“I have fallen in love with you Sasha Ava Stryker. I am afraid it is eternal and binding. I wanted to stake my claim on you tonight. To make you mine – for now and infinity to come.”

“I guess I haven’t mentioned it before but I was, I am and I think I might always remain in love with you,” he said with such passion that I froze in surprise. He went on. “And just so you know, I am prepared to fight for you, regardless of whether or not you share my sentiments.”

“I felt somewhat like a fire hydrant – with everyone marking their territory around me.”

“The lines of fate on my hand, once so bright, faded into echo.The memory of his face in my dreams, once so luminous passed into shadow.”

“She looked from the hilt protruding between her breasts into the eyes of the boy she loved. The golden light in them enfolded her and her heart stopped beating, leaving the ghost of her smile on her mouth. Her vacant eyes mirrored something infinitely close to peace.”

“Signý knew she would die a thousand deaths upon seeing another woman with him, bearing his children, raising them with him. All the while, Signý, caged in his dungeons, hearing all the painful details of his life with someone else, drowning in her own despair, her love for him turning to hatred. A more tragic life, she could not imagine.”

“Her heart was leading her where it belonged. To him.”