"What was it like?" Manon asked quietly. "To love." For love was what it had been--what Asterin perhaps alone of all the Ironteeth witches had felt, had learned. "It was like dying a little every day. It was like being alive, too. It was joy so complete it was pain. It destroyed me and unmade me and forged me. I hated it, because I knew I couldn't escape it, and knew it would forever change me. And that witchling ... I loved her, too. I loved her in a way I cannot describe--other than to tell you that it was the most powerful thing I've ever felt, greater than rage, than lust, than magic." A soft smile. "I'm surprised you're not giving me the 'Obedience. Discipline. Brutality' speech." Made into monsters. "Things are changing," Manon said. "Good," Asterin said. "We're immortals. Things should change, and often, or they'll get boring." Manon lifted her brows, and her Second grinned. Manon shook her head and grinned back."