On nights where she means to bring about shipwrecks, his sister sings of love; and Aleksander always listens, bemused. It is not that he is unfamiliar with the concept, or even why lesser men crave it so, but it has always struck him as being--limited, somehow; emptying far sooner than expected.

Until he sees the spark in Alina's eyes, the slant of her smile; until he turns from the night sky to the sight of her face; until he wants to reach within her for the wickedness that lingers there, even among so many stars.