my skin and thought how trusting you were. How foolish and fearless. How soft. And I was tempted then. I have never harmed one of those who came to my bed, never before considered it, but I touched your lips and thought how easily I might steal your breath away…and raise you up again before you ever knew you’d died.” He moved his hand over her stomach in a circle just once—she felt an odd, cold pulling sensation, as if he’d found some secret thread inside her and wound it once around his wrist—then came to rest on her hip. “And I would have you forever.”
