“That “relationship” was a perfect example of Callie convincing herself of something that didn’t really exist. She’d believed in unicorns until she was eleven, despite all evidence to the contrary, simply because she’d wanted to.”

“I want to believe that, despite all the evidence to the contrary, there is reason to hope.”

“She’d survived the Drowned Cities because she wasn’t anything like Mouse. When the bullets started flying and warlords started making examples of peacekeeper collaborators, Mahlia had kept her head down, instead of standing up like Mouse. She’d looked out for herself, first. And because of that, she’d survived.”

“I allowed myself to believe she’d seen a future for us; that she wanted to be with me and simply thought it impossible.”

“She’d trained herself for so long not to want or to hope or to wish, that she had a hard time pinning down something to ask for.”

“But it seems she’d wanted children after all, because when she was told she’d been accidentally sterilized she could feel all the light leaking out of her.”