“He's an angel. Isn't he supposed to love everyone, even the damned? Especially when said damned are his drinking buddies.”

“Jesus," I said. "That was bad."Seth looked startled—and then hurt. "Bad?""No, not performance bad—more like dirty, wicked bad. The kind of stuff that gets an R rating.""What, we can't do that?" He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around my waist, nuzzling my neck."Well, yeah...er, well, damn it. We're not supposed to be. Not at all. It's just that last time, it was like...I don't know. It was making love. This time it was...""Fucking?" he supplied."Oh God," I groaned. "Seth Mortensen just said 'fucking' out loud. The end times are near.”

“You'd give up drinking to go see your dad?""Well, not permanently," he said. "That'd be ridiculous. But maybe I could switch to something slightly cheaper for a while. Like...slushes. Do you know how much I love those? Cherry, especially.”

“I can’t have it either. It affects the babies in utero.”“Nonsense,” he said, tossing his long auburn hair over one shoulder. Life would be easier if he wasn’t so damned good-looking. “Why, my mother drank wine every day, and I turned out just fine.”“I think you’re proving my point for me,” I said dryly”

“Some of his pieces were quite good. Others-especially when he'd been drinking-looked like he'd accidentally spilled paint on canvas.”

“What am I supposed to do with a wool coat? Especially here in Palm Springs?”“Sleep with it,” he suggested. “Think of me.”

“I love you, Roza." He kissed me again. "I'll always be here for you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you." The words were wonderful and dangerous. He shouldn't have said anything like that to me. He shouldn't have been promising he'd protect me, not when he was supposed to dedicate his life to protecting Moroi like Lissa. I couldn't be first in his heart, just like he couldn't be first in mine. That was why I shouldn't have said what I said next-but I did anyway. "And I won't let anything happen to you," I promised. "I love you." He kissed me again, swallowing off any other words I might have added.”