"You probably won't enjoy knowing, but my guess is that you'll want me to tell you anyway."

"Absolutely tell me."

"They intend to get you pregnant, forcibly abort at five or six months, repeat that a few times, and then eat you. Well, technically they only need to eat the womb to absorb the collected power but they're hardly about to let the rest go to waste."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry," he says quietly.

"How fast do you think you can get me out?

"I don't know. Not necessarily very fast. I don't have a plan yet, I just have - a general idea of the constraints." He pauses. "...it would be easier if you were pregnant; they - concentrate less - on the pregnant ones."

"Fuck."

"I'm sorry. I'd offer you better news if I had any."

"If I--well. It's not like I have any control over whether or not I get pregnant."

"I might," he says. "My magical specialty is healing; I could - arrange that you were in the right condition to catch."

She shudders. But:

"If you do this, do you think--you could get me out before they kill it? I'm not opposed to abortion per se but you said five or six months along..."

"I can't make guarantees, but I would be astonished if it took me longer than a month or two."

"Okay.

If I asked you to kiss me, why would you think I was doing it?"

He blinks, startled, and looks consideringly at her.

"...I'd expect you were looking for proof of goodwill."

"Well, not proof exactly, but as close as I have the ability to get right now."

"That's fair."

"Kiss me. Kiss me like I was a demon or you were a human. Kiss me like you want me to like it."

"All right."

He approaches the bed, and sits down next to her, and leans in and kisses her, gently and with a kind of quiet focus. Like there is nothing in the world as important to him right now as understanding exactly how to please her.

--Oh.

That's...better than she was imagining.

Softly, hesitantly, she kisses back.

He is definitely following her lead, both as regards the intensity of the kiss and in many other subtle ways. He wants to do exactly what she wants him to do, and he is very good at guessing what that is.

Ohhh yes good.

After awhile she breaks away.

"—ah," he says. "I apologize; if I'd known your secret was the sort of thing I could read at a touch, I would have warned you."

She reacts approximately like he just dumped a bucket of ice water on her head.

He moves away slightly, to give her some space, but doesn't stand up. "It's not something most people can do; it's my healing specialty again."