I comfort myself with the knowledge that if Duval ever feels smothered by me, it will be because I am holding a pillow over his face.

You would throw away all that we have given you for a man’s love?” “Not a man’s love,” I say softly. “But Duval’s. And I would find a way to serve both my god and my heart. Surely He does not give us hearts so we may spend our lives ignoring them.

I am beginning to think that love itself is never wrong. It is what love can drive people to do that is the problem.

Truly, we are the gods' own children, forged in the fire of our tortured pasts, but also blessed with unimaginable gifts.

... true faith never comes without anguish.

In the distance a wolf howls. Let it come, I think. Beast will most likely simply howl back, and the creature will either turn tail and run or fall into line behind him, like the rest of us have.

Jewels can be replaced, cousin. Independence, once lost, cannot.