A part of Kell's mind whispered that he should draw his hand away but it couldn't. Now that their fingers were twined together it felt like two magnets holding firm. He doesn't understand what he sees in Holland's face when he meets his eyes, or why his heart is still pounding so in his chest. He feels off-kilter, the other antari taking him completely off guard. Something has him leaning in toward Holland, their shoulders brushing and it's a shock.

"You do like to think that, don't you," he says and there's something rough in his voice an ache perhaps that he can't name, a longing that's the same and yet different from the way it has always been.