“She remember her granny telling her, 'Men are like coal boilers, Ellie. If you find a man you reckon to keep, you got to feed his belly every day, make him burn for you, then release some steam purty regular, or you ain't ever gonna get him to work.”

“Declan and Regin:"Kiss you?" As he waited for the revulsion to seize him, he found himself wondering how she would react. Would she moan into his mouth?"It will help you remember me. Kiss me. Come on, you know you want to so bad. You want me so bad.""Never." Bloody get off her, get away from her. But he needed to be above her like this, to master her, overpower her."Never? That boner of yours just called you a lair.”

“He found her not even a block away from the house, sitting on a curb.As he approached, he saw her wiping her face with her forearm.Sabine was...crying? "What are you doing out here, cwena?" Over the past week, Rydstrom had been pleased when she'd worried about him, and gratified when she'd felt the sting of jealousy. Was he a terrible man to hope she was crying about him?She glared at him with her bottom lip quivering, allowing him to see her like this instead of using a mask. "I d-don't have anywhere else to g-go." Another swipe of her forearm over her eyes. "Lanthe's gone, and I c-can't get to her for six days. And I'm in a strange t-town and land, and Vrekeners are everywhere."Sabine hadn't even mentioned what they'd just gone through-"And you br-broke up with me!" she said, her tears falling faster. "Is that supposed to make me happy?""Come inside, Sabine.""No! You t-told me not to." She sniffled, "You don't want me at your house."He swooped her up in his arms. "Will you shut up?" With his free hand, he brushed her tears. "I made it ten minutes before I came after you.”

“He'd told her that the phrase deal with the Devil came from him; Ellie felt like she was on the verge of selling her soul.”

“Enough. You're going to make yourself sick." He clasped her hand to help her up.She reluctantly let him. "But I haven't eaten more than a regular meal.""Lass, there's more where that came from. You doona have to behave like it's your last meal."She laughed without humor. "Spoken like a man who's never missed one."-Maddy”

“Yo, beautiful. Come pop this collar off me.”Natalya hissed, “Are you mad?”“What’s she gonna do? Vivisect me? Imprison me? We’ve got a pact to fulfill,remember?” To Dorada, she cried, “Seriously, sweetheart, shake that mummified ass over here.”Regin kicked the glass. “Lemme the fuck out—”La Dorada swung her head around,peering at Regin with her one eye.“Okay. That’s freaky. Lookit, Gollum, if you spring me, I’ll help you find your Precious.”

“How do you plan to keep me here during the day? An unblooded Forbearer shouldn’t be so hard to vanquish.”Vanquished by her? Amusing. “I’ll send you back to the cell. You want to be my pet? I’ll take you out and put you back in your cage at my pleasure.”She blinked at him. “You don’t want to send me back. Who will entertain you? I can deal poker and make shadow animals.”