It doesn't matter how much his mother loves him; love is not enough to keep any of us alive.

I've loved you since the day I stole the atlas for you," Gabriel says, because he thinks I'm asleep.

When we were first married, I thought he must have been the most heartless, hateful man I'd ever known, but he was just as much a prisonor as I was. Where Vaughn imprisoned me with walls, he imprisoned his son with ignorance.

I nod like I'm not at all unnerved by this new cold side to him. Not cruel like his father. Not warm like the husband who sought me out on quiet nights. Something in between. This Linden has never woven his fingers through mine, never chosen me from a line of weary Gathered girls, never said he loved me in a myriad of coloured lights. We are nothing to each other.

There’s a limit to how much living can be done in a life without freedom.

Her mind is a bird that's trapped inside her skull, flapping and thrashing, never breaking free.

I don't know if it was love or an illusion. I don't know if there's ever a way to be certain.