“He just wanted to look at her and know her life was marching along under the same arch of time and space as he is.”

“By the time he climaxed, Eve was arched and her hair touched the floor. Her face was as far away from his as it could get while still having him inside her.They panted like this for a moment, until he realized she was too ashamed to sit back up and look at him. He’d just been at the center of her loss. He’d poisoned the only place she’d ever held her baby. Beckett looked at her long, white form. He ran his hand over a fine white scar he found just under her belly button—the scar somehow he had put on her body.”

“Did you want me to stay?"Kylie's yes and Lucas' no chimed out at the same time."Sorry," Lucas said, not sounding sorry as he looked at Della. "But I need Kylie's full attention to teach her, and you would just distract her.""Right," Della said in a tone of complete disbelief.Lucas frowned at the vamp."Okay," Della said. "I'll just mosey along.”

“Carter dragged her onto his lap and held her in the same way, in the same loft, like seven years had never passed. This time though, he shed a few tears along with her.”

“Always before, I just said no, left it solidly there. I waver now. I want to share everything with him. Want to know what he knows, feel what he feels, share the same space he's in.”

“They lifted their faces to the astonishing warmth. The sky arched over them, a pale, clear blue. Lina felt as though a lid that had been on her all her life had been lifted off. Light and air rushed though her, making a song, like the songs of Ember, only it was a song of joy. She looked at Doon and saw that he was smiling and crying at the same time, and she realized that she was, too.”