Nothing he said could change what I think of you. I've had my mind made up about you for a long time... and it's all good.

You got some cheap foreign labor to protect Lissa?

He almosted smiled. "There you go again. Why? Why do yo keep helping me?" There were a million answers on my lips, everything from It's the right thing to do to I don't know. Instead, I said, "Because I want to.

It was one thing to accept I couldn't have Dimitri. It was something entirely different to realize someone else could.

Hey, Volusian, you haven't been checking me out, have you?" He gave me his trademark bland stare. "I assure you, mistress, the only allure your bare flesh has for me is to remind me how easy it will be to slice open." I laughed. If not for the fact he was actually serious, he'd be so much fun.

Smiling, I cut across the quadrangle toward the commons. I felt better about life than I had in a very long time. We could do this, Lissa and me. We could do this together.

I had a standing arrangement with God: I'd agree to believe in him—barely—so long as he let me sleep in on Sundays.