Rachel Higginson

“Yes my love, because Eden, I have loved you avidly from the first moment I saw you and I will love you completely with all that I am until the day I die.”

“I believed I would never trust another person for as long as I lived. Yet, I couldn't help but trust him; the decision was made before I even realized what was happening. He forced my soul back into innocent belief, not by empty words or false promises but by consistent action that never failed. He was safe.”

“I dont think any kind of love is without some kind of hurt along the way. It's how we get to know each other better, how we decide what's for real...what's the eternal stuff, what is going to push us closer together and seal the bond between us.”

“Nevertheless this was life. I could wish that life was fair and that things were different, but this is what it was and I was determined to make the best of it. I needed to move forward, and fight the battles put in front of me and cherish the friendships that surrounded me.”

“Aunt Syl must have conveniently stopped reading the childhood fairy tales when the knight left the damsel in distress to pursue a better damsel out of my bedtime routine.”

“He forced my soul back into innocent belief, not by empty words or false promises but by consistent action that never failed. He was safe.”

“I told you, E; we should have brought the explosives,' Xander grumbled underneath his breath in good humor.”

“Whatever dude, just as long as you're ok with carrying this thing out looking like Disco Barbie, it's cool with us.”

“When Silas said Gabriel was a priest, I assumed he meant to a real congregation, not the caretaker of an empty building threatening to send the entire street of people to meet Jesus literally at any moment, and not just emotionally.”

“We will remember the way things used to be, and teach our children to be better than us. The generations that follow will remember with us. In that day, we will all be free”

“I do love you Eden, with all that I am. I don't believe there has been a more perfect love to ever exist in all of eternity, in fact. And I plan on sharing the rest of that eternity with only you”

“You are everything to me, my sun, my moon, the air I breathe. Nothing exists except you. I love you.”

“Excuse me, Ms. Matthews; you are going to be late for class if you don’t get going. Can you read the map, or are you already lost?” the stern voice of the secretary pulled me out of my stupor. “Um, no, I can read,” I said, sheepishly, still unable to take my eyes off the mysterious boy staring back.“Of course, you can read,” she said sharply, snapping my entranced head back to reality. “Now, get to class.”

“Someone created all of this, all of the beauty of the earth, all of the fragility of human life and all of the extraordinary existence of us. Choosing to believe in a god only when you are surrounded by death and destruction is to truly not know God at all.”

“If there were only success in your life, you would not learn anything. Leadership is experience and you are still young. You still have much to learn about our people and war; it should not come easy to you. If it did, you would be robbed of life's most valuable teacher.”

“You were patient all this time. I had to find myself first; I had to remember who I was and become the person I was meant to be. You have been there for me patiently while I searched for you, even when I didn't know I was looking for you, you were there.”

“There are no mistakes, Eden, just different outcomes to our flawed expectations.”

“True love, whether you live your life on the run or spend it in the same house where you raise your children, is never easy and it’s certainly never safe. It’s a risk we take believing the reward is greater than what we give up.”

“I loved him. My prince. My soul mate.”

“And you're right, I do love you Eden. I will follow you into eternity, or until after this weekend when we all die gruesome, painful deaths... But with every breath I have left, I will use it to love you. Because, Eden, I want this... You; I want you more than life, more than anything. There was a time when I didn't think I was strong enough to face you again, or what is between us. I was too afraid of the heartache, of being shattered again. But now, it doesn't matter, nothing matters except you. I will take an eternity of hardship, of war or fighting my father, or anything, just to hold your love again. You are everything to me, my sun, my moon, the air I breathe. Nothing exists accept you. I love you.”

“What do you want to know, Eden? Do you want to know how upset I am that you are not going to be around anymore, that I'm going to have to disappear out of your life completely? Would you like to know how scared I am that I won't be able to protect you anymore? Maybe you want to know how terrifying it is that you are choosing to hand yourself over to the monarchy; that you are going willingly to be slaughtered and I get absolutely no say in the matter. Or maybe you wan to know how hurt I am. Is that what you want to know?”