"They were. I mean, Nariko sees things the way she wants to sometimes, but that was hardly the case. Apparently they babysat. It's a little cloudy because she's upset, but when Bert said that ..." An unbelievable sharp pain slithered down to her stomach. "Well, unfortunately it's gone now."

Kaine slid down on the bed to lie down, her hands clasped over her stomach. She didn't feel the same nervousness that might have come with other men, the pressure for something that would have been ill-timed and frankly wrong. "But I understand. And, really, love is about the most terrible thing, Alain. I almost wouldn't recommend it." Almost. "In any case it's good that you only feel it offhandedly, in a sense. Then we'd end up with some weird five way and everything would be an even bigger mess, especially since Roland scares the shit out of me."

She paused, and looked over at him, eyes piercing, she opened her mouth to say something, and then forced it to close. "Is it working?" That was very far from tell me Bert isn't in love with me, tell me you don't feel that from him at all.