His smile wilts, and his jovial look of dazed glee ebbs into a pained grimace.
"What, what is it?"
His head tilts to one side, obscuring a wince. "The cursed Xelem. One of them grazed me good in my side. It's nothing." He meets my gaze and does a quick peruse over my face. "So you needn't worry."
I cleanse my expression, veiling it with a neutral look. "I was being polite."
"You—" he blinks erratically and lapses into a strained silence.
He starts to sway back and forth precariously.
I untangle myself from him with faltering resistance on his end.
"I told you, I am well. But I think—I sleep now."
Numbly, he falls forward and I capture him with an oomph. The force of his full weight crashing on me. Intimately and devastatingly aware of the musculature of his body, the unbearable heaviness of his heft depressing on me. He groans into my ear as I muster strength to keep us both from collapsing.
"You are heavier than I thought."
