Barrow Fields Let's go back, back to the beginning

Laced with — Aw, hell, thought Kincaid, preparing himself for a very strange encounter. Still, his sloe gaze was turned dilligently into the woman's almost equally dark stare. It felt as strange as ever to be making prolonged eye contact with a perfect stranger — perhaps even more so, since he still felt strongly that he was being watched.

The male's hackles began to rise once more when some of her points were uncannily accurate. He was from the north, and of course, she might've gleaned that just from his thick pelage. And didn't everyone have a lover? Perhaps she determined from his mien that he might be the sort to pick up and run — but on the word him he stiffened entirely, taking a quick step backward in his shock. While he wilted, inwardly, his demeanor grew more defensive.

"I have no lovers," he told her, and to him, this was a sort of truth. He had loves, but no lovers. He had desires, but he had not acted. Not really. "What do you mean he needs me?" he asked, his voice a little gentler. "And Leu — how can you know these things? What more can you tell me?"

This all had to be a trick. It would be just like Nine to send some poor girl all this way just to fuck with him. Just to get him back — I did this for you! he wanted to scream, as he was suddenly quite certain that he knew who had been watching them all this time.

Still, he waited for the woman to respond.