Page 28 of Acedia

“Not if it was anyone else. But for you, it’s fine.” Wasthatflirty? Or maybe it was just kindness. Or perhaps it was pity. Actually, that made the most sense. I was blind, and Damen felt sorry for me. “Hold on, I’ll kneel so you can reach.”

I widened my knees a little so he could kneel more comfortably in front of my seat, and up this close, I realized he smelled quite lovely. I couldn’t place my finger on what it was, but it made me think of sunshine. Could someone smell like that?

It was probably inappropriate of me, but I inhaled deeply, trying to take in more of that warm, bright, soothing scent. There was a noise so quiet I thought I must be imagining things, like he’d sucked in air through his teeth.

Damen gently held my wrists, lifting them up until my fingers brushed his jaw, then releasing me to feel around at my leisure. It was very… thoughtful. For some reason, it made my own face feel warm.

Not just my face. The warmth seemed to be traveling down my neck, and if I hadn’t been so absorbed in exploring Damen, I would have touched my chest to see if I could feel the heat there.

Much like his hands, the basics of Damen’s face seemed to be similar. Two eyes. A nose. A mouth. Everything felt much firmer and more angular than my face felt, but the general shape was the same. I smoothed over his brow with my thumbs, finding a sort of ridge but no eyebrows, and I followed it up on both sides, expecting to land at his temples, but instead going up.

And then up some more.

“My horns,” Damen murmured shakily as I followed the swooping curve of them.

“They must be majestic,” I replied, lingering a little longer than I probably needed to purely out of curiosity. They were so thick and sturdy. I had the oddest urge to grab them. “Do you use them when you fight?”

“There are specialized fighting styles in different regions that still utilize the horns, but it’s not very common anymore. Wealthy Shades often decorate their horns by wrapping them in silver chains and obsidian jewels.”

“You’re not wearing any of those,” I observed, tracing my way down the curve. Surely, princes were wealthy?

“I prefer not to. I have a small crown I wear on special occasions,” he added almost sheepishly.

I wanted to feel his hair, so I came down to the base of his horns, wrapping my hands around them gently to get a feel for how thick they were. Damen sucked in a breath, shifting slightly in my grip.

“Sorry,” he rasped. “That’s… sensitive.”

I released him immediately. “I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“No, no. It didn’t hurt,” he replied, though his voice sounded a little strained. “You can keep going.”

I avoided his horns carefully this time, running my fingers through his hair. Like his skin, the texture was much thicker and smoother than mine, but I hadn’t touched a lot of humans to compare to.

His ears were pointed at the tips, and I moved on quickly from those because he squirmed a little as though they were ticklish, following down the thick column of his neck to his shoulders.

I definitely wasn’t exploring his face anymore, which was what he’d suggested, and I wasn’t going to go any lower. I just wanted to try get an idea of what kind of clothes he wore by touching the collar of his shirt. Did my clothes look strange compared to his? Currently, I only had the one outfit.

“Where’s your shirt?” I asked, partly to myself, as I danced my fingers along surprisingly broad, hard shoulders. My shoulders certainly didn’t feel like that. Neither had Nana’s, and I was very familiar with them from all the shoulder rubs I’d given her over the years.

“Ah. Right. Shades don’t wear clothes, strictly speaking.”

I snatched my hands back instantly. “You’re naked?”

“No, no. We use shadows as coverings,” he said hastily. “We can manipulate them, make them more solid or less. Here, feel.”

I startled as something soft—far softer than Damen’s skin—brushed over my palm before sliding up and curling around my wrist, settling into place like a bracelet. It seemed to swirl in place for a few seconds before disappearing like it had never been there, and I rubbed the spot absently with my fingers, keenly feeling its loss. What an odd sensation.

“So you’re covered, but it’s not solid the way that fabric is?” I asked, wanting to touch his shoulders again but deciding that was probably a little too bold. I’d been plenty bold already.

Damen cleared his throat. “Yes. Um, you can feel, you know. My chest, if you like. You should be able to feel the faint brush of the shadows as you put your hand through them.”

I knew I was taking liberties. Nana had always said how important it was that I keep my hands to myself, even though they were my way of understanding the world. But hehadoffered.

And I wastryingto flirt. Sort of. I still doubted that a prince had any real interest in me, but I wanted him to know that I was perfectly capable of experiencing lust.

The shadow covering did faintly tickle my skin as I pressed my hand to his chest, but that wasn’t the part I was most interested in feeling.

Damen’s chest didn’t feel anything like my chest. My chest was squishy.

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