I've done it all before, I tell myself, and I can do it again. Trust is the strongest weapon.

Living in a place like this, she must have learned how to see all the monsters that can hide a person.

A feeling can't kill you.

On tiptoes the redhead wouldn't even reach my shoulders; she is clearly too young to be a bride. And the willowy girl is too forlorn. And I am too unwilling. Yet here we are.

She’s a commodity in a sea of broken girls.

A party in the orange grove. The pain on Linden's face is immediate. I am unwavering. He has cost me more pain than I will ever be able to repay.

I stare at her collarbone that's framed with lace, the hollow of her throat, her shoulders that rise with each rise with the weight of her next breath. We're fragile things. Our bones show through our skin. What would any god want with us?