Page 6 of Kit
Kit stilled. “Take them?”
“If Aridia is as hot as it is here, then you should be able to grow them.”
“But—these are yours.”
“Yeah. And I’m offering them to you.”
“I am a stranger to you. Why would you give me this?” Kit looked genuinely bewildered.
He shrugged. “You’ll like the drink it makes.”
Nick had the feeling he was once again trampling on another social norm. Kit’s resistance wasn’t simple politeness.
“Whatever you want from me, I cannot give. I am in service to –”
“Just take them.” Nick’s impatience reared its head, and he thrust his hand out, opening his fingers, forcing Kit to either catch the beans or let them fall to the ground. He deftly captured them out of the air.
“They need sunlight and heat, and then they’ll sprout.”
Nick edged away from Kit so he couldn’t return the beans. He started to feel a little silly as Kit stared at him, conflict in his expression. Who was to say if Kit had a notion of wanting to plant anything? Nick decided not to be upset even if he tossed them straight into the ocean just on the doorstep, though he got the feeling Kit would be polite enough not to do that in front of him.
Kit closed his hand around the beans. “Thank you,” he said softly. “I do not deserve this gift.”
Kit’s head jerked to the side suddenly, as if he’d heard someone call his name. Nick looked in the same direction. The rest of the room came back into focus, and Nick realised there’d been conversations humming around them the entire time that he hadn’t noticed.
“I must go. Excuse me.”
Kit tracked away through the hall, his lean, tall form sharing none of Nick’s difficulties in manoeuvring through the crowd. His tail wound its way tighter around his leg with each step until it blended seamlessly with his trousers. Kit’s expression changed so that by the time he’d reached where he was going and received a harsh smack on his hand, his face was a blank mask.
Nick’s nerves ignited in a flurry of outrage.
Chapter Three
Nick’s feet were heavy when he finally wrangled Laurence into the private guest wing of Vi’s estate. Laurence’s room was a replica of Nick’s, large and spacious, with veranda doors open wide to the ocean. They were bamboo-coloured and looked like you could break them apart with one good kick. Nick tried to convince himself they couldn’t bethatflimsy. This close to the water, they had to be able to withstand storms.
“I’m not tired.” Laurence edged towards the open doors leading back to the courtyard.
“I’m exhausted,” Nick replied. A disquieting feeling welled up inside as he pulled the thin veranda doors shut. “Do you get storms?” he asked Jasper, who had followed them to the room.
“Not in summer,” Jasper replied. “Autumn and winter, yes.”
Trevor had turned in hours ago, after checking that Nick was staying up to keep an eye on Laurence, and as soon as he’d left, everyone from Ireland had quickly followed suit. Adonis never calmed down enough to keep his legs, so Connor went with him to their nest, promising to meet for breakfast.
Jasper stood by the main door, hands clasped behind his back. His gaze slid between Nick and Laurence, as if he weretrying to decide who he was going to back up. Nick and Laurence had argued the entire way here.
“So?” Laurence challenged, hovering at the exit. He didn’t actually step out, probably aware that Nick would come marching right out after him. “Yougo to bed! I want to meet more people. I only ever get to come over with Connor and Adonis, and he won’t ever go into the city, so that means that it’s only mermen I can meet! Which is really cool, of course, but there’s much more.”
For all Laurence’s talk about ‘meeting’ others, he’d spent the entire party running around with Jasper. There were dark circles under his eyes, his hair was stuck to his neck from sweating it out on the dancefloor, and his breaths came in shallow little huffs. Nick was reliving a million babysitting escapades; Laurencealwaysdid this. Refused to go to bed even when on the cusp of collapsing in exhaustion. Unfortunately Laurence was eighteen now, and Nick no longer had the ‘older-brother’ authority over him to make him go to bed if he didn’t want to.
“Jasper’s tired,” Nick said.
Laurence had been gearing up for another tirade but stopped, turning suddenly to Jasper. “You’re tired?”
Nick glared at Jasper. A little twitch in his tail let him know Jasper got the message.
“We have been dancing all night, and the hour is late…” Jasper trailed off. “Perhaps we can relax. I can tell you what I know of the different races we saw this evening?”
“I won’t keep you up if you’re tired,” Laurence said, suddenly perfectly reasonable.
