“Okay," I said, clasping her hand. "I swear it. The next time I do something stupid that might get me killed, you can come along.”

“You might want to do something about your neck.”I was totally lost. “My neck?”She reached into her purse and handed me a compact mirror. I opened it and surveyed my neck, still trying to figure out what she could be talking about. Then I saw it. A small, brownish purple bruise on the side of my neck.“What on earth is that?” I exclaimed.Ms. Terwilliger snorted. “Although it’s been a while for me, I believe the technical term is a hickey” She paused and arched an eyebrow. “You do know what that is, don’t you?”“Of course I know!” I lowered the mirror. “But there’s no way—I mean, we barely—that is—”She held up a hand to silence me. “You don’t have to justify your private life to me. But you might want to consider how you can actually keep it private in the next fifteen minutes.”

“We can retreat and retreat and let ourselves get backed into corners forever,” she’d said once. “Or we can go out and meet the enemy at the timeand place we choose. Not them.”Okay, Tasha, I thought. Let’s see if your advice gets me killed.”

“Thanks for looking out for her, Sage. You're okay. For a human."I almost laughed. "Thanks.""You can say it too, you know."I walked over to Latte and paused. "Say what?""That I'm okay...for a vampire," he explained. I shook my head, still smiling. "You'll have a hard time getting any Alchemist to admit that. But I can say you're okay for an irreverent party boy with occasional moments of brilliance.""Brilliant? You think I'm brilliant?" He threw his hands skyward. "You hear that, world? Sage says I'm brilliant.”

“But I can say you’re okay for an irreverent party boy with occasional moments of brilliance.”“Brilliant? You think I’m brilliant?” He threw his hands skyward. “You hear that, world? Sage says I’m brilliant.”“That’s not what I said!”...“Come on, Sage. You understand how my mind works. You said I was brilliant, remember?”Eddie glanced at me in surprise. “You did?”“No! I never said that.” Adrian’s smile was infuriating. “Stop telling people that.”

“About time," Christian said. "Lissa and Adrian get the market share on worrying about you, but they're not the only ones. And someone needs to put Adrian in his place, you know. I can't do it all the time." "Thanks. It kills me to say this, but I missed you too. No one's sarcasm compares to yours in Russia.”

“if you'd teach me to swear in russian, i might have a new appreciation for it”