“Aw, kiss him, Gwen, clamored a hundred perky eggs. Shut up, she rebuked. We don't even know him, and until moments ago we thought he was dead. That's no way to start a relationship.”

“Chloe kept her expression bland. He looked immensely pleased with himself this morning, and there was no wayshe was letting him know she'd had even one nocturnal thought about him. "I can't remember," she said, blinkingguilelessly. "In fact, I slept so deeply I don't think I dreamt atall.""Indeed," he murmured. When he moved forward, she nearly jumped out of her skin, but he simply reached behindher and pulled the door to her bedchamber shut.Then backed her against it."Hey," she snapped."I sought but to give you a good morrow kiss, lass. 'Tis a Scots custom."She craned her neck, scowling up at him, and gave him a look that said Yeah, right, nice try."A wee one. No tongue. I promise," he said, his lips curving faintly."You never give up, do you?""I never will, sweet. Doona you know that by now?"Oooh, that was beginning to take on shades of her dream.And he'd called her "sweet," a little endearment. She damped her mouth shut and shook her head.”

“I look up but don't spot him. "I take care of myself. I ain't living with nobody. Got my own digs. What are you doing up there?" "Tracking the Hag. Trying to devise a way to trap her. She's fast but she's not a sifter." I jerk, and look around warily. That's all we need right now. "Is she here?" "If you brought that crazy bitch near me again." Ryodan doesn't finish his sentence. He doesn't need to.”

“A Seelie. A fucking prince,” Lor said. “He’s got a couple hundred more Seelie from a dozen different castes waiting outside. Threatening war. Demanding you shut the place down, stop feeding the Unseelie.” I gasped, “V’lane?” “You told him to come!” Ryodan accused. “She knows him?” Lor exploded. “It’s her other boyfriend,” Ryodan said. “Besides Darroc?” one of the other men demanded. Lor glared at Barrons. “When are you going to wise up and shut that bitch down for good?”

“I lay my head on his chest and listen to his heart beating, solid and sure.....he reads me so well. He's known about my emotional empathy since we were children. Nothing disturbs him...Few can lie to me... I don't know the truth, only that there is a lie. It takes a scrupulously honest man to love me. That's my Sean. We learned to trust each other completely before we were old enough to have learned suspicion.”

“She shrugged, looking as baffled by it as he felt. "I don't know. I wonder sometimes if people even know what love is anymore. Some days, when I'm watching my friends change lovers as unperturbedly as they change shoes, I think the world just got filled with too many people, and all our technological advances made things so easy that it cheapened our most basic, essential value somehow," she told him. "It's like spouses are commodities nowadays: disposable, constantly getting tossed back out for trade on the market and everyone's trying to trade up, up--like there is a 'trading up' in love." She rolled her eyes. "No way. That's not for me. I'm having one husband. I'm getting married once. When you know going in that you're staying for life, it makes you think harder about it, go slower, choose really well.”

“She thinks he's not an animal like Barrons. That he's more civilized. She right, he is more polished. But it only makes him more dangerous. With Barrons you expect to get fucked up royally. With Ryodan you don't see it coming.”