Falling in love was like falling off a cliff. It felt pretty much like flying until you hit the ground.

So here's the truth - I love you. I love everything about you – the way you stick up for people even when it costs you. The way you keep trying to do the right thing even when you're not exactly sure what the right thing is. I love how you put words together. You're as skilled with words as any knife fighter with a blade. You can put an enemy down on his back, or you can raise people up so they find what's best in themselves. You've changed my life. You've given me the words I need to become whatever I want.. You don't talk down to them. You respect them, and anybody can tell you're actually interested in what they have to say.I love the way you ride a horse – how you stick there like an upland thistle, whooping like a Demonai. I love the way you throw back your head and stomp your feet when you dance. I love how you go after what you want – whether it's kisses or a queendom.I love your skin, like copper dusted over with gold. And your eyes – they're the color of a forest lake shaded by evergreens. One of the secret places that only the Demonai know about.I love the scent of you – when you've been out in the fresh air, and that perfume you put behind your ears sometimes.Believe it or not, I even love your road smell – of sweat and horses and leather and wool.I want to breathe you in for the rest of my life.

His name was Theo.

Whoa, Rebecca," Talia said smiling even wider, "Walking on the wild side, are we?"Raisa seemed to think the situation needed more explaining. "He - uh - I'm tutoring him.""She is," Han said solemnly. "She's very good. I'm learning a lot."Pearlie snickered. "What's she teaching you?""Well," Han said, "we're jumping around a lot.

You didn't have to go to the fireworks with him. Or - or let him fondle you.""Fondle?" Raisa raised her eyebrows, "When did I mention fondling?

Did the destruction of one dream leave a vacuum that required filling with another? Is a broken heart more vulnerable?

Matelon gripped both her hands. “We are soldiers,” he said. “We are not game pieces on a board. Don’t let them play us. Give this thing a chance.”Lyss gently pulled free. “You’re wrong, Captain,” she said. “We never had a chance. At the end of the day, that is all that we are—game pieces. If you don’t know that by now, you soon will.

The northern soldiers are just men,” Hal told the men in his command. “And women,” he amended. “When you cut them, they bleed, just like us.

Even when we win, we lose, Lyss thought.

Knowledge is power. In the wrong hands, knowledge is trouble.

You touch me again, you arrogant Ardenine swine, and I swear on the blood of Hanalea the warrior, I will geld you. Do you understand?

Allison was at full strength when it came to one thing:attitude.

Surround yourselves with trustworthy people. If you don't, all the weaponry and tactics in the world can't save you.

His father always treated him as if he were capable of great things. Which made him want to accomplish great things.

Tears stung her eyes. She sank her knees next to the sleeping bench and gently raked strands of golden hair from him forehead."Don't you die. don't you dare. I forbid it." As if Han Alister had ever listened to anything she said.

If he even survives." She shivered, and Amon put his arm around her, drawing her into his steady warmth."It's that bad?"Raisa nodded. "He looked...he looked awful, Amon. Willo doesn't know if he'll...She's worried about him. My mother died, and I never got to tell her that I loved her, that I finally understood - just a little anyway. If Han dies too, I don't know what I'll do.

Han spotted a child‟s homespun dolly in the ditch, pressed into the mud. He reined in, meaning to climb down and fetch it so he could clean it up for his little sister. Then he remembered that Mari was dead and had no need of dollies anymore.Grief was like that. It gradually faded into a dull ache, until some simple sight or sound or scent hit him like a hammer blow.

Do notforget duty. But choose love when you can.

It's true what they say, then-history is written by the victors.

Please, Kenzie, Jonah thought. Please, please, please back off from this. His life wasn't much, but it was all he had, this small safe space, walled in by secrets.

Even if the job you’re assigned is not to your liking, a Matelon will see it done.

Just tell me you don't love me, and I'll let the matter drop.""What?""What I said. Just say, 'Rai, I don't love you and I never will'. It's that simple.""Raisa, this is getting us nowhere.""Say it!

How dare you?' Bayar began, but his voice had lost some of its force. 'How dare you come into this sacred hall, flinging accusations?''I have not yet made any accusations,' Willo said. 'Perhaps it is our own guilt clamoring in your ears.

