Fortunately, where reason failed, blind panic served well enough.

There is no greater warrior than a mother protecting her child.

There's truth even in tainted knowledge, if one reads carefully.

But perhaps that was just the way of power: no such thing as too much.

...and when I lift my head to scream out my fury, a million stars turn black and die. No one can see them, but they are my tears.

I remembered Nahadoth's lips on my throat and fought to suppress a shudder, only half succeeding. Death as a consequence of lying with a god wasn't something I had considered, but it did not surprise me. A mortal man's strength had its limits. He spent himself and slept. He could be a good lover, but even his best skills were only guesswork - for every caress that sent a woman's head into the clouds, he might try ten that brought her back to earth.

This means, in a way, that true light is dependent on the presence of other lights. Take the others away and darkness results. Yet the reverse is not true: take away darkness and there is only more darkness. Darkness can exist by itself. Light cannot.