“One always has to be willing to lose to be able to win... in battle and in life. I wonder. Are you willing to lose, Rayla?”

“Quadruple crap. Why couldn’t I control myself? Why did he have this effect on me? “Are you compelling me right now?”To my surprise, his smile held an edge of sadness. “That would give you a much needed excuse, but I am afraid I am not.”Curse my body for reacting to his. As long as I kept him out of my heart, I would be okay.“I think it a bit too late for that, my dear.”“You’re using old man speak again.” I made a face. “It’s creepy.”He chuckled. “I’ll try to remember that, but I haven’t been around humans much in the past hundred years. It’s hard to keep up with the changes in common dialect.”“Let’s keep on topic, Jett. You were going to teach me how to control my mind.”

“You sort of have to know how to use a gun for it, to do you any good”

“A thick sapphire halo encased his startling pale blue iris. When I got closer, I noticed a starburst of aqua around his pupil. It wasn’t the beauty of his odd eyes, exactly, that made my knees nearly buckle. I didn’t know what it was, but I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. My heart danced wildly to his tune.”

“One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.”

“I am a Christian, not because someone explained the nuts and bolts of Christianity, but because there were people willing to be nuts and bolts.”

“It's like all those quiet people, when they do lose their tempers they lose them with a vengeance.”