“I really wish you hadn't worn that sweater,'he muttered into her ear.'It's good practice for you,' she replied,her lips moving against his skin.'Tomorrow,fishnets.'Against her side,warm and familiar,she felt him laugh.”

“It was at first almost as if he hadn't wanted to kiss her. His mouth was hard on hers, unyielding; then he put both arms around her and pulled her against him. His lips softened. She could feel the rapid beat of his heart, taste the sweetness of apples still on his mouth. She wound her hands into his hair, as she'd wanted to do since the first time she'd seen him. His hair curled around her fingers, silky and fine. Her heart was hammering, and there was a rushing sound in her ears, like beating wings”

“You can close your eyes and think of England, if you like.""I've never even been to England," she said, but she shut her eyelids. She could feel the dank heaviness of her clothes, cold and itchy against her skin, and the cloying sweet air of the cave, colder yet, and the weight of Jace's hands on her shoulders, the only things that were warm. And then he kissed her.She felt the brush of his lips, light at first, and her own opened automatically beneath the pressure. Almost against her will she felt herself go fluid and pliant, stretching upward to twine her arms around his neck the way that a sunflower twists toward light. His arms slid around her, his hands knotting in her hair, and the kiss stopped being gentle and became fierce, all in a single moment like tinder flaring into a blaze.”

“Will,” she whispered against his mouth. She wanted him closer to her so badly, it was like an ache, a painful hot ache that spread from her stomach to speed her heart and knot her hands in his hair and set her skin burning. “Will, you need not be so careful. I will not break.”

“She had fallen asleep with her head on his arm, the clockwork angel, still around her throat, resting against his shoulder just to the left of his collarbone. As she moved away, the clockwork angel slipped free and she saw to her surprise that where it had lain against his skin it had left a mark behind, no bigger than a shilling, in the shape of a pale white star.”

“He made a sound like a choked laughed before he reached out and pulled her into her arms. She was aware of Luke watching them from the window, but she shut her eyes resolutely and buried her face against Jace's shoulder. He smelled of salt and blood, and only when his mouth came close to her ear did she understand what he was saying, and it was the simplest litany of all: her name, just her name.”

“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.”