“The man in her dream would ride up and surprise her on his horse…saying her beauty pierced such a great place in his heart.”

“In her own uniquely spirited way, she had pierced his armor and burrowed unerringly into his heart”

“But the queen--too long she has suffered the pain of love,hour by hour nursing the wound with her lifeblood,consumed by the fire buried in her heart. [...]His looks, his words, they pierce her heart and cling--no peace, no rest for her body, love will give her none.”

“Blake held his hand out, palm up, and Livia slid hers into it. Her heart snuggled into its happiness. The sight of his fingers made her forget what she was about to say.”

“They saw her husband, this giant of a man in God’s Kingdom, this man, that for over fifteen years was their example of what a great man and husband looked like, walking up to his weeping wife, gently embracing her, soothing her, lifting and holding her soul up high while she released her own pains and worries from the last two days, feeling him, leaning into him, and submitting her pain and fears to her husband out of her love and trust. His strength was shown in his softness. He was made strong in his wife’s pain. He was her man of God”

“I am agreed, and would I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing that would thoroughly woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her”