“He saw a blinded convulsing body thrown down into an open grave. It was an image he could not escape.”

“Kent had begun sleeping with his good eye open, for he knew the mark of sedition when he saw it. Even partway blinded, who could see it better?”

“In an instant he saw the delusion of his five hundred years. He was not looking into a box; he was looking out of one. All these centuries his mind, his body, his world had been a box of horrors. He took one last breath, then pushed open the lid of his prison and escaped.”

“His whole mind and body seemed to be afflicted with an unbearable sensitivity, a sort of transparency, which made every movement, every sound, every contact, every word that he had to speak or listen to, an agony. Even in sleep he could not altogether escape form her image.”

“When the body escaped mutilation, seldom did the heart go to the grave unscarred.”

“Gregori flashed a smile meant to reassure, the one that left vivid images of open graves.”