers gently tilted my chin up.
His fingers felt cold against my hot face. The moment our eyes met, something shifted in the air between us.

His touch was light, careful, but it sent a shiver down my spine. My skin felt too hot, my pulse unsteady, and I knew, I knew he could feel it too. He could smell it too.

"You don't have to hide it from me," he murmured. "You never have to."

I hated how easily those words made something inside me weaken. How they made me want to lean into him, just a little.