Moonspear by a route obscure and lonely

Alya stared at the strange, dark boy, something strange and dark creeping up in her throat. It was a lot like excitement, she thought, except it was scary, too. Scary and - and something else, too. But there was still something about Cypress that made her feel safe, so when a tiny shiver raced it way down her spine, she only pressed closer to the lantern-eyed boy.

"What's a cousin?" she blurted, asking the first question that came to mind. A beat later, she realized that there were other things she wanted to know - like what was up with his cousins that would make her like them, and like how exactly did he plan on not sharing her if she couldn't even find him again? But she didn't know how to ask - didn't know how to phrase it so that it didn't seem like she wanted to meet his cousins, whoever they were.