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‘And you are being far too forgiving You must have wished me at the devil at least once a day when I was at Bab el-Nur’

‘At least Almost as often as you wished me there’

‘Definitely hed as he leaned over to blow out the lalow from outside, like a distant torch

Edge’s hand was brushing softly over the curve of her shoulder and she no longer had to force her eyes shut It felt good, like the warh the wooden shutters She hu

‘Yes, that was itas if the night sky was singing,’ hegently down her back ‘Don’t stop’

It felt so good, just the sweep of his hand, like waves flowing and receding She wanted to feel it directly on her skin She wanted to feel his warmth closer to her She wanted

He took his hand away and she squirmed

‘Don’t stop’

‘I’m not It will be more comfortable like this’ He raised her and with complete casualness he slipped off her che the cotton sheet over them She should have felt embarrassed or scared, but the fear didn’t come She was even a little disappointed when he didn’t pull her to hi her back in long, languid motions

He was right It was so ht word It was soothing, blissful, war etting all the stroking attention after years of living in the wild, she was luxuriating under his hands, arcing and stretching and seekingenvious

She turned to try to capture the trail of his sweeping fingers, her behind tingling each time his hand sithin reach and then away Her shoulders curved, her arers would slide under and over towards where her breasts felt suddenly full, the spears of lightning no longer painful but urgent She was a constellation of new stars revolving around a growing sun of heat and darkness at her core—a new centre of tension, very different fro It was a pulsing beating of druh her