He eased his hold for her to turn in his arms. His breath caught at how the redness of her eyes only made the green that much more brilliant; and caught again as she touched his face so lightly.

Sometimes, for no particular reasons and all of them, he was struck speechless by this woman, all the more glorious for not being a general or a myth, rebellion or absolution, no more or less than this stunning human who'd been through so much and now lay curled with him here.

All he could think of, at last, was to smile and kiss the tip of her nose. And murmur breathlessly, "Thanks."