“Five,' she said. Her lips and cheeks were flushed, but her gaze was steady.'Five?' Gabriel echoed blankly.'My rating,' she said, and smiled at him. 'Your skill and technique may, perhaps, require work, but the native talent is certainly there. What you require is practice.''And you are willing to be my tutor?' 'I should be very insulted if you chose another,' Cecily said, and leaned up to kiss him again.”

“But what of you?” Gabriel said, and theywere very close now, almost touching. “It isyour choice to make now, to stay or return.”“I will stay,” Cecily said. “I choose thewar.”Gabriel let out the breath he hadn’t realizedhe was holding. “You will give up yourhome?”“A drafty old house in Yorkshire?” Cecilysaid. “This is London.”“And give up what is familiar?”“Familiar is dull.”“And give up seeing your parents? It isagainst the Law …”She smiled, the glimmer of a smile.“Everyone breaks the Law.”“Cecy,” he said, and closed the distancebetween them, though it was not much, andthen he was kissing her—his hands awkwardaround her shoulders at first, slipping on thestiff taffeta of her gown before his fingersslid behind her head, tangling in her soft,warm hair. She stiffened in surprise beforesoftening against him, the seam of her lipsparting as he tasted the sweetness of hermouth. When she drew away at last, he feltlight-headed. “Cecy?” he said again, hisvoice hoarse.“Five,” she said. Her lips and cheeks wereflushed, but her gaze was steady.“Five?” he echoed blankly.907/1090“My rating,” she said, and smiled at him.“Your skill and technique may, perhaps, requirework, but the native talent is certainlythere. What you require is practice.”“And you are willing to be my tutor?”“I should be very insulted if you chose another,”she said, and leaned up to kiss himagain.”

“I can pick up the city feeds on my antenna. It said they were going to change you all. Turn you into something less dangerous. Are you still...?"She gazed at him. "What do you think, David?"He peered into her eyes for a long moment, then sighed and shook his head. "You just look like Tally to me."She looked down, her vision blurring.What's the matter?"Nothing, David." She shook her head. "You just took on five million years of evolution again."I what? Did I say something wrong?"No." She smiled. "You said something right.”

“Will you give me another chance?” Robert repeated. Smiling, Dougless kissed him on the cheek. “No,” she said, “although I thank you very much for the offer.”

“You saved me again," she told him with a starstruck gaze. He cupped her cheek and gave her a tender smile in the dark. "Because you are my princess and I am your knight.”

“Ember pulled his face to hers, kissing him again before she said, “Your strength gives me courage.” He smiled gently. “No, Ember, that is all your strength and none of mine.” She balked, but he kissed her, murmuring against her lips, “And that is why I love you.”