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, crossed to the desk, and shrugged 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 asked. "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. "Last time I did that…"

"I used you as my blanket," Eydis finished.

Astra's cheeks turned pink, 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.

"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.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"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.

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 uncertain, beautiful in a way that stirred something in Eydis she hadn't been ready to feel. For the first time, she wondered if there was meaning to... winning this. Whatever this was.

"You're one to talk, Eydis," Astra 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.

Eydis forgot what she meant to say. She only wanted more of that, more of Astra when she wasn't trying to hold back. So she 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 snagged. Quiet, but Eydis heard it, felt it; the sound lit her nerves. She bit her lower lip to hide the grin.

Astra recovered quickly. "Oh, I'm not sure." A small twitch at her mouth. "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 again, searching for a reply. "You're… impossible."

"Impossible? What if I told you I'm not feeling quite myself? Would you offer 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—

No. The ocean's. Literal ocean.

"So I'm a doctor now? Not a healer?" Astra's voice had a husk to it.

"Do you remember everything I say?" Eydis sounded surprised, and secretly pleased.

"Silver tongue. Always deflecting."

"On the contrary, I was unusually straightforward with you."

"There's nothing straight…forward about you."

"Is that a riddle, Astra?" Eydis smiled. Modern slang was starting to feel familiar on her tongue.

"And there it is again. Deflection."

Eydis let her gaze rest on the faint blush across Astra's cheeks. "No deflection. And are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Are you alright?" Eydis's voice danced between teasing and genuine care. "Wouldn't want you catching my symptoms, considering..."

Considering our night.

She kept the words inside. Intimacy was a line she wasn't ready to cross, not in this life or the next. People like them, creatures of shadow, didn't get soft things without cost.

"I'm fine," Astra mumbled, then, with mischief lighting her eyes, "Just allergic."

"To what, exactly?"

"Cats."

"You're calling me a cat?"

Astra fought a smile. "You purr. You invade space." She shrugged. "Yeah. Sure. Why not?"

Eydis laughed again. 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 who tensed, just slightly, in the most endearing way. "Not the shameless body-heat theft? The disrespect for personal space? The habit of kneading my roommate's… things?"

"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 warm 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, I simply couldn't resist getting closer. Call it weakness. A feverish feline seeking sanctuary in a cold, cruel world."

It was meant as teasing. The quiet that followed held too much truth.

Eydis cursed Lust and promised herself petty vengeance later. She reached for a safer line, any kind of damage control.

Astra found the words first, almost tender. "Are you saying I'm your sanctuary, Eydis?"

Her pulse jumped.

"Mine?" The word escaped before she could stop it. She blamed the room, the air, the stars.

Then came the thing neither of them expected.

"Is that an offer, Astra?"

So. Much. For. Damage. Control.

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