“But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.”

“But she had felt since childhod that her life would n ot be ordinary. A moment would come- she would know it when she saw it- and everything would change.”

“A sick-hued darkness overtook Hazel. There was ground, somewhere, and somewhere beyond that there was a palace, and somewhere beyond that was a witch, and somewhere beyond her was a boy who did not want her to come, and she would not come, could not come, because she could not defeat the winter. She was going to collapse here. She would fail.”

“Florence has a passion for books. When she saw the one she was seeking, she would recognize it, as if the volume had belonged to her in a previous life.”

“For long moments they clung to one another, only their heavy breathing filling the quiet. Gradually the mist cleared from Brenna’s sight, and she gazed into the summer-sky blue of her husband’s eyes. Eternity stared back at her. There was no world beyond their world, no time that did not belong to them”

“And when he winked at her, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt thatfrom that moment on, she would do anything for him.”