Emberwood I got years of livin' by and how I choose

The woman's silence weighed heavy on Kin's mind. He had not thought it would be too bold, but now he wondered —

Oh well. It was the truth, and he couldn't take it back.

Thankfully, Eleuthera found her voice again and gracefully carried the conversation; Kincaid could not help but relax into it once more. She spoke so earnestly that he could only be set at ease, her voice soft and kind and her body warm beside his own. And though he felt clumsy and wretched beside her, he did not feel judged for being so. Perhaps she would judge him if she knew how well he liked it, or what a scoundrel he was — but a small and wistful part of him thought that, perhaps, she might be kind in her judgements as well.

As for her feelings about her homeland, Kincaid could not relate. He did think often of his first family, nor of the place where he'd been raised. Both had their place in his memories, but perhaps no longer in his heart.

But Nine — his brother...

"I reckon I do," he said, his voice a quiet burr in the warm, midnight breeze. He had no home, at present. Room enough to lay his head, but no place for his heart to rest. No strong spirit to lean into. No blazing eyes, no knobbly joints, no dear and ugly, fleabitten mug.

Kin breathed slowly, until the gravel was gone from his throat.

"Eleuthera," he said, and did not know what he'd meant to say next. He wanted to say that she was wonderful, and beautiful, and that the ways she talked made him remember some things and forget certain others. He wanted to turn and press his nose into her lilac throat, so that he might take her scent with him when they, inevitably, parted ways.

But what would she think of him if he let her say all these things and bare her pretty soul only to press his suit in the next breath?

"I ain't sure what I done to deserve you talkin' to me this way," he admitted, grasping onto the next true thing he could think of. "I ain't sure what to say — but it ain't for shyin' away from it." He knew he should extract himself from her magnetic pull, but instead he tried valiantly to freeze himself in place, only turning his head to gaze back at her, and how pretty she was in the moonlight.