“There was just no good way for a dead son to greet his mother almost two weeks after his funeral.”

“Kaylee, this means something to me.” His hands trailed down my arms to cup my elbows, and his gaze held mine. “With anyluck, we’re going to have millions of moments over the course of eternity, and I plan to love every one of them. But we’ll neverhave this moment again, and this is very important to me.” The twists of blue in his eyes coiled so tightly the color was almost gone,lost among pale shades of a need so deep it couldn’t possibly be captured in a kiss, or a touch. “I need to know that this is importantto you, too. I need to know that this isn’t like last time. That you’re not doing this just so you can say you’ve done it. Because that’snot good enough for me. That’s not good enough for us.”

“Your mortal attachments are like a puppet’s strings," Avari said, both hands clasped casually at his back. "One need only pluck the right cord to make the puppet dance." His smile was almost creepier than his threats. "Dance, reaper!”

“I'm not seeing a strong father-son relationship here, Alex. You two make Anakin and Luke look like Andy and Opie.”

“...the dead have a way of becoming saints in the eyes of their survivors...”

“Sneak out." He shrugged, as if that should have been a no-brainer. But that was easy for him to say. He was dead. What else could they do to him, take away his birthday?”

“Have either of you seen your mother ” “Yeah ” Ethan said and my heart actually skipped a beat. But I should have known Ethan was joking. “Slim lady. Blue eyes and a gray pageboy ” he continued his eyes glistening in appreciation of his own humor. “Answers to the name ‘Mom'.”