“What is wrong with Steldor?" my father asked, probably thinking illness since a shirt now covered his torso, concealing the last of his bandages."He was wounded," Cannan said, leaving out any hint of the strife we had experienced. "He's on the mend now." He cast a glance toward Nantilam, who still stood stiffly in the background, hands bound, Halias on alert next to her. "We have the High Priestess to thank for that.""Not that she would have assisted willingly," Halias muttered, but she bowed her head toward the captain in appreciation of his acknowledgement.”

“Steadying herself with both hands on the table, she managed an awkward bow....'Your Highness,' she stammered, head lowered...The prince flinched and cast a glance over his shoulder before hunching toward her. 'Maybe, um...' - he pulled his fingers across his lips - 'on the Highness stuff?”

“He didn't answer. Instead he cupped her face in his hands and drew her towards him. Then he kissed her lightly on the lips. Oh god, she wanted his head between her legs and she wanted it now.”

“And you're not leaving," she said. "Promise me."It was as if she had asked him to promise to keep breathing, to notice sunshine, to permit the spinning of the earth. What choice did he have? Even if he left her, she would be camped in his heart, an insistent and willful presence. She would match her strides to his on any journey he ever took; she would lie beside him on any bed.Amalie, he said, "that's the easiest promise I've ever had to make.”

“When Trace simply held her hands out to her sides and looked at her, Priss asked, "Are we going to have sex now?"His mouth twitched, and his gaze warmed, but he sounded dead serious when he said, "Yeah, I think we are.”

“She’d made her choice when he asked for her hand and she’d offered it without question. Once he touched her, she knew she was his. Afterward, he had always been there in the shadows, like a ghost who would not leave. And now the ghost had decided that he wanted her.”