Malik wants to touch it, too. It's strange and he wants to see if it's as soft as it looks. But that would make him look like a stupid child, and anyway, it's clearly some sort of witchy blasphemy that he should be disapproving of.
Not that his gills aren't a kind of witchy blasphemy of their own. He's in no position to be judgemental and he knows it.
"You will..." He struggles to find the right word. "Trick us." He tries to glower, but his eyes keep flicking back to the red cloth, as if he expects it to glow or catch fire or do something.