“Kneel!” he ordered. My head raised in defiance, I stepped forward. “I am Princess Andrea de Montemaior. I will kneel to no one,” I said to the shadows inside.”

“To be defined by another is the worst form of abuse”

“Someone, and no matter where, collects the pieces of my shadow.”

“In life, you take strides forward, but you always take a few steps back. But in the end, if you take more steps forward than backward, you're making progress.”

“Pentru că îmi place să-i privesc pe dinăuntru... Să-i văd gândind. Din ce fel de idei sunt făcute gândurile lor? Şi ce simt ei, atunci când se îndrăgostesc de mine? Adevăru-i că, dacă stai să te gândeşti bine, jocul e cam plictisitor, căci au nişte şiretlicuri copilăreşti, mereu aceleaşi.”

“Emilia typed in her password and checked her inbox. A review by the Secretariat de Gobernación of drug cartel activities across Mexico. A report of a robbery in Acapulco’s poorest barrio neighborhood that would probably never be investigated. Notice of a reward for a child kidnapped in Ixtapa who was almost certainly dead by now. Her phone rang. It was the desk sergeant saying that a Señor Rooker wished to see her. Emilia avoided Rico’s eye as she said, yes, the sergeant could let el señor pass into the detectives’ area.A minute later Rucker was standing by her desk, sweat beaded on his forehead. The starched collar of his shirt was damp. “There’s a head,” he said breathlessly. “Someone’s head in a bucket on the hood of my car.”

“You said, "Ellie, this is the truth, everybody leaves. Everybody." I was just seven, and when I reached for you, you were death and absence and missing take you. You were where bad husbands disappear to. And you were whispering. "Just ask them.”