“It wasn't my most fashionable dress, but anyone who called for me at nine o-clock in the bloody morning would have to take what he was given.”

“It’s weird, isn’t it?”“What is?”“Treaties and all that. It’s like we woke up one morning and we weren’t supposed to be enemies anymore. It’ll take some getting used to.”“True,” I said. “I think it’s really cool though.”“Unfortunately, not everyone agrees.”I thought of my grandfather and what he would do if he could see me now. “I know. But it’s worth protecting.”“Yes,” he said, and something about the way he was looking at me made me think he was talking specifically about me. “It is.”

“Nice dress. Can you breathe in that thing?”I smoothed the front of my dress. “It would be much more fun to wear if it wasn’t what I was going to be buried in.”“You are not going to be buried.” He paused, lifted the clothes up suspiciously.“Vampires don’t bury their victims,” he added distractedly.“Hey, looking for comfort here.”

“The sound of carriage wheels and horses was faint,seeming more distant than they actually were. Drops of water clung to the wool of my dress and my cloak, the men dragging in the grass. We were in a soft cocoon.It might have been romantic.If it wasn't for all the dead bodies.And the faint scratch of a footstep.”

“Tucking my nose into a book makes me completely oblivious to my surroundings. I would have made a terrible spy in the army--the first person to hand me a novel would have been able to shoot my head clean off without me noticing.”

“R," Elizabeth breathed. "For what? Rheumatism? Retinue? Richard the Third?"The planchette continued to move, torward the O."Romantic? It's going to tell us our husband's name! Or else...rotund." She paused. "Is it calling us fat?"W."Someone's going to have a row?”

“A shaft of sunlight fell on me, making my dress look like fire and my skin glow like pearls. The shadows around me darkened, as if my glowing skin were leeching the light from everything around me. I was a lantern on the longest, darkest moonless night.”