"His hands uncupped himself and he stared downward. It was a long while before he spoke, and when he did, his words were slow and considered ... and as ceaseless as his quiet tears. "I wish I were whole. I wish I could have given you young if you'd wanted them and could conceive them. I wish I could have told you that it killed me when you thought I had been with anyone else. I wish I had spent the last year waking up every night and telling you I loved you. I wish I had mated you properly the evening you came back to me from the dead. I wish ..." Now his shimmering stare flipped up to hers. "I wish I were half as strong as you are and I wish I deserved you. And ... that's about it."