“Commitment and family were important decisions, but so were matters of the heart. [Monique] might not know much about politics, but she knew she couldn’t command her heart to love. And she’d never be pressured into giving herself to Eero, not to appease her family or to strengthen her brother’s political position. She’d seen all she cared to of him and his power in the short week that he pursued her and that night he’d tried to bind their powers without her consent.”

“He settled his hat back into position. She was a rookie in her first big game, and he’d never let her see how close she’d come to unseating a champion”

“This man was different from all others; he was forbidden fruit, the outsider. Her mother had trained her well, but she had never told her what to do if a man set her heart to throbbing like the hooves of a runaway horse.”

“She loved Bram in a clear-eyed way she’d never loved her ex-husband, no rose-colored glasses or mindless giddiness, no Cinderella fantasies or false certainty that he’d put her life in order. What she felt for Bram was messy, honest, and soul-deep. He felt like…part of her, the best and the worst. Like someone she wanted to struggle through life with; share triumphs and catastrophes; share holidays, birthdays, every days”

“Her life was beginning to make sense again, although she couldn’t say she was enjoying it. But her mind was clear, and her heart was not constantly as heavy. Only when she thought about him. But she knew that in time, she’d survive it. She had done it before and would again. Eventually the heart repairs.”

“He’d tried so hard to convince himself that it didn’t matter if she loved him, that having her as his wife was enough. But now…Now that she’d said it, now that he knew, now that his heart had soared, he knew better.This was heaven.This was bliss.This was something he’d never dared hope to feel, something he never could have dreamed existed.This was love. --(Michael)”

“Eve commanded her hostage to open the door and look calm. She didn’t turn around again, but Beckett knew what she’d done. She’d crossed some line she’d drawn for herself. She’d said his name, kissed him, and saved him.She’d done what he couldn’t do for himself.”