him that what she felt for him went way past being platonic. She hadn’t even come to terms with it herself yet.
Kyro grimaced slightly, his hand going to his wound.
Realizing she still had her hand on his forehead, she removed it a bit too hastily. “You should let me take a look at that. I’m no doctor but I’ve had to dress several of my own wounds while on the field.”
She could feel the weight of his gaze but for the life of her, she couldn’t look back at him.
When did she become so shy? Oh, wait, exactly when she realized the reason she’d been so knotted up about not hearing from him was that she freakin’ missed him in a whole lot of ways.
“You’ve been injured many times?” There was a note of concern in his voice that she didn’t miss.
“A lot, yea.” Taking his hand in hers, she tried to ignore the warmth of his skin as she moved his hand from over the wound. “Sometimes I have to...had to go out into the field in forests...jungles...underwater...to gather different samples. That’s the part of my job that I loved the most. But I’m kinda clumsy. My grandma used to say I fell over my own two feet more than a newborn giraffe. I just lacked the cuteness.”
“Falling over one’s own feet...I do not see how this is possible. It would require extreme lack of coordination.”
Evren shot him a look, a smile underneath it. “Yes, Kyro. Meet Evren, the girl with an extreme lack of coordination.”
Kyro opened his mouth to say something and then, seeming to rethink, he closed it.
“Say it.” Evren narrowed her eyes at him playfully.
“You and your jokes have something in common.”
That wasn’t what she’d expected him to say and her brows immediately furrowed in confusion.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“You both fall flat.”
Evren’s mouth fell open. “What?” She laughed out the word before leaning back with a chuckle. “You jerk! I would punch you right now if you weren’t wounded.”
Kyro smiled for a second, his face lighting up in this rarest of occasions, before he sobered.
It was the first time she’d seen him really smile and it caused her to stop and stare at him for a few moments.
“I can see it in your eyes, sweet Evren. Do not be sad for me.”
That was enough to make her sober up as well, and as her smile died on her lips, she averted her gaze from his.
“I’m not sad for you. I’m just...”
“You must forget everything you saw and everything I told you.”
“I—”
“You must forget. It is the only way.”
Her head rose and fell in a nod, but it felt heavy, as if it was bearing the gravity of his words.
“I cannot bear for another person to suffer because of me.”
She understood. That didn’t make it easier though.
Nodding once more, she peeled back his bandages, pausing as she looked at the wound.
“It’s almost healed. How?”
“The serum,” Kyro offered as way of explanation. “I am healed. So you will leave?” There was a note of loss in his voice. “You must leave and put this all behind you.”
“I can’t leave you like this!” She pressed down the edge of the bandage once more, sealing the healing wound.
“Why? You must.”
Evren blinked. There had to be a quick excuse she could come up with. “It’s a human thing,” she lied, her eyes glued to the bandage. “A human custom. I really do have to stay, even if you don’t want me to.”
She could feel that he was searching her face trying to determine if she was telling the truth.
“I read of no such human custom—”
“Well, buddy, your data is wrong.”
When she finally looked at him, he had his eyes narrowed but in those gray pits there was a thin line of uncertainty.
“The more you are around me, the more danger I put you in. The more you know, the more danger you are in. I don’t... It is not my intention to bring you harm in any way.”
“I know that, Kyro. I understand the risks but hey, no one will know I know because I won’t say anything. I can keep a secret.”
“It is not that simple.” His hand covered hers on his side. “This has never happened to us before. We have never had another discover our secret. It is evident to me now that we have become careless.”
“I’m surprised none of your brothers have found out. None of them visit randomly?”
“No. They do not.”
“Ah.”
Raising his upper body off