“A slightly crazed expression came into her eyes. She hit him again, harder.”

“Because if she let go of her grief even for a minute it would only hit her harder when she bumped into it again. ”

“But the princess had never seen the beautiful expression of her eyes; the expression that came into them when she was not thinking of herself. As is the case with everyone, her face assumed an affected, unnatural, ugly expression as soon as she looked in the looking glass.”

“Why had Althea's crazed words affected Etta like this? Then the answer came to him: she was pregnant. Women always behaved strangely when they were pregnant.”

“She was easy to talk to, easy to look at it . . . and when she smiled at him . . . well, he couldn’t call that easy. It hit him in the chest, in the weirdest damn way.Swallowing, she licked her lips and then she could have whimpered, begged for mercy, because she could taste him. Taste him, and it made her want to throw herself against him and kiss him. Again, and again .”

“A look came into his dark eyes, a new expression she could'nt decipher. He stroked her lips with his thumb and stared at her like he had never seen her before.”