Tears stung her eyes. She sank her knees next to the sleeping bench and gently raked strands of golden hair from him forehead. "Don't you die. don't you dare. I forbid it." As if Han Alister had ever listened to anything she said.

Which is a sad thing when you're only seventeen.

He swept Raisa up into his arms and kissed her like it was his first, last, and only

More and more, there were no revelations, but simply the uncovering of truths long known but dimly remembered. Everything had been written long ago. There was nothing truly new in the world, but only the slow, circular march of time that revealed the old things once again.

I'd rather have a go at life, so there's something to talk about once we're gone.

The only way to get what you want is to make them more afraid of you than they are of each other.

Both Averill and Bayar were like actors speaking lines for their audience and not to each other.