“Mawu felt her face where the still-fresh scar had just been opened up again. She examined the blood on her fingers as if it weren’t her own. Sir returned to the table and a servant slipped through the side door and passed him a wet cloth to wipe the blood from his hands.”

“At night, before she went to sleep in her cabin down in the quarters, she remembered Mawu’s story and told herself that she was a god, a powerful god. Each and every day, she reminded herself of this so that she wouldn’t fall backward. She was more than eyes, ears, lips, and thigh. She was a heart. She was a mind”

“The woman had told the truth. The flowers were the color of sunset. And not the yellowish tinge of a lazy sun either, but the intense orange of a sun refusing to set on anyone else’s terms.”

“My children ain’t the only thing I love. If I was allowed, I reckon I’d love myself, too.”

“Patience--"It's just that you needn't have gone to all the trouble." Matthew--"Trouble? What trouble is that, Patience?" His eyes dropped to her mouth. "Don't you see? You're no trouble to me." He lifted his gaze back to hers. "And even if you were, I would go to the ends of the earth to be troubled by you.”

“Fay had a spot of blood on the left side of her mouth and I took a wet cloth and wiped it off. Women were meant to suffer; no wonder they asked for constant declarations of love.”

“I'm just saying that if it were Anna, I'd want to meet her coworkers. See where she's spending her time."I stare at him, hard. "Obviously.”