He hovered by her bedside, worried by her injury and blood loss. He ran his fingers through her hair, such a vibrant and rich red reminding him of the growing puddle that formed beneath her after she was injured. The soft breath on his hand from her exhalation reminded him again that she was not dead and still there beside him. He tucked the silken strand behind her ear.
He got up and paced around the room that had been procured for them through Seth. He was not sure how to deal with his current emotions and their polar swings from helplessness to confusion to annoyance to anger and back again in seconds. 'She's Terran; she should be my enemy. But… she saved me and protected me from Radu. She stood in front of me. I feel like I am betraying my race for falling for this female. What do I do?"
Having calmed the demons for pacing the room for what seemed like hours and having won the battle temporarily; he sat down and took her small hand in his. It felt so warm and delicate in his stronger grip. He bought it to his lips, kissing the back of her hand. It was so soft against his lips and he could feel the steady pulse of blood beating just beneath the surface. He knew he was falling for this girl… no, this woman, this Terran, this Esther.
He stood up again to take a look out the window and then went back to her side. He wondered if the rest of her was as soft as the back of her hand. He leaned over her still form and laid the gentlest of kisses upon those lips and felt like he had touched a live wire. Something deeper was at play and he realized that this went far beyond the feeling of friendship that they had established. He had unwittingly opened Pandora's box. He pulled away and struggled to stay by the window and away from her, from whatever feeling he was having trouble controlling.
As he looked out the window onto the city, he heard Esther move and knew she was finally waking. He offered to help her look out the window and felt his heart speed up when he saw that smile on her face and those cobalt eyes creasing as she did so. Sometime during the chain of events when she had first aimed that gun at him, protected him in the sewer, wrapping the bandage around his arm, comforting him when seeing the disaster at his grandmother's house, and the present, her gentle demeanor had disarmed him and caused him to fall in love and question everything regarding those called Terrans.