Every writer has to figure out what works best - and often has to select and discard different tools before they find the one that fits.

[First line] “The business of murder took time, patience, skill, and a tolerance for the monotonous.

The outward appearance would never indicate they were brothers. (...) But she could see that at the moment they were as united as triplets in the womb.

The purest magic is in the heart.

Broken hearts healed. Maybe the cracks were always there, like thin scars, but they healed. People lived and worked, laughed and ate, walked and talked with those cracks For many, even the scars healed and they loved again.

...those who love suffer when who they love suffers.

Do you remember the first time we made love?" He touched his lips to hers as he said it. "We rode up in the elevator like this and couldn't keep our hands off each other, couldn't get to each other quick enough. I was mad for you. I wanted you more than I wanted to keep breathing. I still do." He deepened the kiss as the elevator doors opened. "It's never going to change.