“I can't hate people that much. Don't get me wrong. I want to murder every last Keeper I can find. But that's not hate. That's vengeance.”

“When I'm with him, I can feel myself getting better. It's like he's picking up broken pieces of me and putting me back together, and I don't even know he's doing it. We never talk about it. We don't go to therapy. He just loves me and that's enough.”

“Come back to me. Don’t leave me all alone. Don’t die on me, you stupid sonovabitch. You goddamn fuckingidiot. I told you to stay out of the damn fight! Why the hell don’t you ever listen? I fucking hate you. I hate you,you hear me? Don’t you dare die on me, because I need to kill you with my bare hands.”

“You do realize you just insulted me, right?""How so?""You implied that I can't protect her or my people."I looked at him. "That's not at all what I meant.""Apologize and I'll let it go."I kept my hands firmly on the iron rail before me. Grabbing the weight bar and walloping the Beast Lord upside the head wouldn't be the best diplomatic move."I'm sorry, Your Majesty." There. I was civil. It almost killed me.”

“Eleven out of twelve work fine. I'd say that's better chances than getting an orgasm with a blind date and women still try." He blinked and laughed softly. "I never know what you'll say next." "I don't either.”

“Curran strode toward me, eyes blazing. "If I let her go, I'll need a replacement. Want to volunteer for the job."He looked like he wouldn't be taking no for an anser. I swiped Slayer from its sheath and backed away from the edge of the roof. "And be girlfriend number twenty-three soon to be dumped in favor of girlfriend number twenty-four who has slightly bigger boobs? I don't think so."He kept coming. "Oh Yeah?""Yeah, you get these beautiful women, make them dependent on you, and then you dump them. Well, this time a woman left you first, and your enormous ego can't deal with it. And to think that I hoped we could talk like reasonable adults. If we were the last two people on Earth, I'd find myself a moving island so I could get the hell away from you.”

“That's all right," she told him. "I can manage. I can sleep outside just fine."Four pairs of eyes looked at her with a distinctly male skepticism.”