“Darius held Stark back from launching himself at Neferet, and Duantia spoke quickly into the rising tension. 'Neferet, I think we can all agree that there are many unanswered questions about the tragedy that occured on our island today. Stark, we also understand the passion and rage you feel at the loss of your Priestess. it is a hard blow for a Warrior to-'Duantia's wisdom was cut off by the sound of Aretha Franklin belting out the chorus from "Respect," which was coming from the little Coach purse Aphrodite had slung over her shoulder.Oopsie, um, sorry 'bout that.' Aphrodite frantically unzipped her purse and dug for her iPhone.”

“She's Magnificent," Darius said, smiling proudly as he vaulted the steps and followed Aphrodite."I can think of a lot of m words that she could be. Magnificent isn't one of them," Stark grumbled."Mental and mean pop into my head," I said."Manure pops into mine," Stark said."Manure?""I think she's full of shit, but it's to many words and doesn't start with an m, so that's as close as I could get," he said.”

“...Neferet fell smack on her butt.”

“Oh, for crap's sake, I can barely look at it," Aphrodite said, turning her head from the archway and averting her eyes. "And I usually love sparkly things.”

“Warrior, when you pledge yourself to the service of a High Priestess, the goal is not to frighten her to death but to protect your lady from death.”

“You can borrow my two-carat diamond stud earrings," Aphrodite said. I stopped and looked back at her. "Huh?"She shrugged. "That's as close to a declaration of love as you're gonna get from me.”

“We must have a creature made of Darkness to break through the cage of Darkenss that imprisons your grandmother," Thanatos said. "That creature is me." Aurox stepped forward."Oh, for shit's sake! We are absolutely fucked!" Aphrodite said. Sadly I had to agree with her.”