“It was scary having that sort of power over a girl. You could hurt her in ways you might never understand.”

“I will never break your heart. I will never hurt you. I might fuck up, I might not be perfect, but I'll never hurt you, Evan. You have my word.”

“It is not safe for a woman to be traveling on her own.""I was perfectly safe until you crossed my path.""Well may you see it that way,but if I hadn't come along,someone else would have and you could be in great difficulty right now."If she hadn't known it would hurt, she might have laughed. As it was, she had to content herself with a grimace. "Oh, you mean I could have been chased over a cliff?”

“You, instinctively, as a girl, have very, uh, strange, supernatural, magical powers that we don't understand.”

“They hurt you. You hurt 'em back. Or maybe it is the other way around. Whatever. Someday you might find a way to forgive each other. But it won't be like it used to 'cause that pain never really goes away.”

“Balsa seemed invincible, endowed with powers no other warrior could match, but in her profile he could glimpse the shadow of a young girl, hurt and buffeted by a cruel and hopeless fate. If he had never experienced what it was like to be at the mercy of fate himself, he would not have noticed, but now he could see it with unbearable, heartrending clarity.”