I always wondered about that night. Now I know.

“Preferred Embrace”

By Joseph Manno

He awoke long before dawn… and rolled over to look at her.

She slept—soundly enough that the mask which was her second visage had slipped a bit.

He wondered about her dreams… and then, his need rose in him. Halatonin supposedly suppressed such urges; yet, even through that, here he was, rigid and ready, struggling against…

She sighed, slipped even deeper… and, finally, whatever instinctual or contrived artifice had remained melted away.

He saw her as she was.

Vaerth Parihn had the loveliest, saddest little face he’d ever seen.

Jerrell closed his eyes… and tried, in vain, to sleep.