[that tender touch is as intimate as the one that had been digging through his bones a moment before. there are no muscles to loosen, no breath to let out, but Skulduggery relaxes against the touch all the same.]

This time and the last time, and the time before that... [he chuckles, one curled finger moving to caress his cheek.] Did you feel something that would give you cause for such concern? Or see something?