and take a glance at Lord Fiora’s face. He was still flushed, though it was harder to see in the fading light. He also had his teeth buried in his lower lip. Fuck, who had lips like that? It was like a cushion. A soft, lush, delicate cushion that Deven’s own teeth could worry at much more effectively than Lord Fiora’s were doing. Lips like those deserved to be bitten with intent.
That was a thought for later, though.
“I’m sorry to intrude on you. Really. It wasn’t my idea,” Deven continued. “But since I am here — look, I know I offended you the other night. I didn’t mean to. You obviously don’t have — um, I know I promised not to use that word ever again, but seriously. I don’t understand why you were hiding under a hood.”
Lord Fiora’s head whipped around, and he leveled Deven with a glare that was really in the top ten he’d ever received, which was saying something. “You don’t? Seriously?” he demanded incredulously. “Look at me! Damn you, since you’re already here, and you’ve already seen me, look your sodding fill and tell me you don’t understand!”
Well, since he’d been invited, even if it was clearly sarcastic…Deven finally allowed himself to stare as much as he wanted, to catalogue Lord Fiora’s features thoroughly. A smooth forehead under glossy black waves, the hair also tinted a little bit blue. Sharply defined brows, tilted up a trifle at the ends as if in imitation of the wings Lord Fiora had in his other form. Glorious eyes, like pools of molten gold. A thin, sharp nose, equally sharp cheekbones, and a pointy chin.
Lord Fiora was more oddly beautiful than handsome, taken all together — until you got to his mouth.
Fucking God, that mouth. Deven knew there were other bits he’d like to sneak a look at, like the curve of Lord Fiora’s throat, or the shape of his body now that it wasn’t swathed in heavy black, but Lord Fiora’s mouth really stole the show. Maybe he wore that hood because he knew no one would get anything done, ever, if they had his lips to look at?
“Stop staring at me,” Lord Fiora snapped, lifting his chin. His eyes glittered in the light of the rising moon.
“Sorry,” Deven said softly. “You did say I could.”
“I didn’t think you’d want to!” It came out almost like a wail.
Deven’s heart clenched. He wanted to soothe and flatter — not because it would get him what he wanted, but just because, an instinctive protective urge Deven wished he could expunge. Did Lord Fiora really believe that? He was delusional. Well, what else should Deven have expected from someone who wanted to spend his evenings sulking alone in the dark rather than drinking wine and laughing in company?
No, no flattery. And no soothing, no matter how much he wanted to. As touchy as Lord Fiora was, that would send him running. If Deven seemed like he was completely honest, and totally tactless, it would get under Lord Fiora’s guard when he did start to flatter. It worked with the young ladies who came to the inn for a glass of wine, anyway. Deven forced down a miserable little burst of shame. Fuck it. Everything in his arsenal.
“You’re blue,” Deven said bluntly. “Slightly blue, anyway. You don’t look entirely human —”
Lord Fiora jumped to his feet, shoving off from the wall and making a break for it.
“Wait!” Deven cried, scrambling after him. He overtook Lord Fiora at the door to the stairwell and flung himself in front of him, blocking the opening. It was just like the other night, except that this time, Lord Fiora had nowhere to go. Well, unless he flew away, of course, bugger it. “Wait, please. I hadn’t finished —”
“You’ve said enough. More than enough. I’m blue. Yes, I bloody well know I’m blue, I’ve been blue my whole life, and I own a mirror! Several, even! I have strange eyes, and strange skin, and I don’t look human at all, and humans always think I’m some kind of — of spectacle. Thank you so very much for pointing it out, yet again!”
Lord Fiora broke off, his chest heaving, panting for breath, his eyes flashing and his lips parted.
Deven’s hands twitched, but he restrained himself, barely. Seizing Lord Fiora around the waist and kissing the remaining breath out of him was not the way to proceed here.
“It was the obvious thing,” Deven protested. “I mean, the only thing