“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.”

“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.”

“She turned her face to me. 'Can you tell I've been crying?'"For the gazillionth time, no. You look fine.'Shit. I knew it. I look terrible.''Aphrodite! I just said you look fine.''Yeah, well, fine is fine for most people. For me it's terrible.”

“The ability to accessorize is what elevates us from lower-life forms," I said in my lecture voice, choosing a pair of diamond-studded drops for my ear. "Like men.”

“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.”

“Hey, Venus, I have two words for you,' Aphrodite said.Venus hesitated and glanced over her shoulder at her ex-roommate. Aphrodite smiled her best mean-bitch sneer and said, 'Re. Bound.' She paused and gave a bithy smirk and then said, 'Good luck with that.”

“Nerd herd, focus. You're here to help the fledglings. Dour One and Dour Two aren't important," said Aphrodite."Dr. Seuss reference. I like it," Stark said, giving me a check-me-out-I've-always-read-books hottie grin.Aphrodite frowned at him."I said focus, not flirt.”