“Wrath was in a bad mood, and he knew this because the sound of the doggen waxing the wooden balustrade at the top of the main staircase was making him want to light the whole fucking mansion on fire.”

“None of them knew that it wasn't because he was a nice guy; it was because he was one of them. The hard reality was that life had put them all where they didn't want to be, namely on their backs for people they didn't want to be fucking.”

“As that fucking chandelier twinkled overhead, Blay said roughly, "I'm still in love with him."Saxton dropped his eyes and brushed a the top of his thigh, as if there might have been a tiny piece of lint there. "I know. You thought you weren't?"As if that were rather stupid of him."I'm so fucking tired of it. I really am.""That I believe.""Im so fucking..." God, those sounds, that muted pounding , that audible confirmation of what he had been ignoring for the past year--On a sudden wave of violence, he pitched the brandy snifter at the marble fireplace, shattering the thing."Fuck, Fuck!" If he'd been able to, he'd have jumped up and torn that goddamn cocksucking light fixture off the goddamn cocksucking ceiling.”

“Vishous, son of the Bloodletter, was not the kind of male anyone addressed like that. Except, apparently, for Wrath. In this case, the Brother with the tattoos on his face and the perverted reputation and the hand of death did exactly what he was told. He shut the fuck up.Which said volumes about Wrath. Did it not.”

“W:"At least I'm not pussy-whipped!"T:"Nice. Fucking. Suit."--Wrath to Tohr”

“In the silence that followed, Blay knew he had something he was supposed to say. Yeah...it was right on his tongue. It was... Shit. With Qhuinn looking at him like that, he couldn't remember his own name. Blaysox? Blacklock? Blabberfox? Who the fuck knew...”

“John took his fucking time in Xhex's shower , washing himself thoroughly not because he was dirty, but because he figured two could play at the whole whip-the-state-clean, what-happened-didn't-happen thing.”