Temptation likes best those who think they have a natural immunity, for it may laugh all the harder when they succumb.

The man who knelt before her would have sprung from her needles, even down the ghostly flecks of silver in his hair. She had not known before that she wanted all these things, that she preferred dark hair and a slightly cruel expression, that she wishes for tallness, or that a man kneeling might thrill her.

All things are strange which are worth knowing.

No, not like this, when I have not seen you without your skin on, when I know nothing, when I am not safe. Not you, whose name all my nightmares know.

I have all the books I could need, and what more could I need than books?

But lost children always find each other, in the dark, in the cold. It is as though they are magnetized, and can only attract their like.

Don’t worry,” Marya whispered, kissing his forehead. “My old bones will follow yours soon enough.