"Calm down," Devane called to Jared's back as he rushed to the clay hut that had been their accommodations over the last few days of their stay to pack his things. "You won't be able to leave tonight anyway."
Jared drove a hand through his hair where his scalp burned from all his repeated scratching. "I have to get back to her already!" He yelled, throwing open the door. "If there's nothing else, I can do to help her, at least I can be by her side."
"What do you mean nothing else?" Devane asked, ducking under the low-rise threshold to follow him inside. "Are you just going to give up?"
"No!" Jared denied, his back arching but his eyes unsure. "I'd never give up on her. Even with as little good as my help can do for her."
Devane sighed, feeling his emotions once again invaded by Jared's.
"You're more helpful than you think." The advisor consoled, laying a hand on his shoulder. Jared froze in place as his cheeks filled with blush, an effect his presence had on him for a while now and one he'd been privately trying to do away with.
But Devane was a lifetime more perceptive than him and noticed Jared's tension suddenly shift to a different matter, just as his own did. His hand lingered longer on his arm, before trailing down the light curve of his back. The rush of anxiety that had been swelling Jared's mind started succumbing to the soft grazing, though he was quickly growing highly wary of an entirely other matter.
Devane saw the hairs on Jared's body shot up, and his eyes steady and locked at the base of his spine where the advisor's hand still lingered. "The gods only know how helpful I've found you to be," He muttered, his eyes taking in the back figure of the man.
Jared felt a cold charge up his spine that ended in a fiery heat at the base of him. But he was too afraid to look up to Devane's face for fear he would recognize the man's expression as the one he himself was holding back.
Devane traced his hand around the side of his waist, turning Jared around where he was finally forced to look at the advisor. And the shift of energy he had felt when Devane's hand had first settled on him was fully reflected in his strong, dark gaze.
The advisor stared back at him without saying a word. He always felt these matters didn't need much speaking anyways.
As quiet as he was, Devane's eyes spoke to a primal part of Jared that he innately understood and eagerly feared.
"Much more helpful," Devane added, as his hand explored further down Jared's body.