Dimitri: "Were you really going to attack all of us? Doing that...protecting her like that - it was very brave. Stupid, but still brave. Why did you even try it?" Rose: "Because I'm her guardian."

So much grief, so much anger. So unlike the usual Adrian.

Dmitri was at a total loss. It was a common reaction for people when I agreed to do something reasonable.

Maybe instead of stalking her, you should go out with someone else." He sighed. "You don't think I've tried? How can anyone compare? You might not believe this, but there is no one like Ageline at this school.

Love is . . .” An old memory with Adrian came back to me, and some of the turbulent emotion I always carried within me these days welled up in my chest. It was stupid, feeling so lovesick when he’d been gone less than a day, but I couldn’t get him or the ways he described love out of my head. “. . . a flame in the dark. A breath of warmth on a winter’s night. A star that guides you home.

You…you got rid of that dress fast," I pointed out between heavy breaths. "I thought you liked it." "I do like it," he said. His breathing was as heavy as mine. "I love it." And then he took me to the bed.

Abe glanced at Rose. "You see that?" he said. "Now that's devotion." She rolled her eyes at him.