“Nina felt an inordinate pleasure, a pleasure that seemed to creep up on her the way the mud oozed through her barefoot toes.”

“I hoped that grief was similar to the other emotions. That it would end, the way happiness did. Or laughter.”

“I had made a decision, although I hardly knew it yet. It's often that way with decisions, they're made in some hidden part of us and the awareness secretes itself slowly into that conscious part of us that imagines it decides.”

“Pleasure suffused her and she snuggled deeper into his arms, her heart clenching when he tightened his hold on her. After a while his breathing slowed and his hold relaxed. Convinced he slept, she whispered, "You should have been my first." A small ache pinched her heart.His chest vibrated beneath her hand, sending a thrilling shiver up her spine as his deep voice rumbled through the air, "I'll be your last.”

“Is it fair to have given us the memory of what was and the desire of what could be when we must suffer what is?”

“I walked with them, as crowds have that effect on me, I want to do what they do, to journey towards some point of revelation, which of course never comes”

“And she felt raw with love for him-her possessive, protective, warrior knight; her dangerous lord who had given his heart over to her to protect to keep safe. ”