“Now leave. (Adron)Why would I want to do that? I mean, heaven forbid I should be around someone who actually likes me. It’s so much more fun to be here with you insulting my manhood and questioning my parentage every five seconds. (Tiernan)”

“Depends. (Adron)On? (Livia)Whether or not they’re plotting against you. Taryn’s like a head injury. It’s only funny when it happens to someone else. And Tiernan…I think there’s now a hurricane on Chrinon VI named after him. (Adron)”

“You want to know what I’m afraid of? I’m afraid of every morning when I wake up that this will be the day when I can no longer move for myself. I know it’s coming. It’s just a matter of time until I have no choice, except to have someone else clothe me, feed me. Change my diaper. And I can’t stand it. (Adron)Then why don’t you kill yourself? Why are you still here? (Livia)Because every time I think of doing that, I can hear my family praying over me while I was in the hospital. I hear my mother weeping, my father begging me not to die on them. I could never intentionally hurt them that way. It would devastate them both, and while I’m a pathetic asshole, I’m not that selfish. (Adron)”

“Then why haven’t you killed yourself? (Astrid)Why should I? The only enjoyment I have in my life is knowing I piss off everyone around me. If I were dead, it would make them all happy. God forbid I should ever do that. (Zarek)”

“For making Adron human again. It’s been a long time. (Tiernan)Screw you, Tier. (Adron)Yeah, bro, since when was Adron ever human? More like a festering subspecies of some kind. You know. Like a pimple on the ass of a warthog. (Taryn)”

“Why do you do that?” Torrin’s voice echoes in the empty hall. His hand is holding my arm gently, not at all like Derek does. I can’t have this. I can’t. I shouldn’t have ever come here with him. I draw in a shaky breath and pull my arm away. “Do what?” “Walk away every time I ask you something personal?” I stare hard at him. “Why do you do that? He blinks. “Huh?” “Ask so many questions.” His mouth drops open and closes and five long seconds pass before he says, “It’s what people do, Quinn. When they’re getting to know each other.” I shake my head and spin toward the door. “You don’t want to get to know me.”