“It's just like any relationship," Raelin told him with a grin, while Aldri practiced over and over again. "You need to coax her, persuade her, impress her, not knock her over the head with a mallet. Sometimes, for complicated things, you even need to grovel a little—but I'll teach you that later, some of the syllables in Faerilíca can take weeks to learn correctly. For now, keep trying to catch her eye in silence.""But magic is only converted energy and emotion," Aldri reminded him. "I already possess it, I only need to use it.""And just how do you want to take ten minutes' running energy or your liking for the color blue, and throw it out in front of you as an arrow-stopping shield, hm?”

“Enough of this guilt," he told her, his voice reduced to a cracked whisper. "What's done is done.”

“For this, for you, my heart will burnIt whispers to me, what I speak now in turn:If the sun should hide, let it hide;If darkness drain the light, on moonbeams we ride.It matters not,For I am by your side.If the sky should fall, let it fall;If Death open his wings, ignore his dark call;Let the stars fade, let worlds collide;Let the seas boil, let chaos hold back the tide.It matters not,For you are by my side.”

“Now, I pray you, cast yourself into a different world, a different trail of thought; step into a place where dragons live and breathe, where they are as real in touch and voice as you or I. Where they face the same extinction every day that they have suffered in our world: the extinction of myth . . . yet where they battle every moment to fend off such a fate for another day . . .”

“Stop it," she said."Stop what?"Her eyes flew open, filled with rage and betrayal. "Stop pretending. You madeyour point this morning—you don't have anything more to prove. You don't want me, you can make me do anything you wish, and I'll be pathetically grateful for your attention, while you won't feel a thing…""You idiot," he said, his voice savage. "How blind are you?""Leave me alone."He pulled her legs apart, pushing between them, fully clothed, the rigid length of his cock pressed up against her. Her eyes widened in shock."You can feel that, can't you? It's been like that all day. It's been like that almost since I first touched you. You make me crazy with wanting you, but right now doing what I want could get us both killed.""No," she said. "You're lying. This morning you didn't—"He rocked against her, and she shivered in unwilling response. "This morning Iwas so turned on that I came without touching myself. And five minutes later I was hard again. I need you. I need to be inside you, now, and it's too dangerous." He thrust against her, feeling the tremor of response wash over her, and he knew he couldn't stop, not until he made her come again, over and over...”

“Take them off," I order and without hesitation she removes them and drops them on the floor. She lifts her cami so I can see her, then rubs her hand over her tummy and over the top of her mound while she watches me. When I look into her eyes she's licking her lips."Do you like what you see?" she asks playfully."You know I do.""Good. When you apologize, you can have some."Oh, hell no. "Let me remind you, as your husband and your Master, I don't need your permission. I'll have some with or without an apology, but because I love you and because it was a shitty thing for me to accuse you of, I'll apologize anyway. So for what's worth - I'm sorry for accusing you of hitting on Sawyer. I love you. Now open your legs like a good wife and let me fuck you.”

“The more attuned you are to your partner's needs at the early stages -- and he or she to yours -- the less energy you will need to expend attending to him or her later.”