“Nathaniel Strider could never love. He's obviously discovered early on that girls' hearts were vulnerable and all a lad needed was a penetrating gaze and a disarming smile and the world was at his feet.”

“No matter how much he loved her ... his need to fulfill his promise to Nathaniel would always prevail.”

“But then an old man was discovered impaled in a ditch, and once again his world had started crumbling away beneath his feet. He wondered how long he could keep this up.”

“He had a smug smile on his lips like he knew, even in his sleep, that women all around him were dying from love because he'd taken their hearts and hidden them where they'd never find them.”

“He loved her as he had never loved another, and he trusted her as he had allowed himself to trust no one else. But by the nature of the world, those who loved and trusted were uniquely vulnerable”

“His smiling face revealed a love too strong to be kept inside, but the feelings obviously rising inside him kept him from looking directly at Kikunojou. He gazed instead at Kikunojou's clear reflection on the water.”