Sin met Mae and Alan coming into the flat. Mae frowned. "Is it no-shirts festival day?" "Every day with Nick is no-shirts festival day," Alan said absently, but he was frowning too.

I have changed my mind. You can help cook by standing in a corner and not touching anything. Do it carefully. -Nick to Jamie

She'd always known he loved her, it had been the one certainty above all others that had never changed, but she had never said the words aloud and she had never meant them quite this way before. She had said it to him, and she hardly knew what she had meant. They were terrifying words, words to encompass a world.

You're dressed for dancing," she said in her throaty stage voice. "Being undressed for dancing occured to me, but I didn't think Merris would like it.

"Lay the knife at the tips of your fingers," Rob commanded. "So close youcan feel the blade against your skins. Then cut the shadow away." Jared had been silent in her head. Now Kami turned her mind to his and let his thoughts and feelings flow through her. Kami, please, please wait just another moment, Jared begged, I'll save you, and later I'll be better, I'll do anything you want, be anything you want me to be. Please don't do it.

It’s bits of dead cow; don’t ask it to perform miracles.

I don't have deal breakers," Alan said. "I look on tempests, and am never shaken.