Perversion. But I could seldom tell Lyonidas no when he was so close to me, with such longing in his deep dark eyes, and on his so warm lips and . .... . I found myself nodding my head. One of the pins I had worked into my hair provided the puncturing tool. Lyonidas insisted on purifying it in a candle flame, at least the part that would touch my ears, as part of the ritual. It didn't hurt . . . much . . . though the immediate application of a few drops of wine stung a bit. The. "Salvo one had dispersed and come in from outside the wall's barrage. Most of the ships disintegrated into smoke and transient flame. The others were transformed into lifeless hulks" ... Salvo four on the way..." Strobe lights flashing all over the wall, Ma'am."Salvo two impacted with the same result."Abort strikes Guns" Clare snapped.TJ did not immediately acknowledge as he bent to his screen and selected the abort tab on each salvo and pressed it – then he acknowledged"Salvos aborted,. ‘Maybe I do,’ he said quietly. ‘At least she understands me and doesn’t make selfish demands.’ ‘Selfish demands? Spending more time with me is a selfish demand?’ Kirsten responded acidly. ‘We’re a couple Aidan, and we’re supposed to spend time, or did you suddenly decide you don’t love me anymore?’ ‘Perhaps I did,’ Aidan said quietly. ‘Maybe I like Pamela better.’ ‘Then maybe we should just break this off.’ Kirsten said quietly. ‘We should.’ Aidan said, averting his eyes from her gaze. Kirsten. Did the meeting proceed well?" Better than I had hoped. Before I get the committees down in the dirt, though, I had a few questions." Not unexpected." Advertising?" For the chair, say half a dozen academic places plus The Australian. Final text to be approved by this office. Deadline four to eight weeks after publication date. For the professorial job, two ads. In both cases, a flyer to every university in this country plus New Zealand. Show me that wording, too." Money?" Bills come to this.