The Heretic of Sælonis ||A Sci-Fi Romance Novella||

did I scare you?

"It's been four days..." Vosiuth trailed off. "I need to shower, or bathe or something."

Four days had gone by far too quickly, and I wasn't excited about the fact I'd become used to hearing her steady breath behind me.

"You do too," she added, and I hummed my response. She was right. I just hadn't been able to trust her with being unattended to have the chance to shower. "Do you have an option for that on this ship, or do we need to land somewhere? I also have to change out of my armour. It's becoming uncomfortable. I'm not used to living in it like you are."

I sighed. "Your comfort isn't my highest priority." Surely that much was obvious.

"Well, what about sleeping?" She asked. "Do you have a bed? We could take turns." I knew she'd become relatively comfortable on this ship, against my wishes, but was she really that comfortable?

"Take turns?" I asked, with a strong enough tone that she had to know it wasn't something I would entertain.

"You can cuff me while you're sleeping, if that makes you feel safer. But I wouldn't touch any buttons in case I accidentally start a self-destruct sequence." Well, there was that. And if we were going to be stuck together for the next three weeks, maybe it would be a good idea to shower and rest. I'm sure the Council didn't want her to arrive coated in three week old sweat and grime...

I sighed and stood up from my seat. "You want to shower?" I checked, and she nodded her head. Why did she do that? She couldn't... she couldn't see other people do it to know... "How do you know how to do that?"

"Do what?"

I walked to stand directly in front of her, close enough that the smell of her leaked through my helmet. It would be a lie to say I hated it. "Nod your head." She stood up in front of me. "You can't see people, so how..."

"I learned it, from... from Cædir." Her Aura chosen betrothed. Right. "Shower, please." Since she asked so nicely...

I placed a hand on her shoulder and directed her below deck, to the cramped bathroom she should already be familiar with.

"Do you need me to tell you what's where?" I asked, to which she nodded. Okay, how should I do this? I pulled her into the small shower with me, took hold of her hand, and lifted it to touch the tap. "Pull the towards you for pressure. Left for hot, right for cold. Adjust it to what makes you comfortable, but I'll warn you that sometimes the hot cuts out."

Would it be good for her to know where the water was coming from so it wouldn't be a surprise? I lifted her hand to touch the shower head. "Expect water from here..." I turned her body to the left, where the indented shelf was in the metal wall. I made sure her fingers touched the edge before I directed her towards the bottles sitting on it. "This bottle is for your hair, and this one is for your..." I trailed off as my chest hit her back. We were too close. "This one is for your body."

My heart hammered in my chest, and my breath quickened. Why was I doing that? Why was my mind imagining pinning her hands to the wall? Why was my body curious as to how her gentle fingers might feel brushing against me instead of every surface in this fucking shower?

"I'll leave a towel for you over the door here." I turned us in a half circle and forced her palm against the cool surface. Damn it, I shouldn't have done that. Now my hand was resting on hers, and I...

I wondered what it might be like to have the water running. I wondered how her breath might hitch as that hand was placed against the frosted glass for support while I...

This wasn't something to worry about. This wasn't anything to question my loyalty over. I was touch-starved. There was no other reason for it. This was because I'd felt no one's touch in years.