[It seems, to her, like a strange moment to be kissed. She'd just put his hand around her neck, confessed that if it came down to it, she wanted to die instead of be Comstock's heir. It was morbid, it was an unbalanced thing to do. Kissing shouldn't have followed, logically.]

[Her emotions were running high though, and she felt scared and sensitive and sad. She felt like she had torn something open that hadn't finished healing yet. And Gai's kiss was... a comfort. A silent way of saying he understood, however distorted her wish was he understood. Had he gone through life with people being afraid of him too? Was Gai just more insistent that he should be feared, while Elizabeth allowed herself to hope that there were people who weren't afraid? Was she the only one who refused to let her own fear push them apart?]

[Maybe she was. Gai was kissing her so fiercely, he was trying to tell her something. Elizabeth felt relief, and some strange sense of urgency, that made her match Gai's movements measure-for-measure.]

Wait-- [Elizabeth put her fingers to Gai's lips when she broke away to breathe. The word was breathy, almost desperate.] Gai, you have to tell me why I'm risking being killed by being around you. I've shown you tears, so you would know what you were up against. You have to tell me, what I'm up against.