“If it's healed, then why does it still hurt?" I said, panicked.What if the pain never went away? How was I supposed to live with that? Had Henry experienced the same thing in his chest? How could he have possibly fought of that thing again if he had?"Because there is no power in the world that can take away the pain until it is ready to leave." said Theo”

“Did you know,” he said, his breath warm on my cheek, “that that is the first time anyone has ever told me they loved me?” Startled, I did the only thing I could think of—I kissed him again. “You’d better get used to hearing it more often, because I plan on saying it to you an awful lot.”

“He’s only with me because I’m your sister,” I said hotly.“Diana—Demeter, she’s my mother. She decided to have me in a last-ditch effort to save Henry because she felt so damn guilty for what you did to him, and she didn’t want to be responsible for him fading. He married me because he couldn’t have you, and I was the next best thing. Thanks for rubbing my nose in it.”

“I care," he said in a trembling voice. "I care so much that I do not know how to tell you without it seeming inconsequential compared to how I feel. Even if I am distant at times and seem as if I do not want to be with you, it is only because this scares me, too.”

“You are my life.” Though his words were barely a whisper, they seemed to echo from somewhere deep within him, enveloping my body and infusing me with something unshakable. “There is nothing I would not do to make you happy. Before I met you, my world was a string of days that were gray and empty. I had nothing to look forward to, and I cannot tell you what it was like, facing down eternity alone. Every day I wished for you. Every day I held on in hopes that eventually we would meet. And when I finally found you...”He leaned in and kissed me again, astenderly as before. His hand slid underneath my shirt, splaying across my stomach, but the touch wasn’t sexual. It was as if he were trying to memorize me, just as I was trying to memorize him.“I have existed for more eons than I remember. I have seen the sun rise and fall so many times that the days lost all meaning. For so long, they passed me by in a blur. But that night we met by the river—the night you gave up yourself in order to save a virtual stranger—my heart began to beat again.”He took my hand and pressed it against his chest, and there it was—thump thump, thump thump, strong and beautiful. I would’ve given anything to keep his heart beating. The black abyss that had become my world in those hours I’d thought he was dead had faded, but it was a scar I would always bear. I couldn’t go back to that. Even if I had Milo, I would never have another Henry.”

“I'm not afraid of you." And to demonstrate that point, I leaned forward and kissed like he'd kissed me in the drawing room, careful not to spill my drink. Me heart pounded in my chest as I waited for him to respond, hoping he wouldn't pull away and declare everything that had happened a mistake.”

“This is the gate between the living and the dead", he said. "You are still living. The others on the grounds died very long time ago."A chill ran through me. "And you?""Me?" The corner of his mouth twitched. "I rule the dead. I am not one of them”