“As ever, his grief made my heart ache. "Ambition is a dangerous thing," I murmured. "One can harbor it unknowing, only to find it sparked into life when the opportunity presents itself.”

“Sidonie, I know you don't remember it, but you once promised to trust me beyond all reason. And I swear to you that all that I am, all that I possess, including this gem-stone, is yours. I need you. I can't do this alone. Forget your memories. Look into your heart. And if you can find somewhere there, some lingering spark of trust that owes naught to reason, I beg you to speak the word written here.”

“It's funny, how one can look back on a sorrow one thought one might well die of at the time, and know that one had not yet reckoned the tenth part of true grief.”

“Yes my lord, but questions are dangerous, for they have answers”

“All paths are present, always... and we can but choose among them.”

“I wondered if he could ever understand that it was a blessing, not a sin, to be graced with more than one love.It could be complicated; of course it could be complicated. And it opened one up to the possibility of more pain and loss.Still, it was a blessing I would never relinquish. Love, genuine love, was always a cause for joy.”

“I would that I could have stopped time and preserved that day forever. It was a perfect day. There was the shadow of sorrow, yes. It would always be there. But that was the nature of life. The bright mirror and the dark, reflecting one another. And today there was so much brightness.”