“She’s a slave. (Paden)You better be glad I’m cuffed or you’d be looking for your teeth right now. Alix Gerran isn’t a slave. She’s a lady, and I would die for her. (Devyn)”

“I don’t understand you. You could have handed over the slave and been free. (Paden)Freedom bought on the back of a loved one isn’t worth shit. (Devyn)”

“I love you, Devyn Wade Kell, with everything inside me. But it’s okay if you don’t feel the same. I know I’m just a piece of trash in your world, and I don’t expect you to share my feelings. (Alix)Don’t you ever say that to me again. Trash is something people throw away, Alix. I intend to keep you for the rest of my life. (Devyn)”

“I love you, baby. And I want you to stay with me. Always. (Devyn)Believe me, there’s no place else I’d rather be. (Alix)Me, either, but I would rather we be naked. (Devyn)”

“I think we should kill her…What? She’s ruined my entire day. Made me fight with my wife and now you tell me she’s a spy sent to put us all under the jail. What part of ‘kill your enemies before they kill you’ did you sleep through? Your dad was an assassin, same as my mom. Don’t puss on me now, boy. You know what they’d do if they were here. Hell, your own mother would tear her up, spit her out in pieces, and not blink. (Sway)He’s right. None of you have any reason to help me. Why should you care? (She clicked the vid wall and a picture of a teenage girl was there.) That’s my baby sister, Tempest Elanari Gerran. Her birthday was day before yesterday. She turned sixteen in jail with my mother. I may be out of line, but I’ll bet when you guys turned sixteen, you had a celebration for it with presents and friends wishing you well. You won’t just be killing me. You’ll be killing them, too. Tempest is a prime sexual age and a virgin. Any idea what’s the first thing her new owner will do to her when she’s sold? I don’t want her to ever know the horror that was my sixteenth birthday. (Alix)”

“Relax, she’s not really converting. (Acheron)Look at her! She’s not exactly baking cookies! (Xypher)”

“So we’re talking into death? (Alix)Gods, I hope not. I don’t have on the right boots for it. These are only good for a mild ass-whipping. (Devyn)”