He dropped his arm to watch Kit’s face. The answer mattered to Nick, and he wasn’t entirely sure why. Perhaps because he was still trying to suss Kit out, and part of him wanted to believe what his gut instinct was telling him, foolish as that instinct might be.
“No.”
“Have you hit the kids for –”
“No.” Kit didn’t say it sharply or defensively. “Physically brutalising a child does not help them learn. Children must be nurtured and encouraged. They face enough physical trials working on a ship; I will not add to that.”
“Do you have younger siblings?” Nick sat up, tilting back his head to keep his gaze on Kit’s face.
“No,” Kit said. “Though I have been charged with training young kits since entering Lady Desre’s service.” Despite the mention of Desre, Kit didn’t withdraw emotionally. As if his feelings towards the young kits were strong enough to overcome that shutdown. His gaze slid over Nick, catching his wince when the boat rocked and light from the porthole shone into his eyes. “I will set Mini to the task; he will enjoy the challenge,” Kit said.
“I don’t need painkillers. I’m pretty sure the headaches are from caffeine withdrawal.” Nick recognised the feeling. It was probably sugar withdrawal too. He’d never had a sweet tooth, but even he could tell that the food here was severely lacking in the sugars of back home.
Kit’s head cocked to the side.
“Caffeine?” he repeated the word in English. “This is related to the coffee drink you told me about?”
Nick nodded.
“You must roast and crush the beans, correct?” Kit’s hand sank into his pocket, and he withdrew it, revealing to Nick a handful of coffee beans wrapped in white cotton. “I took a bag of soil from the ground before we left, but the sea breeze might be too cold to nurture them. I thought it better to wait until we arrive in Aridia…but with all the crops failing, I worry that these will fail too. I do not wish to waste them.”
Nick wouldn’t have described the breeze here as anything close to ‘cold’. But Nick looked past Kit’s remark about the cold breeze, realising he had just gained more insight than he knew Kit meant to give. Aridia’s crops were failing. Was the job Nick had been taken for related to it?
“Of course”—Kit’s gaze snapped up from the beans—“if this is what you require to ease your headaches, we will use them and brew your drink. I wish you had mentioned that you require coffee. With direction, I could have taken some.” His tail flicked in agitation, something akin to distress flashing in his eyes. “Perhaps we might set aside one seed?”
Nick looked from Kit to the seeds. Six seeds, kept on Kit’s person, wrapped carefully in cotton to keep them dry so they wouldn’t begin to germinate. Kit had taken the time to get a bag of soil, while in the middle of abducting someone, so that he could plant them. A pang shot through Nick’s chest. Kit had only spoken to Nick at that party to scope him out, and yet his demeanour and actions were so oddly sweet.
“There was none to take,” Nick said after gathering himself. Sam and his family were all tea drinkers, as Nick had unhappily discovered when they’d arrived at the villa, and even Connor didn’t have any on his yacht, preferring tea as well. “Six beans wouldn’t make even a cup, so let’s not waste them on that.” He thought it over. “Can you bring the soil for me to see? And what you’d planned to plant them in?”
Kit carefully rewrapped the coffee beans. A hopeful look crossed his face, followed immediately by distrust. “Please do not ruin them.”
Nick wondered how often people stomped on Kit’s things to bring him down. Enough that he suspected Nick would do so too. Then again, Nick had threatened to both strangle Kit with his own tailandcut it off.
“I won’t,” Nick promised. He met Kit’s eyes. He meant it. He really, really meant it.
Kit hesitated before handing them over. Nick saw in his face that Kit feared he was about to chuck them in the stove fire. When he returned with a canvas sack and saw them intact, a relieved breath shook loose. Mini tottered in on Kit’s heels, carrying a handful of clay pots.
Nick examined the soil, which was a deep, earthy brown and broke into clumps as he crushed it in his fingers. “This looks really good,” he said, surprised.
Kit’s eyes gleamed. “I took it from Vi’s garden. Everyone knows of her family’s skill in growing plants. If the soil is enchanted for growth, I thought it prudent to take.”
Despite himself, Nick laughed. “So Vi woke up to her guest stolen, and a sack of soil?”
The gleam lessened. “Student,” Kit corrected.
Nick just rolled his eyes. “You’ve done a good job. I was considering asking her to let me plant these in her greenhouse to get them growing. It’s too cold where I’m from, even with the heat from this world raising the temperature by a few degrees.”
Kit looked downright puzzled. “Can you explain what you mean?”
Nick paused his examination of the various pots. “Did you see The Tear?” he asked. “Do you know what it is?”
Kit repeated, “The Tear?”
Was it a good idea to give Kit directions to a world of people who wouldn’t have a clue what to do about a handsome pirate there to abduct them, but who was all guilty and sorry about it, so it was annoyingly difficult to stay angry with him? Nick thought of the churning waters one had to sail through in order to pass from one world to the other. Without a merman to calm the ocean, it was a dangerous crossing. “I’ll tell you when you tell me.”
Kit dropped the subject.
Nick moved on.
