Evidently, there was no one else in the scroll tent to answer her.
She had never read something like that. It wasn't that she had never thought about sexual things before, but—she'd never imagined that someone, you know, would write such things in a book! Where everyone could read it! It felt extremely scandalous to her, as the only time she had spoken about sexual things in eighteen years at the house was a few times when her mother explained what the purpose of a woman's period was, and also when Abrial had forced Finley to reluctantly tell her about the purpose of kissing. Seeing something romantic and suggestive on a page, where anybody could read it, was entirely foreign to Abrial. Her hands felt like they were on fire after touching that book.
After the crimson humiliation burning in her cheeks had cooled down, Abrial replaced the book, feeling extremely perplexed. She headed up the stairs to the second story.
