You're right. And so was my snake." Snake?" He pulled my arm out to expose my bracelet. "When I carved this my thoughts were on you, love. Your life is like this snake's coils. No matter how many turns it makes, you'll end up back where you belong. With me.

Here we go. Kerrick was as subtle as a thunderstorm.

Everyone makes choices in life. Some bad, some good. It's called living, and if you want to bow out, then go right ahead. But don't do it halfway. Don't linger in whiner's limbo.

I peered deeper and found my soul. A little tattered and with some holes, but there all the same. It had always been there, I realized with shock.

Nothing says you care for me better than offering to torture my enemies." He grinned. "No sense doing things halfhearted. And to think, some girls have to endure listening to poetry.

My mind’s screaming went unvoiced. Logic grabbed the panic and wrestled it to the ground.

I doubt I would ever be missed. Noted absent, charged delinquent, reprimanded but never missed.