Fennrin is a shadowforger, a type of az-ari who have mastery over shadows. But all it's ever brought him is misery. People are afraid of the power that he himself barely understands, seeing his shadows as omens of bad luck and death.
Forced to bare...
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Despite his sour mood about having to have been in the presence of Daryan Varilik, Ainreth was giddy about the rest of the day because now he got to spend time with Fenn. Fennrin said he wanted to look at those books about shadowforgers, which wouldn't have been an activity Ain would have chosen—more interested in taking Fenn to an inn, maybe getting something for lunch—but honestly, he didn't care that much as long as Fenn was present.
Ain couldn't help but sneak glances at him whenever the other man wasn't looking. He'd been handsome before, but thousand suns, now, with the new haircut and clothes, he was extra stunning, with the only thing marring his handsomeness was the fact that he was dangerously thin. But they would fix that, Ainreth would make sure of that.
One of Ainreth's favorite things currently was seeing Fennrin's short ponytail bounce as he walked, and hair falling in his eyes. Fenn usually batted it away swiftly, brushing it behind his ear, which was a shame, but it was still very cute. And now that Fenn's hair was shorter at the front, it happened fairly often, so Ain was happy.
Ainreth found himself staring at the other man for minutes at a time, completely distracted. There was just something about Fennrin that had immediately drawn Ain to him. He hadn't let himself stare too much until now since they'd had places to be, but now that he had nothing keeping him this, Ain couldn't seem to stop.
"Ainreth."
Ain blinked, only then realizing that Fennrin had said something, and he'd completely missed it. They were currently walking to the palace library. It was a good thing that Ainreth knew his way around the palace so well because with how little attention he was paying to anything other than Fennrin, they would definitely get lost.
"Hm?"
Fennrin narrowed his eyes, not looking very happy. Sunder. And the worst part was that Ain still thought he was incredibly attractive, looking at him like that. He needed to focus.
"I asked why you dislike the High Herald."
Ainreth's mood immediately took a turn, but even this conversation topic wasn't enough for him to feel upset. Not when Fennrin was saying it. He was just too pretty to upset Ainreth ever.
"Oh. I'd rather not talk about that," Ainreth said, feeling a little bad for not giving Fenn the answer he wanted, but if he were honest, he truly didn't want to even think about Varilik. Ever since that man practically forced him to be a general—
Ain shook his head. No, he wouldn't think about it. He wouldn't let the blighted Herald ruin his mood right now.
"Oh. Right."
Both Fennrin's voice and face were neutral, but Ainreth could tell he was disappointed. Still, this was something he truly didn't want to talk about. Maybe once he was tipsy. Maybe.
They walked in an awkward silence for a moment before walking up a flight of carpeted stairs and finally reaching the blighted door to the blighted library. Good, finally something else to talk about.
