“When Christopher finished, there was a moment of silence.Leo looked at Cam expectantly. “Well?”“Well what?”“Now is the time when you dredge up one of your blasted Romany sayings. Something about roosters laying eggs, or pigs dancing in the orchard. It’s what you always do. Let’s have it.”Cam gave him a sardonic glance. “I can’t think of one right now.”“By God, I’ve had to listen to hundreds of them. And Phelan doesn’t have to hear even one?”

“Captain Phelan,” Cam asked, choosing his words with care. “Have you come to ask for our consent to marry Beatrix?”Christopher shook his head. “If I decide to marry Beatrix, I’ll do it with or without your consent.”Leo looked at Cam. “Good God,” he said in disgust. “This one’s worse than Harry.”

“Take nothing and no one for granted. Time used to be my friend, and now it’s a skittish acquaintance at best. Let life unfold, say what you mean. You can’t always think about what you’ve lost, or what you don’t have, or what you didn’t get. Because when you do that, you’re missing out on the now. You can’t know if you’ll be here tomorrow or a year from now.”

“What are you going to do now?' She faced him. What I've always wanted. I'm leaving this stupid kingdom to make my fortune, like a prince in one of the tales.'They're not true you know,' Cam said quietly. Meg stared at him for a long, grim moment. Yes they are,' she hissed....Cam spoke in the sudden silence. 'Look, Meg. I'm not saying princes don't have adventures. But I'll bet a lot of them get eaten by the first dragon they com to.”

“Charlie, don’t you get it? I can’t feel that. It’s sweet and everything, but it’s like you’re not even there sometimes. It’s great that you can listen and be a shoulder to someone, but what about when someone doesn’t need a shoulder? What if they need the arms or something like that? You can’t just sit there and put everybody’s lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can’t. You have to do things.”

“I’ve learned to get really good at this—say one thing when I’m thinking about something else, act like I’m listening when I’m not, pretend to be calm and happy when really I’m freaking out. It’s one of the skillsyou perfect as you get older. You have to learn that people are always listening.”