The captain takes Mr. Hickey for his darling, with dire consequences.

Silas and Jay spend a night in civilization.

His secrets were collateral. They were a contract, a promise that he would not go back on his word. Her flesh, his soul: when she knew things that not even the King knew, things that could ruin him, they became equal.

If he cannot ask, if he cannot even bring himself to, to say, I want this of you, then how can he expect Sui Zhou to answer? Sui Zhou is a man of fewer words than he is motions, but talking is an act that most often transcends tactility in its clarity.

May tries not to think about everything Jasmine does for her.

Spóglia: a spoiling, a robbing, a stripping. Also a raiment, a clothing or weede. Also a mans mortall vaile or bodie. Also the skinne that any Serpent or Snake leaues off. Also a coffin of paste made for a Pie, a Tarte, or a Custard. Also any pillage, praie, bootie, prize, reprisall or spoile taken from an enemie. Also the outward skinne of any thing.

The good news is that it provides some much-needed confirmation, alongside further clarity: they now know the trick and the twist as to how their current suspect is orchestrating a rather elaborate extortion scheme. The bad news is that Sui Zhou is poisoned.

The hot springs were deep enough here that the water lapped at Lan Jingyi's thighs. He couldn't see much of the man in front of him except that his hair was tied up and he'd been taller than Lan Jingyi before he got on his knees. To suck Lan Jingyi's dick. Because Lan Jingyi was having anonymous sex in the gay hot springs in Qinghe and getting his dick sucked by a stranger.

He dislikes his body sending messages he doesn't intend or even necessarily endorse.

The deluge of rain that sweeps the capital is sudden.