“Love: a single word, a wispy thing, a word no bigger or longer than an edge. That's what it is: an edge; a razor. It draws up through the center of your life, cutting everything in two. Before and after. The rest of the world falls away on either side.”

“A cut. That's what I felt. Words can cut, slice, like a razor.”

“Love changes everything. Days are longer, words mean more. Love changes everything. Pain is deeper than before. Love can turn your world around, and that world will last forever.”

“I told Ersken, "Lately it's been like living on the knife's edge, never knowing which side I'll fall off on"Ersken clapped me on the shoulder as we stepped into the street. "Cheer up, Beka. Maybe you were going to fall off that razor's edge before, but not today," he said, as good humored as always. "Today we're doing to jump.”

“The world was large, so large. Bigger than it had been before. Family, too, a bigger word. That felt like a good thing. An essential thing. There was power in numbers.”

“Why, Sicarius, is it possible you have a playful side beneath your razor-edged knives, severe black clothing and humourless glares?”