“Do I look like a shallow Summer girl to you?' She tossed her silver hair, offended. 'I’m a Winter Court royal. I kill silly Summer flowerlets with frost when I yawn.”

“You must be very embarrassed," I heard myself say.He snorted and tightened his grip. "I hardly find slicing E'than'i'el open embarrassing. And you have other things to worry about. Like the fact that, over the long years of my exile, I have developed a taste for human hearts.""Right. Of course." I took a deep, steadying breath. "I only meant that I would die of shame if I had thousands of years of pictures of me in a diaper with feather dusters on my back.”

“You have a most pressing offer from the cable company....It is a time sensitive offer, you know. I thought you would be grateful.”

“You're a talented artist," he began, and I burst into more tears. He jumped up, agitated, and tried to give the book back to me. "What?" he demanded anxiously. "I mean it! You are! Orange is tricky!”

“I let myself feel the fear, give in to it completely, for the space of several deep, long breaths. Then, because I had no other choice, I let it go.”

“We learned three things together, that first day of Ethan's humanity: skin warms skin, silver eyes light darkness, and our heartbeats measured time together, so that we knew we were no longer alone.”

“Stupid blind Russian wizard," I swore softly. "I'm getting a raise out of this somehow.”