Jade Fern Grove lift back and see the darkness hid

likewise, mahler would not speak and could not move away until the boulder-words had all been rolled into one sentence, and he felt it heavy on his tongue. he wanted to dip his broad head and explore the silken salutation of her ears; he wanted to fade into iana, until the boundary he had lain paled and pulled up and up.
he had known no one since before the birth of his children, an enforced celibacy that now yawned heavily within him.
but mahler would not squander anyone else upon his desire and the futile feeling of i am able to do this.
for even if he were, the gathering cough in his body reminded him of a mortality made flesh.
and so the graf let his chin rest momentarily atop the small roundness of her skull. 
"even if i do not vant to bring more children into the vorld, i do not vant to leave your life if you choose to have them," the shadowpriest said softly. the glacier was not too far to travel, to teach, to be present weekly if he so chose.
without little ones to call him father, mahler was granted a new role in the lives soon to breathe.
his heart raced quietly.