How dare you?' Bayar began, but his voice had lost some of its force. 'How dare you come into this sacred hall, flinging accusations?''I have not yet made any accusations,' Willo said. 'Perhaps it is your own guilt clamoring in your ears.

Come on! We've had too many dead heroes. Being a coward increases your odds of survival-that's my motto. I'm counting on bieng faster than them.

You do not respond to an attempt on your life with a slap on the hand. Or a joke.

Commander! Sir! Wake up!"Jack surfaced from sleep, wondering who the commander was and wishing he'd respond so he could go back to sleep - until he remembered that he was the commander.

The only way to get what you want is to make them more afraid of you than they are of each other.

Leesha knew from experience that when parents don't parent, kids grow up fast.

She could hear the rattle of hooves on stone evolve into a thunder of pursuit.

For Hanalea the Warrior!

Imagine what it's like to be (untouchable)Better not take a chance on me (untouchable)I'm the bad boy your mama told you aboutI'm dangerous, without a doubtEven coming off a ten-year droughtUntouchableI'm the rose with hidden thorns (untouchable)Don't tell me that you haven't been warned (untouchable)I'm pretty poison under the skin, The bite of the apple that's a mortal sinIn a game of love you'll never winUntouchableMy reputation's fairly earned (untouchable)If you play with fire, you will get burned (untouchable)Stay out of the kitchen if you can't take the heat, My kisses are deadly as they are sweet, I'm a runaway bus on a dead-end streetUntouchableFools rush in, that's what they say(untouchable)But angels fall, too, most every day (untouchable)I'm the snake in the garden, the siren on the reefI have the face of a saint and the heart of a thiefI'll promise you love! And bring you nothing but griefUntouchable Hearing Jonah sing like this was like watching him slice himself open and show off his insides. Why would he do that? Why would be write such a song? And then Emma answered her own question. Because good music always tells the truth, no matter how much it hurts. Emma couldn't be the only one who felt the bite of the blade, but everyone else seemed to take it in stride. Did they know? Did they all know about Jonah? Of course they did. They were there when it happened. They'd allow Jonah to keep the secrets that were most important to him. She knew she shouldn't resent that, but she still did. They must have known she was falling for him. They must have.

Fitch is on his way. He's coming after he blows up some wizards.

Do you think I'm stupid? Only a fool would use a fast-acting poison on a target with a taster. The taster goes down before the king gets it into his system." Lila blinked at him, as if surprised by this display of logic.

Emma was horrified and transfixed at the same time. She was watching Jonah Kinlock doing what he did best. There was a certain macabre beauty in watching form and function wedded together. In Jonah's case, a dance of beauty and death.

I continueto believe in miracles. But i know that miracles come to thosewho work very hard

Aftera brief silence, Kenzie said, "Don't you believe in second chances?"The room seemed a little colder, a little darker, as if a shadow had passed over the sun. "Sonny Lee always said, 'Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

All at once it seemed like too much of a betrayal to continue to pretend that his brother was delirious, hallucinating, not in his right mind. Lying when he was telling the truth. Maybe Kenzie was right-maybe secrets were more the problem than the solution. Maybe Kenzie was the only clearheaded person in that room.And yet-he couldn't supress a twinge of fear that if he told the truth, he'd never see Emma again. Never hear her music again. Their musical connection was the closest he'd ever come to slacking his thirst for a human touch.

Can you see why I can't stand a lie? People have been lying to me all my life. Even the person I loved the most in the world."Sometimes people lie for good reasons," Jonah said. "To keep you safe, or to avoid breaking your heart, or to make it possible for you to go on living.

I need to go to parties, Raisa mused, so I don't think so much.

Plus he was naturally lucky at cards. As Mam had always said, lucky at cards, or lucky at life. One or the other. Not both.

Maybe the hardest lesson Han had learned was that nobody is purely bad or good. Everybody seemed to be a mixure of both.

History,' Mari muttered, as if she'd overheard his thoughts. 'Why do we need to know what happened before we were born?' 'So hopefully we get smarter and don't make the same mistakes again.

Which is a sad thing when you're only seventeen.

Just remember who you are... The world will try to change you into someone else. Don't let them. That's the best advice anyone can give you.

If someone grabs you in the street, hit hard and fast, because you may not get a second chance.