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"So he sleeps his way into a position of power?"

"He doesn’t doin his Lady’s bed, but, essentially, yes Usually there is attraction, basic lust on both sides Most often there is affection Sometimes even love And sometimes there is lust on the Lady’s side and ato be farther away from the counter and the other custoht it was that way in Kaeleer" And Falonar had come fro her as a way of solidifying his position as Lucivar’s second-in-command

What bothered her more? That Falonar’s interest in her could have been a combination of lust and a desire to have a connection with the witches who ruled Kaeleer, or that his interest in his current lover had nothing to do with ao He wasn’t the rightto say is, I will stand as an official escort for you whenever you need one--or whenever it is required that you have one," Rainier said "But I’m not here for the sake of aht?"

She nodded, then puffed out a breath "I guess I’ moody Or bitchy"

A war fun of her usual sharp tongue So awould be taken as intended

Cheered by the thought, shesaw her co soht

Her cheerful mood vanished as she stared at the spot where the ht Like he’d dressed very carefully for an afternoon out, but it was a laboriously constructed costu else just enough to scratch her te to eavesdrop on a conversation and hadn’t been happy when she’d caught hi Rainier down another aisle and boxing the man between the two of theet any sense of threat or power In fact, she got so little sense of hi to scare the shit out of ain the bookshop just because she didn’t like so about the way he dressed?

Since she couldn’t say with certainty that her reaction wasn’t the result of an edginess caused by talking about Falonar, she turned to Rainier and said, "Help me find the first Jarvis Jenkell story about the Blood And while we’re doing that, you can tell , Dae bed, naked, sated, and blissfully content, his head pillowed in Jaenelle’s lap They had bathed after a hungry session of loveled scents beneath the clean s to turn his head and press a kiss on that triangle between her thighs But a kiss through her nightgoould make him want to push up the fabric in order to taste skin, and that kind of kiss would lead to other kinds of kisses

He’d already indulged himself with those other kinds of kisses

Besides, she was reading a book and petting hih his hair, over his shoulders and back He could float on that sensation, and he did, beginning to settle into sleep when…tap tap tap tap tap tapHer finger against his shoulder

He knew that rhythm It seldom boded well

"Are you asleep?" Jaenelle asked

"Mtap tap tap

"Daemon?"

He opened his eyes halfway

"When we have sex, does your penis ith gratitude?"

A handful of answers flashed through hisin the Consort’s room Alone

"In what context?" he asked

She lowered the book Since he’d acknowledged being awake, he raised his head and read the passage Then he read it again

"Sweetheart, if my penis ever does that, you will be the first to know Not as ht, but I wanted to be sure"

Hearing the frown in her voice, he shifted, reluctantly, and propped hi?"

She flashed hiuilty look "A book by Jarvis Jenkell"

At least you didn’t kick me this time"That book doesn’t start with a body in a closet, does it?"

"Yes, it does"

Hell’s fire Well, Rainier would get to deal with Surreal when they reached that part of the story And wouldn’t that be fun?

"Do you think there’s so with his brain?"

He studied her expression Not a flippant question

"Do you think there’s so with his sanity?"