Mano

“Yshera,” he said, and there was a rawness, an honesty, in his voice I hadn’t heard before. “Taking on your pain is nothing compared to the pain I feel when you experience it.”
― Jacqueline White, Souls in Ruin

“Let me know which stars you prefer. The ones above you, or the ones I make you see.”
― H.D. Carlton, Haunting Adeline

“I forbid you to go."

"I am not yours to forbid. Comfort your pride with your conquest!"

"Felicia!"

The raw anguish of it stopped me. Tears were threatening to spill from my eyes so that I had to bend my head, fighting for self-control, and I did not hear him come up beside me. His hand touched my shoulder, then dropped again as I shivered.

"Does this look like pride?" His voice was shaking. "Or must I grovel?"

He was on his knees at my feet, and as I watched he lifted the hem of my gown to his lips and kissed it. I made some sort of sound in my throat, but I could not speak.

"You cannot go." He spoke in a whisper, without lifting his head. "I love you. I have always loved you--I bought you from your vile brother because I could not live without you."

As I stared down at his bowed, bright head, the earth shook under my feet. This could not be happening, I thought.”
― Teresa Denys, The Silver Devil

“But when he bent his head there was no gentleness in the touch of his lips but expert sensuality, vicious appetite. He knew how to gain a response and did so with a merciless science which left me gasping. When his head lifted, his eyes were blazing black lightning, but he smiled and touched my lips again, very lightly, with his own.

"Is it so hard to love me, Felicia?”
― Teresa Denys, The Silver Devil