There was so much of beauty here: the neat, small tracks of a foraging creature, stoat or marten; the inticate tracery of a skeleton leaf, still clinging vainly to its parent tree as, little by little, time stripped it of its substance, leaving only the delicate remembrance of what it had been.
Juliet MarillierI know it's hard for you to trust me. If I ever find the man who did this to you, who made you so frightened, I'll kill him with my bare hands. But you can trust me.
Juliet MarillierI wanted so much to keep you safe. I did my best. I'm sorry things didn't come out different for the two of us. I wish I could have been good enough for you.
Juliet MarillierThis had been real: real in its flaws and uncertainties, real in its small triumphs, real in its compromises and understanding.
Juliet MarillierThis is aโa proposal of marriage?โ he asked me, and there was the very smallest trace of a smile at the corner of his mouth, something I had never seen before. โI suppose so,โ I said, blushing again. โAnd, as you see, Iโm doing it properly, on my knees.โ โThis would, however, be a partnership of equals youโre offering, I imagine?โ โUndoubtedly.โ (448-49)
Juliet Marillier