“Seal'd her minefrom her first sweet breathMine, and mine by right, from birth till deathMine, mine-our fathers have sworn.”

“From the first day we hid the woman within the man, so that at the right time we could remove her from within him. We didn't create man to live alone; she was purposed from the beginning. By taking her out of him, he birthed her in a sense. We created a circle of relationship, like our own, but for humans. She, out of him, and now all the males, including me, birthed through her, and all originating, or birthed, from God.”

“Rome is not outside me, but inside me.. Her feverish sweetness, her tragic countryside, her own beauty and harmony, all these are mine, for my thought and my work.”

“You have a mother?"He quirked a brow. "Did you think mine was some sort of divine birth? My father was a remarkable man, but even he was not that talented.”

“I loomed over her face with mine, gripping her eyes with mine, owning her boy with mine. I saw only her.I felt only her. I heard only her”

“A burning heat warmed my blood.It was a slow kiss at first—all I meant it to be, but then Echo touched me. Her hands on my face, in my hair. And then she angled her body to mine. Warmth, enticing pressure on all the right parts, and Echo’s lips on mine—fireworks.She became my world.”