The small bite only makes Kell's heart race faster, but he helps her to remove her jacket, knowing very well how stiff damaged ribs can make a person. He hates to think of Lila in that sort of pain, but he can't stop watching her, his eyes falling keenly on each new inch of skin as she reveals it. Lila pauses the slow ascent of her shirt, and Kell looks at her expectant face and takes a deep breath, worrying at the cut on his arm to reopen it. He wets his palm red and places it featherlight against the livid, uneven mottling on her ribs.

"As Hasari," he says again, trembling with the effort of holding himself so near but no closer to Lila, spread out and half disrobed on his own bed.