I wonder if I should be taking any drugs from him, but I’ve already eaten his food. It’s not like he wants to poison me.
I take the opportunity to have a better look at him from the back. The leather he’s wearing leaves little to the imagination, and I’m not complaining, because he’s simply exquisite. Evil, yes, but that doesn’t make his wide shoulders any less enticing.
But do I want tomarryhim? That’s a step toofar.
My polo shirt is ripped to shreds at the back, and I’ll have to take it off if he’s to apply any cream or magical lotion, so I get it over with and drop the uniform to the floor. The years in boarding school taught me that being self-conscious about nakedness is pointless, but Kyranis is not just anyguy.
He’s an elf, a prince, and the way he held my hand made it clear his intentions don’t include aplatonicwedding.
“Is that what you used for my wrists, years ago?”
Kyranis stills, but then faces me with a small box covered in mother of pearl. “Among other things. Since you’re still here, I assume you changed your mind?”
I hug myself, self-conscious of my stiffening nipples. “We don’t need to talk about it,” I mumble. It’s a memory I buried so deep that until tonight I really made myself believe it never happened. “I’d rather know why I’m so important to you. Can’t you get any other human’s shadow?”
Kyranis shakes his head and settles in a black throne in the corner with the box still in hand. He snaps his fingers, and I stiffen when water starts flowing in the bathtub behind me. “No, it cannot be just any human. The shadows of those drowning in the River of Souls are the most potent, soaked with dread or misery, so very close to death or dying already. It’s a dangerous feat to pull a human out of there. Many of those who try end up dying.”
I scoot to unlace my boots, but then realize I’m pretty much kneeling in front of his throne. Oh well, it’s too late to take that back now, so I glance up as if all of this is perfectly normal.
“But what am Ifor? Why do you need my shadow in the first place?”
“It becomes mine. It’s... like a resource I can use for shadowcraft, and it never runs out, for as long as you live. Shadows of humans like you are stronger than ours, because you are the children of the sun yet stood at the precipice of eternal darkness. When you are mine, I will be able to dip my ancestral sword in your shadow to give it sharpness no beast can withstand.”
Why does it sound so dirty when he talks about dipping hisswordin me?
Kyran continues, watching me as if he wants to flay me with his gaze alone. “When you drowned in the River because of your… condition, your shadow was untethered. That’s when I was able to bargain with you for it. Most humans don’t resist the bond when theyare presented with the choice between life and death. It’s getting you out of there that is the feat.”
I shove my boots aside, trying to understand it all and soak up every word. But when I step on the carpet with my bare feet, I’m instantly distracted. “Is this some kind of… moss?” I ask, pressing on it with my foot.
“Indeed. Do you not like it? I can have it removed,” Kyranis tells me, leaning forward until his elbows rest on his knees. As his dark gaze slides down my body, I wonder what he’s so keen to see.
The moss is different than the one I know from my world. Softer, spongier, and warm. “No, I like it. But back to what’s important.” I approach him, because he did promise to put some of that healing cream on me. “You said I’m your crown. So until you take me as your Dark Companion, you’re not… king? Or Lord? Or some other royal?”
“No, just the crown prince,” he agrees before gesturing at me. “Remove your clothes.”
I still, even though on some deeper level I was expecting this. Is it shady as fuck? Yes. Am I getting a little overheated in his presence? Also yes.
I slide my thumbs under my studded belt with a nervous chuckle. “Save something for after the wedding, Your Highness.”
Kyranis cocks his head. “I’ve waited long enough,” he tells me as a little smile emerges on his lips.
The room was slowly heating up from the hot water, but now there’s more to it. Is it wrong that I’m excited to be the object of such intense interest? This night still feels like a strange dream.
I unbuckle my belt, trying to make it casual, but there’s nothingcasualabout the way Kyranis watches me. Maybe he just wants to make sure I have no weapons on me? I’ve been subjected to a couple of strip searches in my life, and they were the farthest thing from pleasurable, but maybe he could make it fun?
“I mean, I guess I’ve got a few cuts on my legs too,” I mutter, pushing off my pants.
“We should take care of all your injuries,” Kyranis tells me, rolling the last word on his tongue, as if he were luxuriating in its sound. As he flicks his hand, the tub behind me stops filling. He pops open the first button of his leather top, then the second.
I want to see those moving tattoos again. It’s a thought that overpowers the rational side of my brain, because at the end of the day, he might not be just a guy, but I am. So aftera moment of hesitation, I sit on the edge of the bathtub in my boxer briefs and watch him.
At least I don’t feel like he hates me anymore.
“If you can wield your shadow so well, why didn’t you use it to fight the moths?”
Kyranis chuckles, opening his jacket. “Contrary to what you might believe, I’m not all-powerful. My shadow was busy protecting my own body from the thorns as I was trying to reach you.” He rises from the chair, and the leather garments slide off him, I see a pit of snakes trailing over his skin in 2D. There’s too many to count when they’re constantly moving around, creating a strange animated image on the skin of his torso and arms. I can’t take my eyes off one of the creatures as it dips into his pants, but when it disappears and I look up, the smirk on Kyranis’s features tells me he’s noticed me staring.
I can only hope that in the green light, my face appears a bit less red. He’s… unbearably hot.
