Rat hummed in reply, letting poetry fall to the side for the moment. Now was the moment for prose, for seriousness, even as erotic hungry words curled through his ears like sweet music. Shifting to his side, Rat lay down, facing Marius and twining their fingers.

"What do you want?" he asked. Half-sobered and all too aroused, he had to ask it now before he lost all good sense and let himself be taken over. Marius had already said he had never been with a lover and Rat knew he was too damaged to be someone's first.