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“It won’t always be like this” I finally whisper to him.
“That’s where you’re wrong. It’s always going to be like this. The fact that I love you means you’re always going to be a target. You’re always going to be in danger.”
This quotation comes from a painful exchange in Chapter 63 between Jaxon and Grace, as Grace is lying in the school's infirmary after the dramatic battle in the tunnels. Jaxon—who feels incredibly guilty for almost killing her by draining all her blood—tries to break up with Grace. He doesn't do so because he doesn't love her: indeed, he tells her that he does for the first time on the previous page. However, he believes that because of his status as the Prince of Vampires, Grace will always be in danger if they are together. This is a moment where the couple’s physical bond and their emotional one are simultaneously tested. Uttering the idea of breaking up demonstrates to each of them how much it would hurt to do so. Here, desire wins out.
Jaxon takes a step closer until he’s right behind me. He doesn’t touch me, doesn’t even brush against me, but he’s close enough that that doesn’t matter. I can feel him.
“I’ll walk you back to your room.”
This quotation appears at the end of the snowball fight in Chapter 20, when Jaxon is trying to separate Grace from Flint and ensure she gets back to her room safely. Although they are surrounded by other students, Grace is extremely aware of Jaxon's physical proximity, which is both to do with her own embarrassment, and the strong sexual desire she feels for him. He doesn't even have to touch her, and she says that she can “feel him.” Before they've even had a moment of real physical intimacy, she feels they’re inextricably tangled together.
No, right now he just looks…vulnerable.
There’s a desire in his eyes, a craving that has nothing to do with wanting me and everything to do with needing me. Needing my comfort. Needing my touch.
In this Chapter 34 quotation, Grace is describing how Jaxon looks after they have just stumbled in from meteor-watching on the parapet of the castle. She's worried that she has invaded his personal space by coming too close to him after falling in through the window. However, it turns out that Jaxon isn't offended by her touch or her presence. It’s that her physical gentleness has provoked a feeling of vulnerability in him. Although she thinks that this “craving” has nothing to do with “wanting her,” Jaxon is certainly expressing a kind of desire here: a desire for her presence, and for the comfort of her touch, not necessarily for sexual contact. However, this tender moment is also all confused and muddled into the sexual energy they are both feeling. At this point in the novel their relationship is a hotbed of confused affection, mistrust, and misdirected sexual intensity.
