“Good.” He straddled her, caging her with his body. “Were it up to me, all of London would know what we do here.-Griffin to Hero.”

“If this were a fairy tale, this would be the part where the fishboy appears and Diana shoots him through the heart. Because he is a tragic hero, he's our fucking Gatsby, and he lived for his fish and he has to die for his fish. He would never let my fake authority, condoning his abandonment, making up rules about what's okay just to save his life, convince him to give up his family. He would never leave.He would know that without him, none of us will be as good. Me, without a friend; and the fish, without a brother; and the island, without a story; and Diana, without her something real, we will all be a little bit less than we were before we knew him.So he wouldn't leave. Not until I could come with him. And I have never been less able to leave than I am now.But this isn't a fairy tale, and he doesn't appear. We stand here for a long time.He really left.Because it was all that we could do.”

“I love you too, and I don’t want anybody else either." Cupping his cheek, she added, "You’re enough for me."That seemed to make sense to Griffin, and he finally smiled like he was happy."You’re enough for me too."Grabbing his hand, Anna started backing toward her room. "Good, then come be enough for me right now. I’m horny as hell."Griffin rushed up to her, grabbing her backside. "God, me too," he murmuredbefore their mouths met.”

“It wasn't that Ginger had messed me up. I realized that most guys would have been grateful. But she had taken some not small thing from me. Nadia was fifteen and she wanted to have sex. I wanted to do her this favor. Hoped that I wouldn't mess her up for life. We were all pretending we knew what we wanted to do with our bodies.”

“If he had even blinked, she would have been gone; but he did not blink, and he held her, as he had learned to hold griffins and chimeras motionless with his steady gaze. Her bare feet wounded him deeper than any tusk or riving talon ever had, but he was a true hero.”

“MacRieve had been roaring in his cage in the basement for hours now, […] "Let me the bluidy hell out of here!" sounded up from below. Regin glared at Lucia, as if this were her fault. "He is harshing my buzz, and I am" – Regin turned to yell over her shoulder – "not interested!" "Open this fucking cage, you glowing bluidy freak!" Gods, he was fierce.”