For reference, I'm over halfway through The Dark Mirror (book 5) but I like to cross reference quotes and I've been sharing some of them.
In book 4, Paige _finally_ gets a night with Arcturus. Paige is most definitely demisexual and is very emotionally bonded to Arcturus. To be fair, he seems very easy to bond with. He's super considerate, increasingly on top of the consent checks, and has a consistent pattern of thoughtful gestures and acts of care. Of course he's not human either but still humanoid.
I read many books. I like a lot of different types of descriptions. I like the descriptions in Samantha's writing. So here are some snippets.
> I touched my lips to his
> It was hardly a kiss. Just a whisper of my mouth on his, a give and take of breath. Tilting back, I idled my fingertips along his jaw, then his lower lip – full and smooth, curved like the limb of a bow. Calling my courage, I stroked the tip of my tongue across that lip before I drew it into my mouth.
Naturally I'm not going to paste the whole chapter. You gotta read that yourselves.
> When he cupped it, a fractured sound came, unwilled, from my lips
> His gaze moved down my body. I held still. A human might have whispered in my ear, told me I was beautiful or perfect, but not him. For a long time, all he did was look, opaque, eyes on fire. When I was sure the silence would last for ever, when the tension of waiting would snap me in two, he drew me against him, into the moonlight. It illuminated my hair, transfigured it to flame, and ousted the few shadows that had draped me.
Did I mention Arcturus is a musician? He plays the organ
> His kiss made the skin of my abdomen shiver. His hands cradled the backs of my knees.
> ‘This,’ he said, ‘is an overture.’
> His voice was little more than a tremor in his throat. I felt it everywhere.
> ‘Learning a duet entails time. And patience. Calls for us to move as one.’ He found a sensitive place at the back of my thigh, and I breathed his name. ‘I want you to show me where to touch you. I want to know’ – he rolled a thumb over the wing of my hipbone – ‘how to make your body sing.’
> Small, instinctive sounds passed my lips as he carried me to the edge of a precipice. I cleaved to him, afraid to let go, every limb fighting the call to surrender. Surrender had no place in war.
> But this was no war. Not here, in this room.
> He never rushed. As my hips surged and my hand twisted into the sheets, I thought of the bird in the music box, and the golden key that wound it. He coaxed me closer and closer to the brink, and there he held me until the bird came to life and took wing.
Sometimes reading examples helps break my writers block. Hasn't worked yet, but I'll keep trying. Maybe I need to take a quick detour to some of my favorite descriptions in Metal from Heaven or the Angels Trilogy. Or one of the many many other books I've read. However if y'all have more suggestions, I'll add them to my big list o books to read.
