Finn Lynch lives a quiet, tranquil life in a rural village in the mountains. Her life may lack spontaneity and excitement, but at least it's peaceful. And if it's a little lonely too, then she can't complain too much - she's still happy, after all.
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The next day, Finn keeps herself busy.
It's not that she's avoiding Regulus, because that would be juvenile. They see each other at breakfast, and again at lunch. Regulus keeps his promise by bringing her back to feed the kelpie, though they do so with remarkably less conversation than they had the day before. In the silence, his gaze as he watches her throw the raw meat into the water feels like a weight.
When they get back to the house, they even sit together with Evan as they have tea. Conversation may be limited, but that's alright — Evan fills in all the silences for them. Even without conversation, Finn finds it extraordinarily difficult to tear her attention away from Regulus.
The massage has done him good. His shoulders are relaxed and loose, his face no longer stiff with well-concealed pain. He looks comfortable, though his gaze is as intense as ever as he watches her from across the table. Finn acts as casual as she can manage, sipping on her tea as she stares back at him, Evan's rambling fading into the background.
She had, at first, been worried that Regulus would start acting strangely towards her. After all, he had been so dismayed the first time that they kissed after he realised what he had done; how he had kissed a lowly Muggle. Finn had thought that surely once realisation set in that he had allowed that same Muggle to touch him sexually, to take him apart and turn him into the beautiful squirming mess that he had been, that same sense of horror would set in.
And honestly, Regulus has been acting strangely — just not in the way she had expected. He hasn't seemed disgusted at all. In fact, his eyes on her have been positively burning ever since. Finn feels as though she's been put under a microscope, with his deep grey eyes watching her every move. Sleeping next to each other the night before had been stifling — the tension between them had swelled and settled over them like a blanket as they lay in the bed that they had been messing around on mere hours before.
Even now, Regulus watches her attentively as she finishes her cup of tea. It's intimidating, to be watched so closely like this, and yet Finn is surprised to find that she actually enjoys it a little. People so rarely look at her with any interest, and certainly not in the way Regulus is looking at her now. It's a surprisingly pleasant change to find herself at the centre of someone's attention.
"Yes, sounds good." Regulus says absently — he's clearly talking to Evan, but it's the first time that he's spoken in a while.
"Brilliant," Evan says, clearly satisfied. "Will we go now?"
Finn blinks back to herself, breaking the practical stare-down she'd been having with Regulus in favour of turning to Evan.
"Go where?"
"For a quick fly around." Evan doesn't seem to take offence at the fact that she quite clearly wasn't listening. "It's so boring here, we may as well do something fun."
