But we are here, all of us. And we're here because I love you, more than the life that was mine. Because I believed you loved me the same way...will you tell me that's not true? No, he said after a moment, so softly I could barely hear him. His hand tightened harder on mine. No, I willna tell ye that. Not ever, Claire.

Boldness in battle is nothing out of the way... but to face down fear in cold blood is rare in any man.

If I die," he whispered in the dark, "dinna follow me. The bairns will need ye. Stay for them. I can wait.

You are mine, always, if ye will it or no, if ye want me or nay. Mine, and I willna let ye go

I was crying and laughing, snuffing tears and blood, bumping at him with my bound hands, trying awkwardly to thrust them at him so that he could cut the rope. He quit grappling, and clutched me so hard against him that I yelped in pain as my face was pressed against his plaid. He was saying something else, urgently, but I couldn’t manage to translate it. Energy pulsed through him, hot and violent, like the current in a live wire, and I vaguely realized that he was still almost berserk; he had no English.

......what I was born does not matter, only what I will make of myself, only what I will become.

It was a beautiful bright autumn day, with air like cider and a sky so blue you could drown in it.