Kaz has lived nearly a decade with the only physical contact he's known that came with pain. Fists against his face, strike after strike. The one time it had come without pain, he had fainted in a wagon.

Until that moment when he'd taken Inej's hand in his.

Even then he had fainted at a kiss.

Now, nearly a year later, and it feels like another world to him. Even if that need for the contact of another only involves two people. A wild and troublesome gunslinger. And the beautiful, dangerous, ethereal wraith before him.

But now his kisses as warm, holding so many emotions he can't always find words for. Yet he's learning to show them. Through every deliberate touch. Every kiss. Every time he shows them that he chooses them over anything else. Over his past. Over his fears.

His fingers lightly stroke against her cheek, head canting slightly to deepen the kiss. Not fast or wild, but heated and showing how much he thinks of her, how much he needs her. Showing the things he can't always find words for.