Elizabeth in consequence remained unbetrothed, and her father soon afterwards secured to himself a more strenuous ally in the earl of Lenox, also of the blood-royal of Scotland, by bestowing upon this nobleman the hand, not of his daughter, but of his niece the lady Margaret Douglas.

The Wards are open-topped, with skyscrapers rising from the superstructure. Towers are sealed against vacuum, as the breathable atmosphere envelope is only maintained to a height of about seven meters. The atmosphere is contained by the centrifugal force of rotation and a membrane of dense, colorless sulphur hexafluoride gas, held in place by carefully managed mass effect fields.

[…] the joy of the archetypal confectionery is the irregularly-sized, shifting, sugared, soft squishyness that promises more pleasure than could ever be contained in a machine-built, clinically fried ring of dough.

“You're incredible,” I'd said sincerely. Out of the blue he kissed me after that compliment! But it all too quickly felt too friendshipy.