“His words were still clear in her mind from that first meeting. "Whoever eats this will love you." She looked into the mirror, at her birthmark, bright as blood, at her kiss-stung lips, at the absurd smile stretching across her face.Carefully separating out the crushed pieces of shell, she pulled the dried pulp free from its cage of veins. Piece by piece, she put the sweet brown fruit in her own mouth and swallowed it down.”

“Darius looked at her with his green eyes. She looked at the pizza piece on her plate and then on his empty plate.„Do you want more?“He nodded carefully. „If you still have.“„Well, yes because I still eat a piece and wouldn’t look greedy.”

“Liesel's blood had dried inside of her. It crumbled. She almost broke into pieces on the steps.”

“Or had she always loved him? It's likely. Restricted as she was from speaking, she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted him to drag her hand across and pull her over. It didn't matter where. Her mouth, her neck, her cheek. Her skin was empty for it, waiting.”

“If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces-- love her, love her, love her!”

“I have friends who have children, and they have told me how remarkable it is to have a new life that is a piece of your own flesh anf blood. But I --""I realized that I didn't love her because she was a piece of me, I loved her because she was a piece of you.”