The Sentinels Bravery only means something to those afraid of death.

Raleska had no defenses in place for the warring instinct that overtook her; it was ancient, and it was omnipresent -- capable at once of pushing out all rational thought that had previously tethered her mind to realism.

Dacio moved alongside her. Each place he tenderly touched seemed to erupt with longing fire. For each of his ministrations, Raleska was surprised to find herself doing the same -- grooming tenderly along his soft skin, breathing in the musk and the desire that in that moment was Dacio entire.

He moved to straddle her, and suddenly, what had been a whisper of instinct within her was now a full-throated roar: it commanded her to steady her legs and brace against him, suddenly channeling her with the knowledge of a thousand primordial ancestors. She felt her legs stiffen as his weight slung across her back, a buzzing sensation crawling along and down under her skin.

His teeth gripped along her nape, and for the briefest moment a roar of the ocean and the scream of gulls flooded her senses, as a memory forcibly erupted its way to the surface of her mind: of Drageda, Blixen's teeth, his own -- she briefly buckled, a ragged cry stifled tight between her clenched jaws as she waited with eyes closed for what she somehow knew would come next.