“The past would always be part of the present, but at least that was true for both sides: the good and the bad.”

“No time for books, no patience. What good would they do? They don’t tell you how to survive.” “No, they don’t do that. They are reason, not tool.” Vadim smirked. “They hold more truth than Pravda. Politburo can’t lie in Pushkin. Pushkin was there before we became Soviets. It means…if we have past, we have future.” (…) “At least I know that there are many truths. It’s about learning to think different thoughts. Know things that you never felt. You could know what being rich feels like, or being in love, without ever getting real feeling.”

“This way, at least, we get to meet and kill interesting people.”

“Let me live. Keep me alive. Both sentences so close in English, but very different meaning.”

“Falling in love with you isn’t easy. Most people waver between loving you and killing you, and you’re usually lucky they come out at the loving you side.”

“You seem to be the one for firsts,” his breath caught, “and lasts and always.”

“Blood, pain and an all-surpassing lust for one man settled so deeply into his bones, the need had become part of him. Bottomless, like the touch he craved. Vadim.”