“... then he offers me his arm. As I take it, I wonder what folly decreed that women cannot walk unassisted.”

“Every time he glances at me I feel it just as surely as if he has reached out and run his finger along my soul. It is all I can do not to smile at the sheer wonder of it.”

“God's Teeth,' he says. 'I was only trying to wake you. You were crying out in your sleep.''I was not,' I say, then look from his neck to my knife.'When I tried to wake you, you stabbed me.' He sounds sore put out. and I cannot blame him.”

“... while I am Death's daughter and walk in His dark shadow, surely the darkness can give way to light sometimes.”

“And just as love has two sides, so too does Death. While Ismae will serve as His mercy, I will not, for that is not how He fashioned me.Every death I have witnessed, every horror I have endured, has forged me to be who I am -- Death's justice.”

“I am sorry,' he whispers. 'I am sorry I treated you so ill. I thought only to protect Duval.''It was not I who was poisoning him,' I say.'No, but you had stolen his heart and I was afraid you would rip it from his chest when you left.”

“I cannot tell her I have been moping over a broken heart when I have worked so hard to convince her I have no heart at all.”