Green. Kel shook herself and cursed inwardly, realising her foolishness as the heat spread across her cheeks. Why were his eyes so green? These days the merest glance or passing smile from him set her skin alight with pleasant tingles. But now as he pressed cool fingers to the burning skin around her eye she had no choice but to look straight at him, and her body was reacting to emotions her mind had yet to process. The green fire that danced around his fingers also flickered imperceptibly in the depths of those captivating eyes...The cold relief of healing was seeping into the mottled throb of her bruised eye and her eyelid flickered as the swelling melted away. Without meaning to, she sighed as the pain was siphoned away by Neal's magic. She saw his smile, the barest curve of his lips, then he drew away and surveyed his handiwork, head to one side. Gingerly Kel probed the eye and found smooth unblemished skin.
"Better?" Neal's smile widened.
"I hate to admit you're right, but yes." She hated herself for this pretence, hiding her changing emotions under the mask of the same old Kel, down-to-earth, solid and Neal's calm and dependable best friend. How could she bear it if he knew, and everything changed?
"You ought to put ice on that for a while. I've done my best, but there might be damage underneath that I didn't get. Oh, and give that brute Joren my warmest thanks for that lovely black eye, will you?"
She looked up at him. "Oh?"
"It's not often I get to practice on you"