It’s not the same.
Auraelia nodded and let him help her out of her undergarments and into the shower. Once she was under the streams, he backed away, making sure to give her privacy without being too far away should she need him.
The warm water seemed to rouse her enough to scrub the soot and grime from her skin, the smell of her lavender soap filling the air around him.
He didn’t mean to stare but also couldn’t help it. There was nothing sexual about it; he just simply liked looking at her. Liked watching the way her muscles flexed as she moved about the shower and the unintentional sensuality in her movements. How she would tilt her face to the water and just let it rain down over her. Like she was letting it cleanse her soul as well as her body.
When she turned around, shock colored her features, like she’d completely forgotten he was there.
“Oh…um…hi,” she said meekly, the flush on her cheeks from the heat deepening with her apparent embarrassment.
“Hi, yourself. Do you still want me to run you a bath?” he asked, making sure to keep his eyes on her face.
Auraelia’s lips curved inward as she nodded. “I need to wash my hair…but my arms are so sore that I don’t know if I can manage.”
“I can help you with that once you’re in the tub if you’d like?”
A small smile played on her lips, and she nodded.
“Alright, I’ll go start the water. You just let me know when you’re finished.”
The bath was half full by the time Auraelia emerged from the shower, and Daemon had to focus his mind on anythingbutthe water rolling down her naked frame as she sashayed her way to the bath—anything to deflate the erection growing in his pants.
The Nevermore.
The Cerulean Sea.
Aiden.
A small shudder ran through him with his last thought, but it did the trick.
Auraelia eyed him curiously as she slipped her hand into his and stepped over the edge of the bath. “Everything alright?”
Nodding, Daemon sat on the tiled edge surrounding three sides of the tub and retrieved the hair wash.
Once Auraelia was settled, Daemon lathered the wash into his hands and began to work it through the strands. When he began to massage her scalp, a contented sigh escaped through her lips, and her eyes fluttered closed.
After rinsing her hair and adding her smoothing lotion, he gently detangled her locks and began to weave them together.
“You know how to braid?” Auraelia asked with a small chuckle.
“I do,” he replied with a chuckle of his own.
“Who taught you?”
“When I was younger, back before I learned anything about knots and sails, Yvaine made me learn. She said it was a trait my future wife would appreciate, and if I ever had a daughter, I could do it for her too.”
Auraelia sat silently as he finished the plait. When he tied it off, she turned to face him, leaning against the edge where he was sitting. “That’s really sweet. And thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me, Auraelia. And you think so?”
Resting her head on her propped arms, she nodded.
They sat there for a few moments, rainbows of light dancing across Auraelia’s cheeks before her yawn cut through the silence.
“Let’s get you to bed, Princess.” Daemon slid from where he was perched and grabbed a towel from the shelves lining the wall between the shower and tub.
As he helped her dry off, her exhaustion seemed to creep in once more, her eyelids drooping further as the minutes ticked by.
