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, at her
pulse, and shivered. "I want you . . . "
"You'll have me, and I you," Ryoko Etou told him. "But slowly, slowly."
Ryoko Etou inhaled. "Please, Doctor. This is not as it should be."
"It should be . . . I should be . . . inside you, Lady." If Ryoko Etou had
thought his eyes burned before, it was as nothing compared to the
fire in them now. "Forever."
Ryoko's heart convulsed. "Would you leave the Fleet, your position?" He
was silent at this. "Would you give up all that you have now for
something you do not understand? You do not know what a consort is,
or does. You do not know life on Ishtar, among my people. You
barely know daily life on my ship, Doctor!" Ryoko's voice nearly broke.
"I cannot accept your fealty. Please do not ask me again!" There
was silence, and then --
"Must it be as consort?" he asked, and his defenselessness almost
paralyzed her. He lowered his eyes, and his lashes looked long
enough to brush his cheeks.
Ryoko's head shook once. "It must, with my vows. Teachers such as
myself may not bind themselves to a man unless it be as consort."
Ryoko Etou closed Ryoko's eyes. "And to be consort, yo
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