Tessa had lain down beside him and slid her arm beneath his head, and put her head on his chest,listening to the ever-weakening beat of his heart. And in the shadows they'd whispered, reminding each other of the stories only they knew. Of the girl who had hit over the head with a water jug the boy who had come to rescue her, and how he had fallen in love with her in that instant. Of a ballroom and a balcony and the moon sailing like a ship untethered through the sky. Of the flutter of the wings of the clockwork Angel. Of holy water and blood.

The only alternative seems to be doing nothing…and doing nothing, I find, rarely accomplishes anything

Alec would have said he could have benefited from a bit more in the way of constructive cowardice.

It can be... difficult to to learn how the world truly is, to see it in its true shape and form... most human beings never do. Most could not bear it.

Hope is not an illusion.

When I am in the darkness, I want to think of it in the light, with you. - James Carstairs

Every meeting led to a parting, and so it would, as long as life was mortal. In every meeting there was some of the sorrow of parting, but in everything parting there was some of the joy of meeting as well.