You are not the last dream of my soul. You are the first dream, the only dream I ever was unable to stop myself from dreaming. You are the first dream of my soul, and from that dream I hope will come all other dreams, a lifetime’s worth.

I suppose you've always been amazing at this stuff?" "I was born amazing" Jace stroked her cheek with the tips of his fingertips, lightly but enough to make her shiver.

Nothing is permanent," Magnus said. "I know this from experience. But you can get new things. You can meet new people. You can go on.

She shook her head. She was so pale under the diffuse lamp-light that she looked almost transparent, as if Simon could have looked right through her. The way, he supposed, he always had.

She seemed like a creature made to attract everyone and express nothing real, though it would take a master observer, like Magnus, to know it.

I fell in love with you," he said, "because you were one of the bravest people I've ever known. So how could I ask you to stop being brave just because I loved you?

She still felt his gaze on her like the brush of a finger across the back of her neck, making her shiver.