“It wasn’t in books. It wasn’t in a church. What I needed to know was out there in the world.”

“It wasn’t like I made his world better. It was like I was his world. It wasn’t some explosion; it wasn’t fireworks. It was a fire, burning slowly from the inside out.”

“I wasn’t in the habit of spewing out personal facts in a church setting. While I was here, I was bound and determined to keep it to myself. If no one was going to stand up and shout, “I’m straight,” then I wasn’t going to wave my Pride flag.”

“I knew that, in my whole life, if I married Aspen or someone else, no one would ever make me feel this way. It wasn’t like I made his world better. It was like I was his world. It wasn’t some explosion; it wasn’t fireworks. It was a fire, burning slowly from the inside out.”

“I wanted to know how humans came up with a view of the world that had so little magic in it. I needed to understand how they convinced themselves that magic wasn’t important.”

“Shit,” he said, panting and frustrated. “I got rid of them.”“What? All of them?” I breathed.“I thought you didn’t…if I wasn’t with you, I wasn’t going to need them.”