Sidonie, I know you don't remember it, but you once promised to trust me beyond all reason. And I swear to you that all that I am, all that I possess, including this gem-stone, is yours. I need you. I can't do this alone. Forget your memories. Look into your heart. And if you can find somewhere there, some lingering spark of trust that owes naught to reason, I beg you to speak the word written here.

Spontaneity is the province of youth

Some chains are forged for us - those are the hardest to bear.

We may not have demon fathers dangling offers of infernal power before us, but everyone understands what it means to struggle with temptation or resist the urge to give in to our baser natures.

There is no fulfillment that is not made sweeter for the prolonging of desire

And Kushiel sends no punishment that we are not fit to bear.

To recongnize that the treachery of one member of a house does not taint all born within it